Mass Vexations 2
by Herr Wozzeck
Summary: It's been two years since Saren was stopped. And now that Mass Effect 2 has come around, it's time for me to help Shepard stop the Collectors. Self-insert, sequel to Mass Vexations. Tali/OC, F!Shepard/Thane, Garrus/?, various other pairings.
1. Prologue

_A/N: All right. Hello, folks, and welcome back to Mass Vexations... Or, should I say, Mass Vexations 2?_

_I know, I know, I said I would wait until September. But then the plot bunnies started attacking. And when the plot bunnies attack, they never leave me alone. So here I am, returning to MV2 a full half a month before I said I'd go back to it._

_So... What to expect? Well, if you've read Mass Vexations 1, you'll know what to expect right now. If you haven't... Slap yourself and go read MV1. Like, right the fuck now. If you're feeling lazy, expect friendships, action scenes, banter, pop culture references, lampshading, differences between the fanfic and the game (a lot more than previously, too), and a whole bucketload of UST between me and Tali._

_Oh... And prepare to lose the game. A lot._

_So, without further ado... a disclaimer!_

_Mass Effect, it's characters, and it's setting do not belong to me. They are trademarks of EA Games and Bioware. Neither do I own any pieces mentioned. I do own myself, though; if I didn't, I'd be very afraid for society. I also own any OC's that I do not disclaim about in the chapter they appear. I'll let you know what else needs to be disclaimed and who it belongs to as time goes on._

_All right, you've been waiting..._

_And now, it's time for Mass Vexations 2! *fanfare*_

* * *

**Mass Vexations 2**

Prologue

A lot can happen in two years. People die. Ships get blown up. Messages are sent. Funerals are attended. Politicians lie and cover things up. Music is written and played. People sing and play instruments. Words are said. Things change. Friendships strengthen. Comm chats are had. Thoughts are thought. Words are said. Crime is committed. Food is eaten. Friends visit you on the Citadel. Shuttles are boarded. Seats are sat in.

I look out the window of the shuttle to Omega, seeing the stars as they seem to go by all around us. Has it really been more than two years since I wound up here? It feels like I've been here for an entire lifetime...

Not that that's a bad thing, though. It makes me think about how I got here.

And I do that as I munch on my buffalo varren wrap drinking a glass of Mountain Dew. I wasn't prepared for how good Mountain Dew tastes in the future, and I was definitely not prepared for how well buffalo sauce and varren go together... It's like a match made in coincidental heaven. Watching the stars really makes me think. In 2010, I could hardly see the damn things thanks to light pollution. Now that I'm here, though, I realize just how odd it is. I've only thought that I would be in a shuttle that was completely surrounded by stars within that strange dream I had in 2006 about how I somehow got into a space ship that was exterminating all organic life. And yet, here I am, heading to the wretched hive of the Mass Effect universe.

It's been two years since the first Mass Effect ended. And back then, I was pretty sure that I was not thinking of rejoining Shepard's team by taking a shuttle over to Omega to see if I can crash one of her recruitment missions. The ETA for this thing is about a full day, however, so we'll see what happens.

I just hope things go well when I finally do meet up with Shepard again...

As I sit at the shuttle, I think back to everything that's occurred over the past two years... Because a lot really has happened to me over the past two years. So much it almost feels surreal...

* * *

The first month or so went as smoothly as it could.

I did get into opera orchestra as I had hoped, and I ended up commuting to the 600 blocks all the way from the C-Sec offices just so I could do that. Oh, well. It makes me glad I used the MetroRail to go to school when I was going to high school; the Miami public railway system may have sucked (I'm pretty sure it still sucks right now, what with only going in two directions and with the local government's extraordinarily bad habit of not knowing how the fuck they should spend their dollars), but it did the job it needed to. And it made commuting across the Citadel much easier. I remember the first thing we rehearsed was _Hansel and Gretel_. That really brought back memories of when I did it in high school...

Composition didn't go so well. I got two scenes for the film thing that I was interested in doing. One scene was an action scene, another was not. I got the action scene down incredibly fast, and I was very proud of my results. But the second excerpt was some kind of pyre scene for one of the characters. And I had no idea where the hell I was supposed to start with that, so I considered it an especially bad case of composer's block. Meanwhile, I finished getting the octet onto my terminal, and I got it submitted to a contest somewhere on the Citadel with a performance opportunity attached. I had hoped I would win it, but I decided not to hold my breath. I had lost a couple competitions shortly before coming to the Mass Effect universe, and if the music scene in 2183 was as chaotic as it was in 2010 there was no reason for me to be overly cocky about my abilities.

Living with Garrus Vakarian was... interesting, to say the least. The first week or so I had to do a lot of reorganizing to adjust for the fact that dextro and levo amino acids are two completely different things, but once that was out of the way it was actually pretty good. Garrus, bless his heart, had a lot of things to do, so we hardly saw each other outside of his C-Sec shift. But, when we did get together it was pretty awesome. I finally got around to watching a few other movies I had anticipated back in 2010 with Garrus, and we both liked them quite a bit. So I would say it was pretty awesome, even if I never saw him. I had to carry my own weight, of course, but once my paychecks from opera orchestra started coming in that made both of our lives easier.

So life went on in a rather mundane fashion like that, and I kept on counting the days until Shepard would be reported missing, possibly killed in action.

* * *

After counting for about 35 days, it finally happened.

The first I heard about it was in a message from Tali. She was going on and on about how the Normandy had gotten destroyed, and how all the precious technology had gone to waste. It wasn't until the end of the message that Shepard dying was even mentioned at all.

And then came the news on galactic television. Shepard, killed in action? That headline occupied my thoughts basically the entire day, and not just because I knew that technically Mass Effect 2 had just started. Somehow, her death became more surreal because I had come to know her. I knew it was coming, but when it finally came, I remember just standing at the station where the shuttle to the Zakera Ward came and went every five minutes, thinking about how surreal it all was.

And somehow, the surreality of it all made me shed a few tears, even though I had promised myself long before then that I would not.

Shepard's funeral was a big event. Of course I went; it would be a disservice to her if I didn't. And I'm also glad that I was crying actual tears. I bumped into most of the old crew mates from when we kicked Saren's ass. Pressley was of course killed in action, so for that I couldn't fault him. (Besides, it's not like I had any conversations with him, so I didn't miss him so much.) Chakwas was a little embattled from when the Collectors blew shit up, but she was fine. We had a brief medical talk before she admitted that she would miss Shepard greatly.

Is it odd that I had my first real conversation with Joker at Shepard's funeral? I remember that we had a very brief conversation at the funeral. We both knew who we were, and that remained at that. I couldn't blame Joker for not wanting to speak; he looked destroyed as he hobbled around the funeral on his two crutches. I didn't blame Joker: I knew he blamed himself for Shepard's death without him telling me so. I basically left him to his grief and stuff.

I remember Kaidan was in shambles at her funeral, and I think he had the hardest time of us all trying to get used to the fact that she was probably dead. I of course knew that she _was_ dead, but only because I had controlled the last few minutes of her first life. But I couldn't bring myself to tell Kaidan that I knew about this, too; I didn't want to break his heart any more than it had already been broken, and I knew that I definitely shouldn't mention Horizon either since that would only make things worse.

Liara and Tali were there too. Liara seemed pretty desolate at this, and for a second I could see a flicker of something in her eyes as she sat crying. Tali... simply regarded me with an unreadable expression, and barely talked. She sent me an extra-net message later that she had also been crying and for me to forgive her for not talking to me about anything. Of course I forgave her; her mask makes things incredibly tough to read, and besides, my tears really were genuine, if born out of surreality instead of grief. I had known it would happen... but I didn't think Shepard's death would affect me so much...

Wrex didn't show up. I don't know what was more heartbreaking; the fact that he sent me a short message over the extranet just before the funeral that articulated all of his feelings or the fact that he mentioned he wished he could have attended the funeral. Either way, I couldn't bring up the strength to reply back for two weeks afterwards.

Garrus went with me as well, and the entire damn funeral he was just pensive, always thinking. Which was odd, because I never knew Garrus as the type to think. I didn't need to talk with him in the funeral, as he had already gushed his feelings when he came home from C-Sec the day the news that Shepard was possibly dead broke out. He was silent basically throughout the entire funeral, his hands always crossed behind him except when he sat down for the speeches and stuff.

And speaking of which, what _awful _speeches they were! None of them did _any_ justice to Shepard as a woman. I was glad it would not be her first funeral, because the speeches were so horrendous I would be appalled if I visited my own funeral and those were the speeches they gave. You know what? I'm going to recite all of the funeral speeches there when I see Shepard again, just to see how hard she'll want to bitch-slap the speech givers. Udina's speech possibly pissed me off the most, since there were a few subtle take thats to her legacy. I wished I could replay the moment where Anderson punches him in the face and takes the Normandy off of lockdown over and over again; thinking about that one scene repeatedly was the only way I was able to stand sitting there.

And then Hannah Shepard came on and showed them all how it was done. It was the first time I had ever seen Shepard's mom, in the game _and_ in person. Her speech was really good, and it called out everyone else on their military bullshit just by how awesome it was. It also felt very personal, as the tears in her eyes attested to. And it was a very sad speech, and for the first time I got a real sense of how proud she must have been that Jocelyn Shepard was her daughter. I'm glad she'll come back to life, if only because her mom could use the consolation...

I got the chance to talk with her a little after the funeral. She seemed like a perfectly sweet yet strict woman. I found a perfect blend of both as it stood, and we had a rather short conversation that was rather nice. I got a chance to talk to Al again too, who was also grieving the death of his sister. I offered a few words of solace for him, and he took them to heart. He told me his N7 training was almost complete, and that graduation was going to be in another two months. He wished his sister could have been there for it, however, and for that I couldn't fault him. I had already technically lost my entire family; I felt his pain as well as he did.

The funeral was quiet... And I remember feeling quite sad. Garrus and I returned to the apartment in a grim state of mind, and he nodded as we held a vigil for Shepard at the dinner table. We ended up using the exact same requiem we used for Ash, contemplating our loss in silence.

And when I went to bed that night, I cried myself to sleep over the fact that Shepard was dead. It was just... so surreal, and so sad. On top of that, I didn't know whether to be angry that I knew this was happening or depressed that it happened at all. And so, I cried that night, falling asleep shortly afterward.

* * *

The fact that Shepard's death was only the beginning of a cascade of bad things didn't really drive itself home until after the Council brushed the Reapers under the rug.

I remember when Anderson broke the news to Garrus and I about two days after the funeral. I don't ever remember being so angry at the Council. Granted, I knew it was going to happen, but when it finally did happen, some part of me still snapped. I explicitly told Garrus afterwards that I wanted to take my shotgun to the Council and finish what Saren started. He advised against it of course, but we both knew I wouldn't be able to muster up the ability to do so.

Tali was even more angry when I broke the news to her. By this time, she had already bought passage back to the Fleet, and when she heard there was something in her that prompted her to start yelling at me over a comm link about how frustrating it was to know that something was coming and still be angered by it anyway. I had already told her about Cerberus' involvement, and fortunately the incident with the Fleet hadn't happened yet. From what I could tell, however, it was getting pretty close to happening, as extranet news had already reported the disappearance of Gillian Grayson.

It affected Kaidan immensely to hear that they were brushing her work to defend the galaxy. To see all of her work basically amount to nothing... it destroyed him. But the poor guy had to suck it up immensely, and I began to feel bad for him that he and Shepard would dump each other. I already regretted bringing them together romantically, as it seemed their bond was stronger than I originally thought it would be. I still refused to forgive him for the impending betrayal, however, knowing that it would be all his fault afterwards.

I couldn't get a hold of Liara afterwards, and from that I guessed she was already attempting to recover Shepard's corpse from the Shadow Broker. Really, Liara? Wrex didn't have many thoughts on it. His thoughts; 'unite the krogan, and we'll see what happens'.

It ate away at Garrus for quite some time. As I went to opera orchestra, I said less and less progressively, but it positively ate away at Garrus. I saw him get progressively more volatile, and towards the end he began to get kind of like my father.

And then, a week after Shepard's funeral, I came home to find that a datapad had been left on the dinner table. It was Garrus; it was all written down in some form of written turian when I came for a closer look.

I didn't need to read it in English to know that he had gone to Omega to take his place as Archangel.

That was when all the angst finally caught up with me. Shepard's death, the Reapers being swept under the rug, Garrus leaving, being all alone on the Citadel... I couldn't take it anymore. I let out a few silent tears as I ate dinner alone that night. I couldn't even bring myself to cook, which was odd because it normally lifts my spirits. Instead, I ended up ordering out, and as I ate my dinner, I couldn't stop thinking about everything.

I remember plopping down in front of my terminal that night and going through my messages. But it was more or less mechanical now for some reason I really couldn't pin down.

And then I remembered that the movie clip still needed to be scored. And fast, because it was due the day after Garrus left. Despite my better judgement, I watched the scene I was supposed to score again from start to finish. The lead man in the scene was a turian, and a rather young one at that. He was building a pyre for a human female, his clothes tattered from what must have been a long time of struggle. She didn't look much better, but her serene expression seemed to indicate she had died in peace. He looked like he had starved himself, and all for nothing. As the fire burned at the end, his eyes conveyed the greatest loneliness I have ever seen conveyed on screen.

And somehow, my grief over everything that had happened over the course of the past week finally came up to me and slapped me square in the face. At first, I degenerated into tears at the hopelessness of the situation. I sobbed. Loudly. I had never felt so devoid of hope in my life. Well, except for the whole thing after Virmire. But still.

And then, some kind of lightbulb went off in my head. As I watched the scene a second time, it just... came to me. Music filled my head, completely orchestrated and realized. The music wouldn't leave me alone throughout the night. I looked at my terminal, and decided enough was enough.

I subsequently spent my entire sleep cycle scoring that scene. I had all I needed, and all that was left was to commit it to some form of writing. I wrote the music, orchestrated it, and played it back all at once that night, synchronizing it with the scene in question. I kept on feeling the will to go to bed, but I willed my body to stay awake long enough for me to finish the lonely English Horn solo that concludes the scene as the turian overlooked the pyre that his lover burned on. Bodies of strings had swelled long before that, with a despairing alto saxophone and solo viola duet coming in the middle as he set her body on the pyre. I remember staying up all night. And when I was done, I only had enough energy to send that and my violent submission in. I remember checking my sent items to make sure it went through. And as soon as I saw it, I collapsed where I sat, the exhaustion catching up to me.

When I woke up, I realized in dismay that I had missed an opera orchestra rehearsal. I wasn't fired as I thought I was, though; I was relatively new, after all, and they still needed me there. I made it a point not to miss any more rehearsals after that, and commuted. I heard back from the competition people, where my octet had gotten third place in the competition I had sent it to. It meant it would get a performance, however, and finally things started to go better for me as I got a list of rehearsals and a performance date.

And three days later, I received an e-mail from the people that had asked for submissions to score the film.

My night of depriving myself of sleep had paid off in the end after all, for they told me that I was everyone's top choice based on the pyre scene. They pleaded with me to score the movie along with Mangdalar Vorolis (I remember thinking to myself "you mean the guy that wrote _Vexations_ of this universe?"), and then gave me several links to downloadable booklets on turian orchestration and theory.

I replied that I would love to score the movie, and then I was given the contact number of the director. We got in touch, and things pretty much kicked off from there.

* * *

It was while I was scoring the film that Tali finally sent me a message. I read it, and found out that the attack on the Migrant Fleet had finally happened. She refused to elaborate further with text, so she told me to open up a comm link when I could.

So I opened up a comm link about three Citadel hours after I got the message. Fortunately, she was free. We talked for a little bit, and then I asked about the attack on the Migrant Fleet. She had managed to warn her father in time, and that guards had been positioned around all of the airlocks of the Idenna. This meant that Cerberus was pretty much cornered where they were when they tried to enter, and thus Golo and every single Cerberus operative was killed.

Including Paul Grayson, apparently, because she made mention of someone picking up his dog tags after all was said and done. This alarmed me slightly, and I made my voice known. I mean, Grayson survived the tie-in novel. But then, I had the feeling that Paul would betray Cerberus thanks to what they were planning on doing to Gillian. And really, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it probably wasn't that important, so I brushed it off. She also told me that Hendel and Gillian were both staying on the Migrant Fleet, and that Gillian was a sweetheart, if a bit volatile.

I told her autistic kids could be like that. I thought of Augie again while we were talking about Gillian, and how he was doing back home. The conversation ended up steering to our respective families. Tali was respectful of course, mostly because she knew I would never get to see my family again. And again, I revisited the whole 'I miss my home' thing, but I mentioned that I was doing very well for myself on the Citadel regardless. When she asked for Garrus, I ended up explaining about Archangel, and she took it in stride.

And while we were chatting on the comm, Shala'Raan just so happened to barge in on the middle of our conversation. So I got to meet Shala'Raan before ME2 even began! She seems like a good mother figure for Tali: I can see why Shala'Raan and Tali's mom linked suit environments. I mean, aside from the whole 'presiding over the trial bit', she's a real sweetheart. She's obviously also wise beyond her years, but I guess being a part of the Admiralty board for so long does that to you. I guess that's what makes her a better admiral than Daro'Xen, Han'Gerrel, and Zaal'Koris put together... She was quite pleased to meet me, too, and even dropped some kind of quarian word I've never heard in the game... _hesh'alan _I think it was. When I asked Tali about it, she refused to answer, and Shala'Raan did not elaborate further. It's going to be Tali's form of _siha, _I'm sure of it...

We kept the conversation short after that, and when we disconnected the comm channel I smiled again. Thoughts of Tali hovered around my mind, and I smiled as I thought about how good it would be to see her again.

* * *

It's funny how some of the best things to happen to me in my life were kicked off from one of its lows, now that I realize it. I mean, the whole reason I got the film scoring job was because of Shepard's death and everything that snowballed afterwards. That it led to one of the best things ever to happen to me in my life is incredibly strange.

I somehow managed to get the film score done in time, and then I was given several dates for the recording sessions. I unfortunately had to miss out on opera orchestra, but honestly, at the time I was thinking good riddance to that. I see that good ol' Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is still the most overrated composer of all time, and it just so happened that they were doing _Cosi fan tutte_, which has the primary distinction of being the Mozart opera I loathe most. I didn't loose my job over it, thankfully, so I got to go to a different orchestra to see them play and record my music.

I actually met Mangdalar with a certain amount of trepidation, but he was a pretty nice guy, especially as far as people go. I also got to meet his asari partner, who was a real sweet woman. Yelena T'Onyu, her name was. Matron asari, if I remember correctly. Everybody on the film crew was also really nice, and, right as I expected, quite progressive. I first walked into the recording sessions feeling a slight amount of uncertainty as I was not sure how my music would be performed. After all, I had had numerous disasters at premieres, and something always seemed to go wrong. But surprisingly, not a whole lot of unscheduled events occurred during recording. I probably wrote the piccolo trumpet part at a place that the player couldn't actually reach at a few points, but otherwise it went exceedingly well.

It was a lot of music, but I had gotten plenty of time to score everything. And fortunately, Mangdalar's copyist made the parts for me, which eliminated that hurdle that I always hate. Orchestrating for turian instruments was... incredibly strange, but quite fulfilling. I just had never gotten used to thinking I would be scoring with instruments not of human make and stuff like that, so mostly I was just experimenting. But it paid off, and some effects were much more chilling than I had anticipated them to be.

But sitting behind the glass pane in the recording studio listening to the music I wrote being played back for something greater- by a large orchestra, no less- was one of the most hypnotizing experiences of my years between ME1 and ME2. I came to love the film scoring environment. The director and Mangdalar were both really nice people, I got along well with everyone, and I actually got to get a few comments in as we recorded everything. And I just loved hearing an orchestra play my stuff. It was surreal, and incredibly awesome. I still wasn't able to get over the fact that the Citadel film orchestra had a _bass oboe, _a _saxophone_,and _Wagner tuben_ (of all instruments; seriously, I'd have thought those things would have faded into obscurity in the future), and that was in addition to the large, large orchestra. That just served to make it more surreal than it already was, in addition to all the turian players within the orchestra...

And when all was said and done, I came out of the recording studio feeling great. I once had a comm chat with Tali about it, and she wished she could be at the recording studio just to see what it was like. I told her that I wished I could see her there too, but then I told her that I had also gotten free tickets to the premiere of the film, and I was saving a ticket for her. Needless to say, I was quite happy when she sent me an extranet message a couple days later that the admiralty board had granted her leave for that week. So we made plans to get together at the Citadel, and do stuff with Mangdalar and Yelena.

And guess what? When she showed up, she was in her Mass Effect 2 getup! This made me extremely happy, seeing as how that is my personally preferred that outfit to her Mass Effect 1 outfit. When I was able to tear myself away from the paparazzi and everyone else for two seconds, I let her know about that. She told me she was considering changing out the hood, but after my compliment she would definitely keep it on. That made butterflies fly all over my stomach, and I swear that Mangdalar made that one joke at my expense because I was blushing for a good three hours after that.

The premiere itself was quite an event. Anderson and the turian councillor both showed, as did all the stars and the director. And I remember being swept by how surreal it all was. And of course, the critical acclaim that came afterwards was tremendously great for me.

If I could say one thing about how working on _The Last Days of the Earth_ affected me, I would say it was awesome, if a bit surreal. It also helped a lot, as it jumpstarted my composition career with a lot of things. I remember I had to sift through about two hundred e-mails after various people in the music world had heard the score that they wanted me for this project and the other. It was so ridiculous I really wasn't sure what to do. I ended up taking several commissions, and working on them all and getting premieres done.

That was essentially how I spent the remainder of the time before Mass Effect 2; writing music, playing in opera orchestra, and overseeing premieres of my stuff.

* * *

Of course, it wasn't without its downs elsewhere. Just after recording sessions started for _Last Days of the Earth_, I got evicted from Garrus' apartment. Sure, I was making a modest living as a violist, and the premiere of my octet went well enough, but I just wasn't able to rake in enough money to pay the rent when I was there. So I was unceremoniously evicted.

I ended up staying at a hotel for about a week, but that burned through my credits even faster. At least I got to eat breakfast for free, and I wondered if Garrus remembered that he had another tenant at his apartment when he went over to Omega. But it was a tough situation for me to be in, and for a week I was feeling a little disgruntled about it.

But I dared not mention it at work. In fact, the only time I ever mentioned it was because Mangdalar asked during one session. I told him... well, the truth, anyhow. I'm a terrible liar, and plus my resolve to lie tended to buckle in such a positive working environment.

Fortunately, Mangdalar was kind enough to offer some space in his apartment at the 800 blocks for the time being, and so I ended up moving in with him and Yelena in the middle of the recording session. It was a rather modest apartment, of course, and it was then that I found out that Yelena was a rather good asari musician in her own right. Rooming with a musical couple like that was... incredibly interesting, to say the least. I did a lot of the cooking, we all gave ourselves plenty of space, and we always had rather good conversations. And we all came to like the arrangement so much that I ended up staying with Mangdalar after recordings ended.

It made for a pretty hilarious moment when Tali came for the film premiere. I will give Mangdalar this; he sure knows how to tell a good joke now and again. Especially when it comes to how close Tali and I are.

It was also pretty surreal. I swear I saw Joram Talid a few times as I was heading to the apartment from opera orchestra. Yeah, this is gonna be fun when Thane's loyalty mission comes around, because it's going to be taking place where I live. So yeah...

But still... I don't think it's love... Even after all this time, I'm to the belief that we're still BFF's... right?

I dunno. Anyway, that's not exactly important. What is important is that even after the intial road block, life was good.

And whenever I would find out that Shepard had come back to life, I knew it could only get better afterwards.

* * *

About three days after the premiere of the film, I was commuting back to the apartment from opera orchestra when I noticed something out of place.

I saw an asari standing out by an area that very few people ever came by. She looked to be in tears, clasping her hands together over a railing that led out into space. I think she considered jumping at one point in a suicide attempt. I personally thought this was beyond stupid, but I said nothing.

However, something in the back of my head kept telling me to go to her, to play therapist to a stranger out in the Citadel. I don't know what finally convinced me to do so, but eventually, I walked over to where she stood, looking on her as I leaned against the railing myself. She seemed rather simple, but was probably afraid for her life.

I started a conversation with her. She didn't talk much, and from that I was able to tell that she was in incredible grief over something. She obviously wanted me to leave her alone, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. That, and the little voice in my head kept on telling me I should keep on talking to her.

So I did. I talked to her for a little longer, and eventually learned that her name was Lireya. (Huh, that was the name of one of my OC's for the last installment of TTLG I never got around to writing... Coincidence?) She was busy contemplating suicide when I came over, but she was really beginning to lose her resolve. It eventually got to the point where she gushed out a lot of details about her life that I'm pretty sure I had no right to know as a stranger. But... the therapist act ended up helping her, much more so than she could begin to fathom I'm sure.

The thing about Lireya was that she had discovered that she was an Ardat-Yakshi the previous day. I didn't need her to elaborate further; I had played Samara's loyalty mission, and I knew that the Ardat-Yakshi killed their mates during melding. But I had assumed that most of them ended up dealing with it by turning into Morinth; as in, becoming monsters that only cared about power. Or something like that. Either way, I was definitely not expecting what would happen when they only found out for the first time.

Because, as she explained to me, you don't know that you are an Ardat-Yakshi until you see your lover dead on the floor after the meld.

I also had no idea what the asari government did to known Ardat-Yakshis; apparently, it's similar to what Hitler did to the Jews in World War 2. And this was quite jarring for me to hear, and suddenly I felt a wave of pity and a wave of gratitude that Morinth would likely get killed. I mean, seriously, death sounds so much better than what happens to an asari if she's an Ardat-Yakshi. True, Ardat-Yakshis are in fact harmful to peoples' health, but damn, I didn't think that it warranted concentration camps...

And suddenly, I saw Morinth's speech to Samara during their biotic fight in a totally different light. I mean, in that case, Morinth really was a monster, inside as well as externally, but hearing about concentration camps from someone who couldn't help it and hated herself for killing her lover... The asari weren't ready to reveal this indeed. It surprised her a lot that I knew what an Ardat-Yakshi was in the first place, but she brushed it off as I was playing psychiatrist.

She didn't want to go to the concentration camp. I couldn't blame her, after all; when she spoke about the lover she killed, she only had the nicest things to say. And the more she talked about him, the more tears came streaming from her eyes. It was heartbreaking to see this, and to hear that she would never love again as long as she lived.

I was silent for a bit before I talked again. When I did, I told her about _Pushing Daisies_. Man, that was a great show. It's a shame it got cancelled before I got here. But I mentioned it for more than that; the relationship between Ned and Charlie seemed to serve as the perfect comparison for a possible relationship with an Ardat-Yakshi. After all, Ned's ability to bring people back from the dead was more of a curse as far as Charlie was concerned; if he ever touched her again, she would die. It was a fascinating relationship dynamic, and it was one that I figured Lireya could relate to.

This seemed to get her spririts up that she could find a way to love again without getting physical with her partner. This cheered her up, and she resolved not to kill herself. But she still didn't know where to go; they would find her lover's body, and the asari would figure things out.

I gave her a few thousand credits and told her to take passage to somewhere other than the Citadel. She was shocked at the kind gesture, but I asked for nothing in return and told her that she should leave while she still had a chance.

And so, she went and bought passage to Omega. I was the only one who saw her off; she was afraid of contacting her mother lest she find out about the whole Ardat-Yakshi bit, but when I saw her off, she thanked me profusely and told me that she would never forget me. And so the shuttle went from the Citadel, and I went home after that. She preoccupied my thoughts for a few days, and I even discussed it with Tali in a comm chat I had with her a few days after the incident.

I have no clue what happened to her after the last time I saw her. But I have a feeling I'm going to be seeing her again. And when I do... I hope she's found love with someone who really, truly cares about her.

* * *

While all this was going on, I was keeping in rather good physical health. Well, better than I used to, anyway.

I ended up starting to take self-defense classes again. I ended up training in some asari style of combat that's pretty popular around the Citadel. It looks and feels a lot like shaolin kempo or something like that, but the only reason I took it was because I couldn't find tae kwon do anywhere on the Citadel.

And it was... interesting, to say the least. I got into the groove of punching things again, and I also got to do some pretty crazy things with the rest of my body too. I really don't know how the hell I ended up learning how to do stuff, though, but it was pretty calm most of the time.

Odd for a martial arts style to come across as such, but hey, these are expert diplomats we're talking about here. If Switzerland manages to stay neutral by having the best trained army in the world, I imagine the asari manage to handle things the same way.

It actually also ended up involving a lot of agility courses. Needless to say, I think my agility only improved with time in that thing. At my peak, I ended up learning how to crawl up and down the Citadel in rather short increments of time without anything holding me down. In any other case it would be illegal, but special passes do special things. So that was pretty interesting, getting to climb up the Citadel. I usually got the best view of the Citadel Tower money could buy for free thanks to that, so for this I was thankful.

And of course, there was Baroque dance. Somehow, I found a Baroque dance class, but not a tae kwon do studio. I really don't know how that came to be. But, they were offering that class for no credits at a conservatory that got spared much of the damage that the rest of the Tayseri ward had endured, so I ended up going there all the time. I even convinced Mangdalar and Yelena to take it with me when I moved in, and needless to say they found it quite enjoyable.

And I got back into the groove of stuff too. I learned how to read the dance notation, and I learned quite a lot. It also helped me relax a bit. Being forced to be graceful helps a lot with that.

But I also found it was something I greatly excelled at. If I end up taking it to an extreme, I might just ditch viola performance and teach Baroque dance classes for the rest of my life. Especially if I end up getting carpal tunnel syndrome. It's nice to have a back-up plan, anyhow.

And all that kept my weight in check. I was definitely a little more defined in terms of musculature before long, but I never really got past just being lean. More defined body, yes, but nothing like a six-pack or anything like that. Actually, I would be a little afraid of a six-pack on me. At least I'm not a little bit on the fat side.

Then again, I had never weighed anything over 160 pounds prior to coming here no matter how much I ate, so I like to think I never really was on track to becoming a fatass anyway.

Oh, yeah, and I grew half an inch. How I did that was anybody's guess, but, it happened.

It also helped my sleeping habits, especially after that one time that I stayed awake through my sleep cycle trying to compose the scene. I swear, I'm never going to live it down, especially as Yelena loves taunting me with it just before my sleep cycle.

As for gun training... Well, I didn't keep up too well with that. But I still went over to the firing range at least once a month to make sure my firing was still consistent. Which it was, thankfully. So when ME2 comes around, I'll be prepared.

Oh, well. I always feel great about my newly found physical health. And it's something I'll continue to pride myself on for quite some time.

* * *

All this, brings me to now. And a couple other things.

About two days before I booked passage to Omega, I got a message from Tali. I open up my omni tool where I sit, gazing out the window as I look again at the message Tali sent me.

_Sent: 9.23.2185_

_To: Art*** ********* _

_From: Tali'Zorah vas Neema, Migrant Fleet_

_Art,_

_I saw Shepard about three days ago. I sent this message at the first opportunity I could find. It's exactly as you told me it would be; she's back to life, and Cerberus are the ones who brought her back._

_I'm sure you know how I met her again, but just in case: I was on Freedom's Progress looking for Veetor'Nara. He was on his pilgrimage at Freedom's Progress, and when we got there there were all these mechs all over the place. Sure enough, I bumped into Shepard and a couple of Cerberus operatives. I didn't catch their names. They said they were looking into the cause of the disappearances of the colonies, and came to Freedom's Progress._

_I don't know if any of that matches up, but if it does, I trust you know where to go from here. Good luck, and I hope we can meet again._

_Keelah se'lai,_

_Tali'Zorah_

I glanced at the text that hovered over orange again. I had replied back to Tali saying everything checked out all right and telling her the names of the Cerberus operatives. I opted not to tell her about Haestrom... yet. I figured she would know when we would have a big damn heroes moment the moment her comm crackled to life on that place.

After I had recieved the message, I had booked passage for Omega. Of course I let Mangdalar and Yelena know that I would be going out of the Citadel for more military purposes. When I mentioned that an old friend of mine was involved, they understood, but let me know that I was always welcome back to their apartment for when the ordeal was over. I noticed Yelena was a little on edge when I said goodbye, though. I wonder if that's going to gel well. They also hope it won't be too long, I take it.

Pssh. I doubt the ordeal will end after this. I mean, Shepard still has to stop the Reaper invasion after we kick Collector ass, right? Well... assuming we all survive, anyway. I hope we do; it's bad when everyone can die on the mission.

Shit... I didn't realize how bad the situation can be until I got here. What if some people are doomed to die just because I came here? What if I die too? I don't know if I'll go home anymore, as I haven't heard too much from Orange in the ensuing years other than a few chats when I was lone in the apartment of either Garrus or Mangdalar. She hasn't said too much that helps me shed light on how to do anything or what she is. Well, other than that Orange is a girl, apparently. And Prothean. And that she likes to speak in metaphors that are so broad it makes Tommy Wiseau's English look sensible. Which, if records of old Earth e-mails are any indication, it is not. Other than that, she keeps telling me to dig deeper...

Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But whatever. I'm sure things will just come to me one day before ME2 ends...

I gaze out the window again. I wonder...

Well, Shepard is probably busy recruiting people on her team. If I'm fast, I can probably force my way into Mordin or Garrus' recruitment missions. We'll have to see once we get there. But for now... Where is everybody else...?

Well, Tali is busy heading to Haestrom to do some research for the Fleet. Garrus is probably holed up in a warehouse with every mercenary company on Omega out trying to kill him, and if he's not he'll have a nice metal plate on his face to show for it. Wrex is still on Tuchanka, trying to unite the krogan into one cohesive whole. Liara is likely on Illium, hunting down the Shadow Broker and threatening to flay various people with her mind. Kaidan is routinely getting stationed in various places, I really don't know how many times he's been rotating throughout stations. But when we see him next, he'll be stationed on Horizon, although I don't know if he already is on Horizon...

So that's all for the squad from the first game. As for everyone else... Samara is busy hunting down Morinth. Thane is probably in the process of accepting the Dantius commission, although I can't be too sure about that. Grunt is most likely still in that tank in Okeer's lab. Jack is probably either still in cryo on Purgatory or already on Shepard's crew. Mordin is either in his clinic in the plague zone on Omega, or already on Shepard's crew. Legion is likely scouting out Shepard, trying to find a way to approach her. Zaeed is either on Omega waiting for Shepard to show up, or already on the crew. I wonder where Kasumi will be... She was supposed to become some kind of DLC character, but I never got to find out where she shows up. Jacob and Miranda are already both on the crew; that's a no-brainer.

And I'm sitting on a shuttle to Omega, waiting to take my place in her squad. I'm the only one not doing something at the moment.

My fingers drum over my viola case, feeling the material under me as I look up to an asari waitress that is busy refilling my Mountain Dew. Well, my viola is safe, my firearms are stored in the compartment below, and I'm wearing my armor. It sure feels good to be back into this armor again. And it'll feel good to get back into shooting things up with Shepard. Always good times with Shepard, as I would damn well expect by this point.

After all, a lot can happen in two years. People can die. Ships can get blown up. Messages can be sent. Funerals can be attended. Politicians can lie and cover things up. Music can be written and played. People can be brought back to life. People can find out about that. And people can resume their place in a squad.

Like I'm doing here. Guess I better just say this now:

Welcome back to your fucked-up life, Art.


	2. Chapter 1

_A/N: Holy shit. I haven't even gotten into the first chapter yet, and _already_ I have 26 reviews? This is a new record, I swear to God almighty. _

_With that said, we're back with more Mass Vexations 2! Needless to say, I'm glad I'm getting back into the groove, you know? So fun times will be had, and many, many things will happen._

_And I will warn you now; starting from a development around the middle of MV, there will be quite a few departures from canon. Oddly, there will also be canon moments; the Overlord DLC is going to come up during MV2, so fun times will abound with that. Well... not so fun in the aftermath, but hey, what can you do? We'll be doing a lot of things slightly differently from the game... and, well, I hope you like what I do._

_As well, Orange is going to bring a lot of questions. So, unlike the writers of Lost, I intend to answer any mysteries surrounding Orange throughout the MV saga. You'll see._

_Oh, and before I start the chapter, one more thing! Armesan of DeviantArt was kind enough to take a commission from me. The results are this pic of MassVexations!Art with Tali: http:/ armesan. deviantart .com /#/d2w8v26_

_While you're there, check out the rest of her gallery; it's got a lot of great stuff for turian lovers and Garrus/F!Shepard shippers._

_Other things, other things... Oh yeah! This chapter introduces one OC and mentions another. Neither are made by me. So... without further ado, another disclaimer!_

_Jenny McKansa does not belong to me. Her name and personality belong to judodave. I can't exactly say the same about her backstory, though. *sad face* Nogond'Viraliz nar Mindoir does not belong to me either. His name and background (and probably his personality, though I'm not sure) belong to a guy with the username of Nogond. (I swear, he needs to get back to me on the whole beta-reading thing I got started on with him...)_

_Anyhow, I've blabbed long enough. Here we go!_

* * *

Chapter 1: How to Crash a Recruitment

The shuttle ride to Omega was largely uneventful. When I arrived, I ended up leaving a lot of my stuff at the spaceport's luggage room. I don't know how the hell I did it, but I guess I got away with it for the same reason Scott Shelby managed to get away with putting that box in row 18 locker 3 of that one train station in _Heavy Rain_ for as long as he did. So I left my viola and other stuff there, took out my firearms, and waded straight into Omega.

And damn does this place look seedy. I never thought I'd ever see an area that was more dingy than downtown Miami. Guess I was wrong on that part. Then again, South Beach was a short highway ride away from downtown Miami if you excluded the ridiculous traffic, so I guess there was some beauty to be had there...

Here? All we have is _Afterlife_, and that's pretty much it. I don't even know if there's anything worth noting here...

I glance at the clock on my omni-tool. Right... Well... money can't buy me love, but it sure can buy me appointments with Aria T'Loak. To that end, I got a credit chit of a shit-ton of credits. Hopefully this time I won't get mugged by batarians the way I did when I first came to the Citadel. Because that would be disastrous. And uncool. After all, I need something to bribe the guards with...

Wow... I'll be bribing someone for the first (and hopefully only) time in my life. This... is going to get sticky. Mom and dad would both throw a fit the size of Jupiter if they ever found out. But... a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

So, I wander around Omega, thinking about what's going to go down when I see Aria T'Loak. Is she going to see me in the first place? Ah, whatever.

I walk over to Afterlife, looking around for the brightly-lit neon signs. And I see a whole ton of batarians around me... Yeah, I've got nothing. Seeing all of them glance at me is just a little bit unsettling, you know? I wonder how Shepard manages to go through here without losing her nerve. Well... then again, she does have a trusty three... er, five-person squad at her back, so people know not to fuck with her. I'm by myself, so yeah...

This will make life interesting when I have to bribe my way to the top. I mean, I can't just waltz in there and expect to meet Aria T'Loak right off the bat. I mean, TIM made the meeting possible for Shepard, so I can't expect to have that same balloon... So I brought a bunch of extra credits. Some to bribe her guards, and then some to... er... pay tribute to the woman herself. But only if need be. It'll be like selling myself to the devil if I wind up having to. But we'll see...

I finally find the club, the bright neon sign flaring overhead as I walk over there. I ready my Citadel ID, walking over to the batarian bouncer. There wasn't a line, (thank God) so I walked straight over to the bouncer and flashed my ID at him. He glanced at it briefly before nodding and keying something into his omnitool.

"All right," says the man. "Have fun, sir."

I nod politely at this, and then step into Afterlife.

And the first thing I feel is discomfort at all the loud techno music banging throughout the club. Jesus Christ, I hate techno. Except if Thomas Ades uses it, in which case, do what you will. I feel very uncomfortable in a club like this. I don't know why, as I know this certainly won't be the last time I come here. I can't tell if it's the asari strippers up on the platform or the smokey atmosphere of the club. Jeez, it feels like people also smoke pot here... I wonder if I'll get high just by smelling the fumes. Either way, I'm not overly comfortable...

I'm just not used to large club settings like this. Mainly if I drink I like to stick to bars. That's the way it was with Tonn Actus, that's the way it stayed when I moved in with Mangdalar and Yelena, and it's the way it'll stay until the day I die if I can help it... Well... I can't help it now, but still.

I'm a man with a mission, so I'll make do with the hand I'm given. Which isn't much, but it's better than nothing.

I don't even care to stop by the bar as I walk over to the area that I know Aria T'Loak is going to be at. Her guards eye me nervously, and I see a turian standing there with a pistol in his hands. As I approach, I see his expression form into a scowl.

Yeah, reception here is going to be really warm.

I approach him with a nod, looking over to him.

"What do you want, human?" asks the turian, spite over his voice.

... Asshole. Oh, well. I'll just have to grin and bear it. I place my hands behind my back as I look up, not daring to look away from his gaze.

"I want to see Aria T'Loak," I say. "She may have something I need."

"Aria T'Loak isn't seeing anyone right now," he replies. "Now beat it."

Well, that didn't work. All right... My fingers drum along the credit chit as I look over to him. Shit... how am I supposed to bribe someone when I've never done it before? Oh... Just get to it.

I pull out the credit chit, approaching him. He reels back at first, but when he feels the credit chit enter his pocket, he pauses. I look at him with a tilt of my head as my hand comes away, back to resting behind my back where it was before.

"I'll say it again," I reply. "I want to see Aria T'Loak."

The guard sighs, looking over to the platform that overlooks the entire nightclub. He nods to me, his mandibles huffing out.

"One moment," he sighed out.

And with this, he walked up the steps to the platform that Aria T'Loak was on. This left me to stand there waiting around. I looked up at Aria's platform, and then realized how loud the techno was. I was glad for the slight sound proofing up there; that would make my life a whole lot easier. Man, this techno music sucks... Well...

I begin to tap my hand against my arm as I look up. I bob my head to this pulse that is deliberately different from the club's pulse, and with this I hum one of the ostinatos from the third movement of _Asyla_. Which is technically techno-inspired, but it's a pretty cool way of doing it in classical music, so I won't complain too much. I bob my head to this beat, and allow myself to get lost in my own music.

And as I get lost, I begin to notice how it contrasts with the music beating around the rest of Afterlife. It's almost like a Charles Ives symphony, in a way. I wonder what would have happened if he was born much later than he was. I'd bet his 4th Symphony would use techno and disco in its incredibly crazy second movement instead of ragtime and marching band music. But hey, Ives is fine the way he is, and the second movement is awesome by sheer fact of how freaking manic it is. Almost like me, really; too much happening at once, but then there's something kind of cool about that. I'm glad I got to see it live before heading over here; I can't seem to find any performances of it in the area. I'll have to change that somehow...

I see the turian guard come down, nodding in my direction as my beat peters out of existence. I turn to him with an expectant look as he crosses his arms.

"She'll see you now," he said. "Don't fuck with her, and you should be fine."

All right! I got to see Aria T'Loak! I nod and give him a soft smile.

"Don't worry," I reply. "If that's the only rule of Omega, it shouldn't be too hard to follow."

And with this, I walked past him and up the steps. All right, so bribery works. Good thing Khalisa al-Jilani didn't follow me here, otherwise my career would be over. And it only just started, too... Ah, well. At least the film score will supercede my death. I have something to my legacy now... So I can more or less die in peace...

But I still don't really want to die...

I walk up the stairs, and I finally catch a glimpse of Aria. She's lounging on the chair there, and as soon as I step up to the platform her eyes go straight to me. She's surrounded by a batarian entourage, exactly the same as it was in the game. Okay... This is going to be fun. One asari, one human, and a ton of batarians. Yeah, there isn't going to be any hostility here at all...

As I walk over to Aria, I'm stopped by one of the batarians. He pulls out his gun, looking me over. He's not gonna shoot, I know that. So I simply eye him, raising one of my eyebrows as I suddenly find I'm not sure which pair of eyes I'm supposed to look at if I want to be intimidating. I dart between the two of them before the batarian snorts in laughter. Oh, great, here I am and before I can even get to talk to her I'm laughed at by a batarian. Oh yeah? We'll see who's laughing when I get Neo on your ass, you son of a bitch!

He puts down his weapon, seeing that I mean no harm. He brings up his omni-tool and works on it a little. A scan of my body comes up soon after, and there are points there that pop up.

"Hold still," he says.

I blink, raising one of my eyebrows. "Uh, all the weapons I ever need are on my back," I point out. "If I wanted to kill someone, I probably would've done it earlier."

"It's standard procedure," replies the asari from behind him. Oh, hi Trinity. We're going to have some good times, huh? "Just do as he says."

I don't need her to continue to know what the thread left hanging means. Yeah, I'm not too keen on starting this conversation off on the wrong foot. So yeah, I'll just shut up now. I nod to him, and then stand as still as I can. How do scans like these feel anyhow...? If they're uncomfortable... I hope not, anyhow. I've never gotten an MRI, a scan like this probably won't be too good for my health...

"All right, you're clean," says the batarian with a nod. "You can speak with Aria now."

Oh. Well... that wasn't too bad. I didn't really feel anything. Then again, it was a scan of only my armor... So I guess I shouldn't be so surprised...

I nod at him as he walks off, the entourage mostly leaving to give Aria and myself a little bit of space. I look at the asari as she sits there. Yeah, she's just as decadent as she was in the game. Long dress, strange white vest, her blue skin sort of offset by the garish lighting of Afterlife. She's got that mischievous glint in her eye as if she has me exactly where she wants and that she knows what I'm up to. She just has this air of authority about her that she exudes so easily it's insane. It's kind of like an asari version of Vito Corleone in a way; fitting how they're both technically criminals, and how they both seem to know it and they just don't care because they have other things to worry about.

She gives me a rather disturbing smile as she looks me up and down.

"This your first time on Omega, kid?" she asks.

I frown at this, crossing my arms. "I'll have you know I turned 22 just a few weeks ago," I correct her. "And technically speaking, yes, this is my first time on Omega. On business, but still..."

"You have quite a mouth on you," she says. "My first suggestion? Keep it shut; it might get you into quite a lot of trouble here on Omega. Next question; I'm sure you know who I am, as most people who come to Omega for the first time don't really know the first thing about me or its only rule. And yet you know enough that you come straight here asking for me. So... Who am I?"

I nod at this. Well... this might turn around rather quickly. "Yeah, you're Aria T'Loak," I reply, gesturing out with my arms as I look out to the club. "You run the show here. For all intents and purposes, you're the queen of Omega."

"Feeling quite adventurous, I see..." she said, her mouth forming a smirk that showed she was flattered. "And its only rule?"

I tilt my head to the side (to the left so I don't unintentionally piss off the batarians) as I cross my arms.

"Don't fuck with Aria." I look up, crossing my arms. "Most people who fuck with you tend to die pretty easily so you can make an example of them. So if anyone fucks with you, they done goofed." I look right at Aria. "Which means that it's a line I'll try not to cross right now, because... well, you know..."

Her smirk holds as she sits at the little couch-thing. "I'm impressed," she said. "I never thought you to be the type to know these things, especially on a first visit to Omega." She shifts slightly, giving me a knowing look. "But, here you are. Take a seat."

Hey, I've been doing nothing _but _sitting for the past several hours! But... I guess I can't say no... So I walk over to a couch. This is the approximate place Shepard sits down, I think. I sit down, leaning forward as I do. I look at her as my hands begin playing with my fingers. I look to Aria, still with that smile on her face. She shifts, one of her legs coming over the other as her arms splay against the top of the couch she's sitting on.

"So, you're looking for information, Mr...?" she asks.

"*********," I reply. "You can call me Art."

She nods at this. "All right, Art..." she says. "What kind of information are you looking for?"

I glance at her briefly before I lean back, crossing my arms as I look at her. "I'm looking for someone," I reply. "I figured you might know where she is."

"And who is this 'someone'?" asked Aria.

I smirked at this, looking over to her. "I'm looking for Commander Shepard."

Her... eh... the asari's lack of eyebrows always seems to get to me somehow. So she raises whatever constitutes that, and she gives me a knowing look. "Commander Shepard?" she asked. "And what makes you think I know her?"

"I got a message from a friend," I reply. Well, at least I can be partly honest. "I figured I might check here to see what's up with her. I mean, really, when you've been declared dead for two years, where else can you go?"

She nods at this, her smile fading slightly. "Indeed," she says. "And why do you need to look for her?"

I raise one of my eyebrows. "I'm an old friend of hers," I reply. "From the _Normandy_. My friend told me she might need my help, so... here I am."

"Right..." she says, and I suddenly notice that she suspects me. "May I see this message?"

I blink, my mouth hanging open briefly before closing it. Yeah, that's not happening. Looks like it's time to provide a white lie... "With all due respect, Ms. T'Loak, I like to keep my messages to myself," I say. "It's vague enough that I don't think you'd get it anyhow."

The woman blinked, a small frown on her face. "You better not be fucking with me," she says.

I calmly placed my hands in my lap, shrugging briefly. "I wouldn't dream of it, Ms. T'Loak," I reply, my hands settling themselves squarely in my lap. "I'm generally not the type to fuck with the wrong people. Especially when I'm outnumbered five, six to one." With this, I gestured to her guards, who were sort of standing around there as if nothing was happening.

The asari glances over to her guards, and for a second I can't read her face. Asari should be fairly easy to read... But you never know. Finally she looks back to me and nods.

"All right then," she says. "So you're not fucking with me. What then?"

Oh. I guess she suspects I want to find her for something else... I lean forward, looking over to her. "It's a long story," I start. "So I'll give you the Sparknotes version: I know she's on a mission. I'm trying to see if I can help her on said mission. So you can either help me, or I can find her on my own. And if I find her on my own, we'll both have wasted our time sitting here talking. So... I'm asking for your help. Key word being asking."

I sit there for a few seconds longer as Aria regards me. Her mouth cracks into a smirk, and her hands come from the couch to settle in front of her as she crosses her legs.

"You're really not giving up on this, are you?" she asks.

I snort, shaking my head. "Believe you me, Ms. T'Loak, I'm not the type that gives up easily," I say.

"Very well then," she says. "She came to me about twenty minutes before you asked to see me." Oh... I just missed her! "She's gathering a team together; if you know she's on a mission, I'm sure you should know its objective."

I nod. "They're going to try to stop human colonies from disappearing," I reply.

"Good," continues Aria with a smile. "She's currently looking for the vigilante Archangel." Okay, so I have to crash Garrus' recruitment mission. Fun times. "He had a squad. Pissed off every merc company on Omega while he was at it. We don't know what happened to the squad, but they all vanished, so I am assuming they were all killed. All three of them are working together to bring him down. Blood Pack, Eclipse, Blue Suns, you name it, they're there. And they never work together unless shit is seroius. Right at the moment, Archangel is alone and trapped in a warehouse. He's really giving them hell, and all three merc companies are recruiting anyone with a gun in a few rooms over here and over here." She points at a few rooms down on the lower level of Afterlife. Huh, I thought they were somewhere else in the game. Well... It has been two years since I last played, so I guess I can't remember every detail. "I told Shepard pretty much the same thing. If you sign up, you should be able to find her. That's what I recommend doing."

I nod at this, looking over to Aria as she shifts where she sits. "All right," I say. "Look for the merc companies. Got it."

With this, I stand up, nodding to her as I smile. I place my hands on my legs and bow to her politely. "Thank you, Ms. T'Loak," I say.

"Spare me the thanks, kid," she replies. "Go get 'em."

I nodded. "I won't take any more of your time, then," I said. "Thank you once again, and... well... I guess I'll see you around."

I hear Aria mutter something along the lines of 'if you're lucky' as I turn around. As I nod to the batarian guards, I see them all resume their original stances. I wonder what would happen if Aria were to get into an all-black-leather get-up and decided to bring guns around. Ah, yes... And we'll need bullet time. Lots and lots of bullet time...

All right, I get to crash Garrus' recruitment mission. Hopefully I'll get in before Garrus gets those really bad face scars. And that means that Shepard will get two members of her old squad. I bet it'll do her some good to have an extra familiar face on the crew. She's likely to do better on the mission that way.

Speaking of the crew... I wonder what the status of her crew is now... Well... most people go with Mordin first when they tackle the Omega recruitments, and Zaeed is the easiest Omega recruitment there is since he just kind of goes to your ship, so I'll assume that Mordin and Zaeed are already both part of the squad. Which means I can expect Zaeed, Mordin, Miranda, and Jacob on Shepard's squad when I crash the party. And then Garrus is gonna be sniping from above, so I need to be careful once I enter the fray. Right...

Okay, that takes care of that. Now... I better go see about the merc recruitment.

I walk back down to the lower level of Afterlife, the techno music coming back into prominence as I look around. Okay, there has to be something somewhere... Ah. I see a guy in Blue Suns armor looking at me suspiciously as I walk over. Okay, I guess I'll go in with the Blue Suns... I think Shepard went with the Blue Suns, anyhow. Yes... yes, the batarian from that one renegade interrupt by the airship was a Blue Suns. Okay, so I'll talk to the Blue Suns recruiter.

I approach the door and see a human in Blue Suns armor there. He nods to me, and I nod back.

"Is this where they're recruiting?" I ask.

"Yep," replies the human. "Hope you're in the mood for killin' turians today."

"Of course," I say, gesturing to the door. "Is someone in there right now?"

The man looked at the door briefly before nodding. "Yeah, some chick entered two minutes ago," he said. "She's been tryin' to sign up for some time now. She's throwin' a fit and everythin'."

I raise my eyebrow. "Really?" I ask. "Why won't they just recruit her and get it over with?"

"She ain't got a gun on her," he replies. "She's a real desperate chick, I'll tell ya that."

Hm. Woman comes in, asks to get in, doesn't have a gun on her that people can see... Hm... Somehow I get the feeling she's not really out for Archangel's blood. I don't know, but my instinct is telling me to trust this girl with my trying to get back into Shepard's squad. So... I guess I will. I've got mixed feelings about it, but hey, there's not much I can do about that, now is there?

I nod at this, crossing my arms. "So get her a gun and that's it?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "But she ain't leavin'. Not until she gets in there, I take it."

I sigh, shaking my head. "Look, I don't have time for this," I say. "Let me in. Now."

The man rose one of his eyebrows. "What, ya want in?" he asks.

"I can deal with the problem on the way," I say. "Maybe get her out of the office without too much of a problem. Now let me in."

He hesitates briefly, looking at the door. His expression shifts, and he lets out a sigh. He opens up his omni-tool and keys a few things in on it. I see the door open unceremoniously, and I see a rather young woman shouting at the recruiter. I can't hear her exact words as they're being drowned out by the techno music around us, but the batarian recruiter seems to be giving her a hard time.

Oh. That certainly doesn't help.

Right. I walk over into the recruitment room, and both people turn to look at me. The woman, now that I see her, looks a little like an Irish version of someone I know. She's got flaming red hair, green eyes... that whole ensemble. She's got quite a few freckles on her face, though, as I see when she turns to me. She's not even in armor, but that will change soon I'm sure. Or not. Either way, her simple colonist uniform doesn't do much for her.

I go up to the recruitment agent, the door closing behind me and instantly cutting off the techno music. I look over to the recruiter and nod.

"So I'm to understand that she doesn't have a gun?" I asked.

The recruiter nodded. "Yes," said the recruiter. "I don't see what this has to do with you, sir. I'm just doing my job, and-"

Before he can elaborate further, I reach for my handgun. He's suddenly quiet at this, but I look to the woman with a knowing nod. I plop the gun into her hands, and she takes it in surprise. She looks down at the pistol before looking back up at me in surprise, and I nod before turning to the recruiter.

"She's got one now," I point out. "I think you know what this means."

The recruiter looked between us briefly before letting out a soft sigh. "Oh, all right," he says, waving one of his hands in defeat. "I guess you have guns too."

I turn around to show him my magnetic rack, which has my shotgun, my assault rifle, and my sniper rifle. "Pick your poison," I joke as I tilt my head.

The batarian laughs at this, his mood improved. "Indeed," he says. "All right, I think we're good. Hang on a second..."

He keys a few things in his omni-tool as he glances back at us briefly. A ping sounds from it a few seconds later, and then he nods.

"All right, you two are all set to go," he said. "You'll be working on an aircraft with the leader of the Blue Suns, so you'll meet up with an escort just before then."

I nod at- wait, the airship? So... Wait... I've got a chance to avert Garrus getting a scar on his face! Sweet! I wonder if I can get this woman's help on that. "And where will the escort be?" I ask.

"He'll be waiting outside of Afterlife," he states. "Get a drink. He should be here in ten minutes."

I nod at this. "Thank you, sir," I reply.

The batarian nodded in agreement. "Of course," he says. "If you see Archangel, give 'im hell!"

With this, we both nod and go on our merry way. Neither of us speak as we leave the private room, so we end up just sitting at a small booth somewhere, looking at each other. The techno music beats overhead again as she looks at the handgun. I see her eyebrows raise in curiosity as she looks at the weapon. I see an asari waitress come up to us, and I ask for a screwdriver. The woman I'm with shakes her head, not wanting to drink anything at the moment. The waitress leaves, and then I glance at my new friend.

Hm... She's quite curious about the handgun it seems. Fun times, fun times. I lean over as I take the screwdriver in my hands. I take a short sip before setting it back down, looking at her as she admires the gun.

"It's a Carnifex hand cannon," I begin. "Military make. I've been holding on to that thing for quite some time now."

At this, she raises her eyebrows. "Mililtary make?" she asks, a light Irish accent gracing her words as she gestures to the handgun. "What's an Alliance marine like you doin' here?"

I shake my head. "I'm not Alliance," I reply with agesture. "Not any more, anyhow. I served on the SSV Normandy before retiring."

"The Normandy?" she asks, looking over to me with a new kind of awe in her eyes. "You didn't serve with Commander Shepard, did ya?"

I nod, smiling. "As a matter of fact, I did," I reply. "The name's ****** *********. You can call me Art for short, though."

She beamed at me brightly, setting the hand cannon down as the asari waitress came with my drink. "Jenny McKansa," she introduces herself. "I'm a fan of Shepard's!"

"I see..." I simply nod as I say this, looking to the young woman beside me. I briefly nod at the asari waitress, who leaves us alone now as I take my drink and sip lightly. She doesn't look that much older than me; in fact... No, the less I think about my standpartner from NYSMF the better. "Well, with any luck we might run into her here," I continue.

With this, Jenny arched one of her eyebrows. "But I thought she was dead, mate," she replied.

"Well, she must've come back to life or something," I reply without skipping a beat. "A friend of mine from the Normandy just so happened to run into her. I heard she was dealing in Omega, and, well, here I am."

"I see..." she said. "Do you think she's looking for Archangel?"

"Definitely," I reply. "I hear she's trying to get some kind of team together. But enough about me. What're you doing here?"

She glances to the side as she shifts in her seat. Oh, boy, this is gonna be fun. "Well, if you must know..." she began. "I'm here looking for a friend."

"Oh?" I ask. "And he's on Omega?"

She nodded. "But he was in Archangel's squad," she says. "I want to make sure he is all right; I heard that the rest of his squad..."

Oh, shit... This is not gonna turn out well. Garrus' squad all died in the game, so... I imagine their fate here is pretty bad. But I just don't think I can bring myself to tell Jenny that. Eh... it's probably better to let Garrus tell her himself. Yeah, it probably is... At any rate, I wonder how bad Garrus' blood-rage is in terms of Sidonis at this moment. It's probably pretty bad... I just hope I can deal with it, because I don't think I'll ever see Garrus get so thirsty for someone else's blood. If it doesn't scare me, I'll be greatly surprised.

"I see..." I say, setting down my screwdriver briefly. "So... this friend of yours..."

"He's a quarian." Ah, good to see Garrus is keeping up with the whole racial friendship thing. "He... he was born on Mindoir. The colony was attacked when he was only thirteen." Oh? Huh. I thought that nobody would survive Mindoir given that Shepard had the Spacer origin. Huh. "It's a wee bit odd how a quarian was the only survivor on a human colony. You know, mate?"

"So how'd you meet him?" I ask, leaning forward.

"He was relocated to the colony at Horizon while they decided what to do with him," she replies, her eyes lighting up. "That's where I met 'im. his name is Nogond'Viraliz."

"nar Mindoir, I take it?" I ask, taking up my screwdriver. "I don't think he's gone on his Pilgrimage."

She nods. "He went back to the fleet, but he never completed his Pilgrimage," she replies. "How do you know what that is, anyway?"

"Well," I say, taking a sip of my drink as a smile lights up my face. "That's one of the perks of having a good quarian friend yourself."

Jenny blinks violently, her eyes greatly registering surprise as she looks at me. "You too?" she asks.

"Yep," I reply, my eyes going skyward as I think of Tali. "Her name's Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Well... it's vas Neema now, she completed her Pilgrimage. I met her when I served on the Normandy. And... well... she was a sweetheart. I'd go down to engineering sometimes, and I always loved to listen to her gush on and on and on about machines. And she always talked a lot about quarians. It was... interesting, hearing about their way of life. But she was also such a sweetie... I trust her with something I wouldn't even trust my biological family to know, and she hasn't told anyone... It's just so..."

Jenny blinks before smirking playfully. "You didn't happen to link environments, did you?" she asks, her tone infinitely playful.

Wait, what? No! "What?" I ask, jumping back in my seat, setting my glass on the table violently. She looks at me for all of two seconds before she starts laughing. "No! I did _not_ do anything like that with her!"

She shakes her head, her laughter dying down quickly. Her smirk hasn't dimished, though. I'm taking that as a bad sign. "I dunno, mate," she says. "From the sound of things, it looks like ya wanna screw her, yes?"

I swear I can feel my cheeks are on fire right now. "No!" I reply, holding my hands up defensively. "That's not how it-! No! Just no! Why would you-? No! No! Just... No! That's not cool! No no no no no! No! Hell no! I refu-! No! No!"

And the entire time, Jenny is laughing her ass off as I get all defensive, so much so that I'm almost afraid her laugh is projecting over the techno music in all the nearby booths. She quiets down... eventually. And when she does, she's got the broadest smile on her face. "Oh, come on," she says. "You mean you really can't bloody tell by this point?"

"Well, I mean, we were always strictly best friends forever..." I say. "...I guess...?"

She nods. "Yeah, you definitely feel for 'er, mate," she replies. I shoot her one last glare, but her smile doesn't fade at all. "But anyway, we're gettin' off topic here. Nogond and I met at Horizon. He and I came onto each other, ya know? He's like the younger brother I never had."

Now it's my turn to smirk. "I bet that's a euphemism for wanting to get into his enviro-suit..." I say.

But instead of getting all defensive, she shakes her head. "Not happenin', mate," she replies. "He... doesn't lean that way. If you know what I mean."

I blink at this, my eyes suddenly gazing down to my hands and then back to her. "Oh." Well... that's interesting... A gay quarian, eh? Huh. "Oh... I see." I shrug at this, smiling. "Must be interesting having a gay best friend."

"You mean you're not even a wee bit bothered?" she asks.

I shake my head. "I'd be lying if I said I was," I reply. "Trust me, I'm a musician who grew up on Earth, I grew up around a lot of them."

She nods at this, getting my meaning at this. "He doesn't like it when it's brought up," she says. "But... I figured you should know. Just so I don't go on a massive no escapade the way you just did."

Oh, son of a bitch! "Right," I say, shaking my head. "But still... Are you sure?"

"Well... he doesn't like to expound on it unless you ask," he said. "And he doesn't really make it a point of flaunting it around, so if you slip up he'll be able to tell that it was my doing."

"I see..." I say, drumming my fingers on the table. 'So... what happened after you met him?"

She nods. "He left Horizon after about two months," she continued. "But we always talked after we had met. He told me he had joined Archangel's squad a year or so back. He's a biotic, you know; they could use that."

I arched my eyebrows, my neck stiffening. Wait, what? "A quarian biotic?" I ask. "I didn't even know such a thing existed! I mean, yeah, I've heard of krogan biotics, but a quarian biotic?"

"They're incredibly rare," she replies. "But that's a story you can probably ask your friend about. I heard that Archangel's squad had been attacked... And I want to see Archangel himself, if only to know that Nogond is still alive..."

I nod. "Well, I'm not too keen on killing Archangel either," I reply. "So... I guess it's up to us to sabotage the Blue Suns side of things, eh?"

Jenny smirks as I take another sip of my screwdriver. "That it is," she replies, a smile coming on her face. "Ya wanna see what happens with this air vehicle and play it off from there?"

I nod, setting down the screwdriver and leaving the tab there. "Sure," I say with a broad smile. "Let the good times roll?"

She nods, her eyes gleaming with a mischievous air as she looks at me. "Let 'em roll."

And with this, we both stand up, the tab paid for as we walk out of Afterlife, the woman still holding my hand cannon and with a big spring in her step as we leave the... er...

What do you call a night club in a place that doesn't have a proper night cycle?

* * *

We meet up with our batarian escort just a few minutes later. We're escorted from there to the warehouse that Garrus is holed up in. Okay, this is going to be pretty fun. I just hope we don't come across Shepard first, because that would mean the end of a lot of our plans. So we simply walk along, Jenny grasping my pistol as we move along.

As we move along, we see a bunch of mercs getting into formation. I... I see. Well... if memory serves me correctly, the krogan and the vorcha are Blood Pack, the batarians, turians, and humans are Blue Suns, and the humans and the asari are Eclipse. And all around them are various no-gooders in armor, and they're all running around doing stuff. Okay. This sounds like a plan in motion indeed. I wonder if I can see any of Shepard's squad in here.

I look around, grasping Jenny's arm as I do so. I look for any signs of someone... Okay... Nobody over by the Blood Pack side of things... I think. Shepard is probably already somewhere else within Blue Suns territory... Hm... What about...?

Aha! I catch sight of a salarian within the Eclipse crowd with fairly brownish skin. He's also got a lot of scars on his face, and is in red and white armor. Okay, it's Mordin! So he is on the crew of the Normandy. Okay... Good choice, good choice. Having a functional med-bay is always nice, as Chakwas can't do everything. So yeah, fun times. And standing next to him is a brown haired woman in a white skin-tight suit. Okay... Ah, yes, and the Cerberus logo is there. Okay, that's Miranda... Oh, thank god the uncanny valley for her didn't carry over from the game. I always thought her eyes were a bit creepy, but here... Yeah, she just looks stunning. It doesn't mean she'll be allowed to flaunt her genetic perfectness while I'm here, but hey, at least I can kind of see why every shot of her ass is gratuitous...

Okay... That's in the Eclipse crowd, and looking over I can't seem to find anyone. Maybe she just took three squadmates for this one... Or maybe the rest of her squad is with her. Right.

Well, I know for sure I'm in the right recruitment mission now. Thank God for that. I wonder what Jenny and I are gonna do...

We're escorted away from the rest of the gathering forces by our batarian escort rather quickly, however, and he brings us out to another side of the warehouse. We can see that there's a huge hole in said warehouse, and I guess that's where the airship is going to be going in through. All right. Fun times with that... We go past more people coming in. Shepard's gonna have her hands full. Good thing I'm here to help however I can...

And eventually, we're brought into a hangar, where we see a batarian working on armor plating the ship. Huh, this is the area Shepard was supposed to go through. Looks like she didn't take the Renegade interrupt. Well... I can see how this could work, but... We'd have to gauge our abilities first.

I see another batarian in Blue Suns armor watching over the repairs on the gunship, and as the two of us are brought in our escort says something to the other man. Their conversation is brief, and then I see him eye us. Well, with one of his eyes anyhow. I fidget between them again as he comes forward. He stops in front of us, looking us over thoroughly and nodding.

"Not what I expected, but it'll do," he said. "I take it you two know what we are fighting?"

We both nod politely. "That we do... uh...?" I ask, gesturing for a name.

"Tarak," he replies. Ah, so this is the guy who's supposed to pilot the gunship... "And you are...?"

"McFly," I reply. Jenny turns to look at me with confused eyes, but I elbow her as discreetly as I can. "Marty McFly. And this is my girlfriend, Jennifer Parker."

Jenny hesitates, but she takes the hint. Without saying anything she turns back to Tarak. "Uh, hi, sir," she replies nervously.

The batarian simply tilts his head to the right. Yeah, that's the insulting gesture. Fuck my life. "Welcome," he said. "I don't think you've been briefed on the attacks?"

I shake my head. "No, sir," I reply. "The people in the recruitment office were a bit... touchy. You have a plan?"

"It's the closest thing we can amount to one, anyway," replies the airship operator. "The Blood Pack is going in first with a rush attack. If that doesn't work, then the Eclipse will be rushing in. And if that doesn't work, we'll be coming in. Seems a bit excessive, but Archangel is one tough son of a bitch to kill." Yeah, well, don't expect Operation Zerg Rush there to work too well. Garrus is one hard son of a bitch to kill, even when you nail him in the face with a missile. And with Shepard there... Yeah, you're fucked. But... I can't really say anything about that, can I?

"I can imagine, sir," I reply as he gestures to us. "So what are we doing?"

"Well..." said the batarian. "Do either of you know how to man an airship?"

I freeze up. Shit, airship experience? But... Oh, damn it!

But Jenny comes to my rescue. "I do, sir," she says. "And he's got some experience manning an airship gun."

He nods. "All right," he says. "Miss, I'll need you to pilot my airship. Marty can likely stay down with the main Blue Suns ground team. When our attack comes in, we're going to swoop in through that hole you saw earlier. Can you handle a tight maneuver like that?"

"I believe so, sir," replies Jenny.

"Good," says Tarak. "Normally, I wouldn't trust human pilots, but I can tell you know what you're doing. That's good." He moves over to the airship. "It frees up my hands for the gunner's seat. Makes me have to do less work, and allows me to concentrate on firing the guns."

Ah, so there's a second seat... Hm... I begin to form a plan in my mind... Okay... Yes, that should work.

"And as for Marty, you can go with the two other batarians in the room to join the rest of the ground team," says Tarak. "Is this understood?"

"Of course," I say with a nod.

"Good," replies the batarian, gesturing to his friends. "You can probably head to the rest of the team while we're waiting."

I raise my eyebrows, looking at him. "Actually, sir," I say. "I was wondering if I had enough time to talk to Jenny alone?"

The batarian looks at me, and looks to the other two people there. They both shrug, and the guy who was repairing the airship has more than a few things to check. "They do, sir," says the repairman. "Maybe we should...?"

I can see Tarak glance back, annoyance in this gesture. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asks.

Hm... I think he might suspect us... Not happening yet. "Well, what harm could it do?" asks the lieutenant. "Maybe it's just a last goodbye or something. Who knows?"

Tarak glances at us... Yeah, four eyed glances are creepy... Yeah, those bullies from school really better retract their four-eyes stance, or else bullets are gonna fly. Finally, he turns to us and nods.

"Fine," he says. "Find somewhere private and talk."

I nod, a brief 'thank you' coming out of my mouth as I look to Jenny. She nods, and then we both walk away to somewhere private. We see a small room, and then enter it quickly. When we enter, they're just minding their own business. As the door hisses shut behind us, I glance at the door and bite my lower lip. As soon as I feel the coast is clear, I nod to my companion.

"All right, how do you want to do this?" I ask.

She nods. "I really do have the airship experience," she says. "Growing up on Horizon had a lot of that, you know. I got to ride the airships there all the time. And then I got to pilot one, and I learned how to fly it."

I nod. Ah, so colonies involve vehicular experience, eh? Shepard should've been a colonist; maybe then, she could've reigned the Mako a bit from its bounciness. Oh well. You can't always get what you want, you know.

"Of course," I say. "So... We hijack the airship, cause hell for the Blue Suns, and save Archangel." I smirk as I look over to her. "Sounds dangerous. And explosive. I'm in."

"So am I," she replies, a smirk coming to her own face. "But how are we going to get rid of Tarak?"

I shrug, gesturing to the door. "Well, I have to go with the two batarians to the rest of the Blue Suns ground team," I say. "So... I could always eliminate them before we reconvene with the Blue Suns, and then I can come back and get Tarak somehow."

"How do you plan on doing that?" she asks.

"Sniper rifle," I reply, patting it on my weapons rack. "I come back somehow, set up in my hiding spot, and right when he calls on you, I snipe his ass into hell."

Jenny chuckles at this. "Shows them to invade our colonies, ya know?" she asks.

I raise my eyebrow, looking to the door. "I dunno, Jenny," I say. "Sometimes life isn't all that simple."

She snorts at this, her expression turning sour. "Look, we know how bad batarians can be, all right?" she asks. "We all have to learn how to defend ourselves against batarians, because the Alliance is rarely a help against them. I think I've got a bloody good reason to want a batarian dead, mate."

Yeah, and I've got an even better reason to not want one dead that starts and ends with an 'r' and may or may not include the letters 'e', 'a', and 'p'. I shrug, looking to the door.

"Have it your way," I reply. Racist. "Just, don't jump the gun, and don't try to kill Tarak by yourself. If you do, things will get out of control very fast, and we could have the entire Blue Suns on Omega on our asses. And that would be a bad thing. So yes, you might not like this, but for now you'll just have to grin and bear it. Okeday?"

She sighs, her expression no less worse for wear. "Fine," she says. "I'll work with 'em. For now."

She bends down and works on something on her leg. "Oh, and before we leave," she says. "Ya might want to take this..."

Jenny then unbuckles something, and when she lifts it up I see a brown leather holster for a dagger in her hands. Inside there is a rather ornate hilt for a dagger, and it just screams 'I want to kill something'. Wow, so Jenny keeps a knife hidden at all times? Ooh. Fun times abound.

"Nogond gave it to me," she continues. "He says it usually helps to surprise people. Strap it around your leg, and make it fast. Try to get one of 'em in the eyes; it really hurts from what I hear."

I blink at the dagger. I... am not an expert with knife-play. I don't think... But... I'll humor her for now, as I do need to be silent. I take the knife, and look down to my leg. Okay... Hm... Yeah, this might go best just under my knee. I bend down and work the strap through the are just under my kneecap, and after a bit of effort I work the knife strap in there. I buckle up, and then note that the dagger is outside of my right leg. Okay, that'll make things easier.

I smile. "Okay," I say, gesturing to the door. "So, let's get going."

"Yeah," she says, nodding her head in a sour mood.

... Wow, she must really hate batarians. Right... I should lighten up the mood.

"Commencing Phase 1 of Operation Guardian Angel, now," I say as we come to the door.

I hear her giggle from behind as the door whooshes open. I smile, glad that I was able to give her a last bit of humor before we do what we have to do.

We both exit the room, and the three batarians are still there. It doesn't look like they've overheard us (thank God), so they turn to us. They nod, and then they turn around. Right, that's my cue to follow them. They step forward, and then I walk past Jenny and Tarak as I follow. They go around a table, and then to a beeline to a door out of the warehouse.

As I walk behind them, Jenny stops by Tarak. I spare a glance back as I walk behind them, and I wink at her. Okay... I'll get through this, Jenny. Don't you worry about me. I'll kill them somehow. She seems to get the message, and looks over to the batarian as I walk out of the warehouse. The door closes, and I can see the distance we've walked and the hole that opens into the warehouse. The sound of gunfire is flying from all over in there. Huh, looks like the Blood Pack attack has begun.

Okay... I need to act fast. And quietly. Preferably both. If a batarian starts screaming about betrayal within the Blue Suns, all this will have been for naught. Okay... So... I wonder if these batarians really are as intelligent as they think they are, with their high-and-mighty attitudes about having more eyes than the rest of us...

...And now I'm a little racist. Yeah, great going there with the consistency and everything, Art.

Okay... I bend down and draw my dagger quietly. Neither of them suspect a thing... Okay, who do I go for first...?

Well, the repairman is moving forward very quickly, and I see the other guy lag behind. He's close enough that I can catch him by surprise... Okay, so I'll go for the other guy then. Concealing the knife behind my forearm, I approach the batarian from behind.

Okay... You gotta time this just right... Okay... Closer... I'm almost on top of him... Now!

I grab the batarian, throwing my arm around his neck. Okay... Now! I slit his throat, clasping the dagger hand over his mouth so that the gurgle doesn't come out. I gently lower him onto the floor, and he dies almost as soon as I set him on the ground. Blood pools around him, and then I look to the other batarian.

Okay, one down... one to go.

I quickly but quietly sneak up to the other batarian... Okay... do the same thing... Get close... Almost on top... Now!

I then rush up to the repairman, flinging my arm around his neck and bringing the dagger up to his throat. I slit it quickly, and then gently let him down on the floor as blood gets all over the ground. He gurgles a little longer before he finally stills, but this time it's not as much of an issue since the sounds of a guy gurgling in his death throes are probably not going to be heard over that kind of gunfire.

I look at both dead batarians, looking around for a place to hide them. I don't see any real place to hid them, so... My eyes fall on some kind of waste thing.

Ah. That will do nicely.

It's a small effort, but I am able to eventually hoist both dead batarians into the waste thing. I can't do anything about the blood, but it blends well enough. So unless someone steps in it, they won't notice. Speaking of which... this is a lot of blood. Tim Burton really wasn't kidding with the amount of blood he used in _Sweeney Todd_. I guess George Hearn's stage blood bit wasn't good enough. For some reason, getting your throat slit always seemed a bit... cleaner in most media.

Oh, well. If none of their souls were saved, they went to their maker impeccably shaved.

Right. Now that that's over with, it's time to get back to Jenny.

So I rush back to the warehouse from where I was, finding it quickly and realizing I still need a way in. Hm... Well, the air vehicle has to come out of somewhere, right...?

Right, yeah. That sounds about correct. So where...

Hm... Maybe there's some kind of skylight it can come out of? It's my only chance. Only question is... How in the fuck do I get there...?

I look to the side and see another one of those waste things. I look further, and see that the distance between the warehouse and the next building isn't too bad. Hm... I could probably wall-jump between the two walls... And then if I do that enough I can get onto the roof from there. And then I can see what's in store.

Oh, goody. I get to climb up the side of a precarious building with almost no footholds or anything. Good thing I learned how to do the asari version of le parkour over the past two years. That'll come in handy. Right...

I look at the waste thing, and take in a few breaths. Okay... Ready... now!

I rush over to the waste thing, making sure I hang by the wall opposite my destination. Okay, build momentum... I see the waste thing rush up... now!

I jump onto the waste thing, my momentum carrying me up and in front of the wall. Without hesitating, I begin to run up the wall, taking about three steps up before I turn to the other wall and jump off. I gain a little bit of vertical distance as my feet connect with the other wall, and before I can really think about it too hard my feet kick off, and I fly towards the warehouse wall. Okay, vertical distance gain... Jump off the wall again, and face the other way. Okay, one more jump should do the trick...

And it does. My hands are able to grasp onto the top of the warehouse, and I'm hanging on the ledge. Okay... Yeah, this probably wasn't the best idea with standard-issue armor on. But hey, I don't really have much else to go on. Besides, I've got less time to work with now that the Blood Pack attack has likely gone to hell. I hope Miranda and Mordin are doing a good job of distracting the Eclipse mercs... If they do, that'll buy me more time.

Right, now's not the time to think on all of that. I hoist myself up onto the roof, and look at the roof from here. Okay, I knew Omega didn't have weather, so... Okay, the warehouse roof is made of some kind of clear material. I hope it's fragile. Okay... Yeah, this might work.

I creep closer to the warehouse, pulling out my sniper rifle quietly as I edge over to there... I peer out and into the warehouse. Okay, Jenny's keeping Tarak occupied. All right, that works to my advantage. Hopefully Tarak hasn't received the call yet, and it's good to see that Jenny hasn't taken the initiative yet.

At least she follows orders. I'm thankful for that. I look along and see a part of the window that's... different from the rest. Oh, great, is this like how in the old adventure games the thing you needed to go to was always a different color from the rest of the area? Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, this is heavy. Well... Hey, the window is slightly out of place... Hm... I sidle over slowly, keeping one eye trained on Tarak as I move, still holding the sniper rifle in my hand. Okay... I eventually get to the panel, and look at the glass.

Hm... It seems a bit too... clear... Hm...

I slowly bring my hand out, and suddenly realize to my great shock that someone obviously forgot to insert an actual window there.

...

Really? Someone was actually this stupid? You always cover a warehouse with something! Not always with glass, mind you, as it makes it way too easy to break in, but still! You couldn't even be bothered to add_ one freaking pane of something_? Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, the guys who made this warehouse are even dumber than basically every single museum architect in the history of film making... Man, this is really kind of infuriating.

But that works for my advantage. So I'll chalk it up to happening because the plot says so.

Right. I pull out my sniper rifle and peer through the scope. My scope settles on Tarak, and I hope to God he can't see me. Okay... just stay calm... Breathe in, breathe out.

A finger calmly rests on the trigger of the rifle, and I look at Tarak as Jenny says something. I can't really hear the conversation she's saying, but... it works for me either way. Right... Okay... Three... Two... One...

Tarak turns around and sees me. But by then, it's too late, my finger is already pulling on the trigger.

And so, I get Tarak right in one of the eyes. Oh, boy. Yeah, that's a sight for sore eyes. As his eyeball explodes, I fire again just for safety as he collapses. I peer through the scope, and upon seeing that he's not moving, I nod.

But before I can take my eyes away, I hear some more gunshots. More blood pools on the ground around the dead batarian, and I look past my scope to Jenny. Well... It's a good thing she waited until now to fire the Carnifex. And a good way to take initiative.

I see her look up to me in slight surprise. I give her a thumbs up, and I flash her a smile.

All right, that's Phase 1 of Operation Guardian Angel out of the way. Now... to get down there...

* * *

When I finally hit the ground, Jenny's waiting, the door of the warehouse open as she looks at me. "What took ya?" she asked.

I brush my arms as I look at her. "Sorry," I reply. "I had to dispose of the bodies of those guys somehow, you know."

She nods at this, looking at me and then back at the airship. "Right," she says. "Let's not waste any more bloody time, mate. The Eclipse people are getting overwhelmed."

I raise my eyebrows at this. I already know why, but I should humor her. "Really?" I ask as we reenter the warehouse. "I didn't think one guy alone could take that entire Eclipse contingent down..."

"From what Tarak was telling me, someone in both the Blood Pack and the Eclipse factions went rogue," she said. "Now Archangel's got at least five other people helping him out of there."

I nod at this. "That sounds like Commander Shepard, all right," I say, a small grin coming to my face. "And soon that number's going to increase to seven, you know?"

Jenny smiles at this. "That it is, Art," she says. "Come on."

I walk over to the airship as the cockpit lies open. Okay, it's like the Disneyland Splash Mountain cars where it's one person in front and one person behind. Okay, I can get behind that. I see steering apparati in front of the seat in the front, with a slightly elevated seat behind with a whole bunch of things. Right. I'm guessing the gunner sits behind the pilot on these things if there is a gunner. Tarak seemed to manage fine by himself in the games... Hm, maybe there's weapon function for the pilots? It would certainly explain things.

Well, the renegade interrupt wasn't taken, so... We'll be at full armor. Which will help against all the Blue Suns mercs. Poor fuckers won't stand a chance against a combined wave of airship, Garrus' marksmanship, and Shepard's squad. I almost feel bad for them, really. But hey, what can I do, you know?

I step into the back seat of the cockpit, with Jenny stepping into the front of it quickly. Now that we're both in position...

Wait, I'm suddenly reminded of something as the glass closes over us. I look around as a bunch of things light up. Okay, you were in the Mako once or twice, you can run these guns... Well... I hope. This interface looks simple enough to figure out, anyway. Right... Those are guns, those are missiles... Yeah...

Hm... I wonder...

"Does this thing have something that broadcasts sound out of the vehicle?" I ask.

Jenny doesn't look at me as she calibrates everything, but I know she hears my question.

"Yeah, mate," she says. "Why do ya ask?"

Oh, boy. Things are about to get ridiculously awesome. I give as evil a smirk as I can manage.

"We're gonna give 'em hell while we kick their asses," I reply smugly. "So when we turn on them, turn it on. I plan to have a little bit of fun with these people while I'm mowing them down..."

She chooses not to reply to this as she gets some last-minute calibrating done. I can tell she's doing it to shake off the implications of what could happen next. Frankly, with all the obscenities I'm going to be shouting, I can't say I blame her...

Finally, all systems are go. She looks back to me and gives me a thumbs up. I give her my own thumbs up, being careful not to set off anything with an accidental touch of my thumb. Just a few seconds afterwards, the airship's comm unit cackles to life, and a turian voice comes over the air.

"_All Blue Suns units, at attention! Our attack is beginning now! Eclipse has fallen; it's up to us to stop Archangel! Airship, head to the warehouse! We'll wait until you are in position to begin our attack!_"

I smile at this, nodding to Jenny. I'm going to let her take care of the comm chat between us and the Blue Suns.

"All systems are a go, sir," says the woman as she powers the engines. The hum fills my ears as she continues speaking. "Moving into position."

And I feel the airship lift off, and see everything around us. I calibrate a targeting reticule just a little bit, but mostly fidgeting with numbers as we move along. Wow... I suddenly feel a lot like Michelle Rodriguez' character in _Avatar_ in any scene where she goes around shooting things in the air. This is going to be quite a new experience. And hey, it'll be a great war story to tell people when I grow old and die. Times are fun like that.

We come to a stop just in front of the large hole that is our position. Okay. We're the last attack of the day. There will be blood. That much is for sure.

"We're in position, sir," says Jenny, preparing to come into the battle.

"_Excellent_," says the turian voice. "_Now when we enter, we hit them hard, and we hit them fast. Airship, take the upper tier. It's where Archangel will be. I want that place destroyed, you hear me?_"

I smirk as Jenny replies in the affirmative. Yeah, we're gonna destroy you. And there's nothing you can do about it!

We wait a few seconds, and then...

"_Charge!_"

And so the zerg rush begins. Jenny pilots the airship through as the first of the Suns get taken down. Okay... Jenny flies in, and then I can see the crew of the Normandy perfectly well from where I sit. We hover in front of their bridge, and then I see them all peer up in shock from their cover... All right, Miranda and Mordin are there... Oh, sweet, Shepard's there too! Good times, good times. All right, who else... Well, there's an old son of a bitch in really heavy armor and stuff... And one of his eyes looks like it's been through hell. Right, that's Zaeed. I wonder if he's carrying Jessie with him right now... Okay, who...

Bald woman with a bunch of tattoos on her body? Wait... What the fuck is Jack doing here? Huh. Most people take on Jack _after_ the Omega recruitments. So why...? Oh, well. I guess I really can't explain it all that much. Maybe Shepard tackled her dossier before even setting foot on Omega. Either way, there shall be fun times.

Jenny hovers there for about five seconds, letting our presence get known. I grin at them. Man, it feels good to be back in the groove. Especially as far as the thing goes.

Right. Only one thing could make this more awesome.

I open up my omni-tool, going down my musical playlist quickly. I've saved quite a few songs onto my playlist now, and, well, there's nothing that'll complement a total beatdown like a rock song, is there?

My hands scroll... Okay, no Aerosmith... None of that either... Beatles are too soft...

Aha! That will do just nicely. Good times will be had with this one, I know.

"Jenny, turn us around and activate the outer broadcast!" I say.

And she does just that. I see her lift a thumb up as we look at all the Blue Suns mercs. I see a light go on just above me, and I smirk evilly.

My hand presses play on my omni-tool, and I'm greeted with a satisfying guitar riff to start the song. I suddenly see the Blue Suns look up, and I can just imagine the 'oh, crap' expressions on their faces.

But, they don't get too long, as the song proper starts.

And now... let the carnage begin!

"_Fuckers!" _I scream out, making the sound go out through my throat to make it grainy. With this cry, I let loose the guns, and the Blue Suns mercs get sprayed with gun fire. Wow, these guns are hella powerful. Their shields go down faster than usual, and then they all fall. I think the element of surprise worked in our favor as well, as they suddenly scramble to reaim their assault rifles. But I'm out of breath as this happens, and as the rock continues sounding out of my omni-tool, I look at the confused mercs as chaos suddenly breaks out.

"_Motherfuckers!"_ I cry out then in the same manner. I spray the mercs with a lot more gunfire, and by this time I think Shepard's squad has caught on. More Blue Suns mercs have started coming in, and I can barely hear over the comm chatter about how they need to send everyone left inside. I fire the guns, a wicked smile on my face as more mercs go down. But this time, Shepard and the crew are whittling away at their shields too. I swear I can also see a couple of things being biotically shifted about, as some blue auras surround a few things.

"_Fuck you motherfuckers!"_ I yell out then, spraying out more bullets than I care to count. The Blue Suns are swarming us now, but with Jenny flying about and Shepard's squad providing plenty of fire, they're dropping like flies. Yeah, Operation Zerg Rush didn't work out for you so well, did it, mercs? "_Fuck you motherfuckers!_" I reiterate as I see the Blue Suns mercs pour in. Now there's plenty of dying or already dead mercs on the ground... Yeesh, the sight is a bit disturbing. But... Keep in character, and it'll be all right. Just don't think about it...

"_Fuckers!_" I shout out again as I hail in gunfire. "_Fuckers! Fuckers!_" I repeat the word a few more times as I loose some bullets out on the crowd. By now, they're easily overwhelmed. Some manage to take aim, but they only get one shot on our shields before they're taken down either by the barrage of bullets from Shepard's team or from the barrage of bullets from us. Their numbers are dwindling quickly, but I'm saving the best for last.

"_Motherfuckers!_" I scream out. Man, my throat's starting to hurt. Good thing the Blue Suns numbers are dwindling. But still, how many of these people are there? I keep hearing comm chatter that's getting increasingly more frantic, but we're just hailing bullets on every merc we see. This is really history's biggest curb stomp battle. It's probably even worse than the Reapers owning the Protheans all to hell. Nobody's getting a good shot on us, and eventually...

"_Forget it! All units, pack in there! We're taking that airship by force!_"

I smirk. They forget I haven't used a single missile yet. This shall be supreme fun indeed...

And after that, we see a whole ton of mercs come rushing into the place, weapons drawn and already firing. More of them come in than have ever come in before, and they don't waste a second in opening fire. Our shields begin to deplete, but I still have one last trump card. Okay... Wait for it... All right, no more mercs are pouring in. They've been constantly coming in, but now that they're not, I assume they've run out of units.

Looks like it's time for the explosive finale!

I engage the missles on the entire ground, smirking evilly as I do so. I then ready them for launch, and my smirk only intensifies.

"_Everybody die! Everybody die!_"

And with this cry, I let loose a whole ton of missles on everyone. They impact the ground rapidly, and then all I see for the next few seconds are explosion after explosion after yet another explosion. Dirt, dust, mercs, everything goes boom in the next twenty or so seconds. The frantic comm chatter eventually gets cut off abruptly as the basic entirety of Blue Suns gets their asses handed to them by missile. Hah! That's for attempting to scar Garrus, bitch! And we do such a number that eventually when the explosions die down the lower floors are nothing but a mess of black with only a few splotches of color. There are dead mercs _everywhere_, and I know the explosions did their work.

They did their work a little too well, in fact. For a scant two seconds after the explosions die down, I hear this massive creaking noise. Before I can figure it out, the walls collapse into the warehouse floor, and the ceiling comes down. Part of it brushes against the nose of the aircraft, but Jenny is able to pull us back away in time to avoid a major catastrophe. A loud metallic moan sounds out as the metal crashes into the floor, crushing all the merc bodies and stuff. It also throws up a whole ton of dust once the roof comes down on the floor, and there's so much dust thrown up it obscures the glass viewport for a few seconds.

When it clears... Wow... We just destroyed a warehouse. Yeah, I did not think this would be how Garrus' recruitment ended. Somehow, though, this just makes it that much more epic. We look at the carnage we've wrought, and then I blink.

The comm comes to life. "_Well..._" Ah, so now it's Shepard's voice. I see she hacked into the comm link. "_You certainly annihilated them..._"

Man, it's good to hear the sound of your voice again, Shepard! Two years is too long!

I beam and reply back. "_Yes we did!_" I shout, still doing the voice. Yeah, now that I think about it, we really did annihilate the Blue Suns mercs. And the warehouse. And everything in between.

Next time? We're talking about NES accessories.

"_You think you can come downstairs so we can see who you are?_" asks Shepard.

"_Yes we can!_" I shout out, still doing the voice despite the raging protest of my throat. Jenny takes the hint, and she lowers the airship slowly. We don't bother to turn back to look at the people we just worked with. It's kind of mutual anyhow. They're not gonna shoot us, and we're not gonna shoot them. Symbiotic relationships are beautiful like that.

As the airship lands, we see the full ensemble come down. Shepard and Garrus are at the head. Okay, good to know Garrus won't get a metal plate on his face. Well, with Tarak dead thats a given, but still, it's nice to see they're not trying to rush him back to the Normandy. Miranda and Mordin come up behind them, and then Zaeed and Jack clamber in shortly after. Jenny is busy taking down a few systems, including the broadcast systems. The vehicle powers down eventually, and then the cockpit opens, and we see them clearly.

And almost as soon as it opens, the protest in my throat gets to me. As Jenny steps out, I begin hacking away. Ow, my throat. Ow. Okay. The awesomeness wasn't worth it, because now my throat hurts. Ow. Ow. I cough a little bit, beating my chest with a fist as Jenny comes around. Shepard steps closer, as does Garrus, and before I know it, my eyes are watering from how much I'm coughing. Eventually, I stop caughing, and then Jenny helps me out of the cockpit, and as I step down, I ignore Shepard for a moment.

"Okay, I'm stopping with the voice now," I say out loud, shaking my head. "Another second of that and I think I'm going to commit murder on my throat."

Shepard gives me a smile, and throws her arms open. "Art!" she says. "I'll be damned! How've you been?"

I nod, smiling back as I look to her squad. "I've been great!" I say. "I don't think being dead was too kind to you, eh, Shepard?"

"That it was not," she says, shaking her head. "How'd you get over here?"

I shrug. "Well, I actually spent a lot of it on the Citadel," I reply. "But I got a message from Tali after you ran into her on Freedom's Progress. One thing leads to another, and, well, here I am, kicking Blue Suns ass. Told me about your mission and everything, too. I had a run-in with Aria T'Loak, and, well, here I am. Along with my lovely assistant, Jenny McKansa." I gesture over to the colonist with my hands. Upon seeing this, she flashes a cheerful smile before waving and letting out a short 'hi'.

And then I look over to Garrus, a smile taking on my lips. "And I run into another old friend too," I say, crossing my arms and shaking my head. "I should've known you would be bad at at staying out of trouble, Garrus. I mean, I know you were always on Pallin's bad side, but now it's every merc company on Omega? What the hell did ya do?"

The turian shrugs, his mandibles flaring out in a smile. "Well, I ran a vigilante operation," he says. "It just fell apart..."

I nod at this. "Yeah, Jenny has something to ask you about that," I say, gesturing to her. "But we'll get to that later." I nod as I look over Garrus. "You know, when I first heard 'Archangel', I was expecting some kind of retired C-Sec officer. If I had known it was you..." I chuckle at this, crossing my arms. "Don't make me have to pull another obscure extranet-related reference again just to save your ass from getting killed."

At this, Garrus shakes his head. "I dunno, Art," he says. "I think I liked you better when you were shouting like a turian rocker. Distracts from your usual voice, if you know what I mean."

Oh, dear, this again? We've barely been reunited and already we're getting started with this! Right... "Well, _Detective Vakarian_," I state, crossing my arms. "You may have to be careful where you go with that unless you want me to whack your head off with a mess tray."

Garrus chortles, and this time I can hear Jack and Zaeed chuckle as well. "I like this kid already," says the human merc lead... well, former leader as he looks at me. "He's got a pretty good sense o' humor."

The turian shakes his head as he crosses his arms. "I'd pay to see you do that to anyone," he says. Oh dear... Why do I get the feeling this is gonna bite me in the ass later?

I nod, looking over to Shepard.

"So Tali told you about the mission..." says Shepard. "So does this mean...?"

I nod, holding behind my hands. "I don't know about Jenny here, but I'm certainly on track," I say. "I mean... sure, it sounds dangerous. But if Sovereign was any indication, you're gonna pull the impossible on us again. So I'm game."

"Hold on a second..." says Miranda, looking over to me with an inquisitive look. Yeah, you know, for being the XO of the Normandy and all that, you really don't talk much. "Art? As in, ****** *********, the composer?"

"You got that right, M-ma'am," I reply. Oh, wow, I almost said her name there. "What, did my bio forget to mention that I served on the _Normandy_ before I made it big writing music for collaborative turian-human vids?"

Miranda shakes her head. "Well, from the way you were shouting earlier, I think you were enjoying bringing carnage on the Blue Suns a little _too_ much. Aside from that"

"Oh, shut up, cheerleader." Ah, Jack. "He can kill shit."

"Well, we can never be certain of his abilities," reiterates the Australian. "What if he has lost his touch?"

I blink, a frown forming on my face. Great. I didn't even like Miranda all that much to begin with, and already she's giving me more reasons to dislike her. Fortunately, Shepard steps in looking to Miranda. "I may remind you that he became a valued member of my squad within weeks, and _that _was without even knowing how to even hold a gun when I first met him," she replies. "If he's lost his touch, he can get it back very quickly."

"That, and I _am_ a close friend of the Commander," I point out. "And I'm going out of my way to join her on a mission that I could probably die during. You need that kind of loyalty during a mission like the kind that this is, ma'am."

The Australian looks over to me as I see Mordin glance between us. Hm... He hasn't said anything as of yet. Strange. I would've thought we would hear him chatter something by now... I'm sure I'll hear his voice by the end of the day.

"Commander shares sacred trust with Mr. *********," he says. Ah, right on cue. Nice. "This would be a good course of action. Not sure about abilities, but loyalty already in place. Will help in mission."

And with this, Miranda sighs with one final look from the Commander. "All right," she states. "I expect you will be able to hold your own on the battlefield."

I blink, raising one of my eyebrows. "Uh, were you paying _any_ attention to that?" I ask, gesturing to the collapsed warehouse just a few feet away from us. She clamps her mouth shut, and out of the corner of my eye I can see Jack sniggering. Why do I get the feeling she's liking me already? Oh, well. At Miranda's silence, I cross my arms. "That's what I thought."

I look over to Jenny, nodding to the colonist as she nods.

"And as for me..." she says. "Well, I only came here for Archangel." Garrus perks up at this, but Jenny simply approaches. "I need to ask ya something. Something important to me."

Garrus looks to the rest of us before nodding. "You help a friend of mine out with saving me?" he asks. "That's a bit of a distance to ask me something..."

She shakes her head. "I'm not a fangirl, believe me," she says. "I... Would you be able to tell me if Nogond'Viraliz nar Mindoir is all right?"

Oh... Oh, shit, this is not going to turn out well... Yeah, this isn't gonna be pretty. Garrus is gonna get all emotionally wrecked again, Jenny is going to be a blubbering mess, and we're all going to have a tough time maintaining cover. Well... Not like being outside of a collapsed warehouse is maintaining cover, but still, I'd like to be tear-free when I pick up my stuff at the spaceport. You know?

"Oh, you're _that _Jenny McKansa," says the turian. "He talks about you a lot, you know. You're like a sister to him."

Jenny nods, a soft smile coming to her face. "And he's like a brother to me, sir," she replies. "Is he all right?"

"Yes," he says casually. "He and several others of my squad managed to get off of Omega. Some died, but Nogond is alright."

Yeah, there goes the sadness, and-

...

Wait.

_..._

_What the flying fuck?_

No... There's no way in hell that's possible. No. No no no no no. Garrus' squad was supposed to die! What the hell is this about most of it surviving? No. That goes against all logic! But Sidonis betrayed the squad! And then they killed everyone except Garrus and Sidonis! How the hell are there still squad members alive?

There's no fucking way this is right! No. His squad can't be alive! There's no possible way they could be alive right now! No way whatsoever!

That's not true! That's impossible!

"Oh, Thank the Lord," Jenny says, letting out an exasperated breath. "I still can't believe it though."

"Well, think about it," comments Garrus. "He's a quarian biotic. I'm sure you know it's true somehow."

...

_Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!_

This can't be happening! What the fuck is Garrus' loyalty going to be now? Now he has less reason to want Sidonis dead! I mean, come on, most of his squad was saved! And... No, this opens up plot holes too! How the hell did his squad survive? How do we know the mercs won't chase them? What do I do now? How am I gonna break this to Tali? More importantly, how the fuck did the squad find out before the attack? How the fuck did they survive? And where the fuck does Sidonis fit into this? Why, God, why?

No... No no no no no. No. No. Hell no. No. No. I can't believe... No. No.

Not one drop! I'll taste it for you!

I chew my lower lip relentlessly as I watch this, trying my damndest not to look perturbed. Shit... I think I'm failing, and I bring my arms behind me. Shit...

This is not good. I've just lost my ability to tell the future.

And the craziest part is, I don't even know what I did to change things this drastically. Well, the face scar bit I can understand. But the squad? Where the hell did that come from?

... Ah, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff. I hope I get answers on that soon. Because until then... Man, I'm going to have a _lot_ to discuss with Tali next time I talk with her. Because this is a lot to process...

It's so much to process I end up missing a lot of the ensuing conversation. It's so much so that when Jenny comes over, she gives me a nod.

"Well, Art, thanks for the help," she says, smiling. "That was pretty cool what you did there."

Oh... Uh... "I guess I can say the same thing for you," I say, chuckling nervously. "What are you doing now?"

She blinks, and her facial expression is clearly unamused. "Were ya listenin' to what I was just saying?"

Oh dear... How do catch a cloud and pin it down... Uh...

"Maybe not?" I offer, giving a goofy expression and shrugging.

She simply lets out an annoyed groan before shaking her head. "I'm taking a shuttle back to Horizon," she says. "I'm glad he's at least alive now. I'll send him a message when I can."

Wait, Horizon? Oh, shit! She's gonna be on the colony that gets attacked. Fuck... Well... I need to warn her somehow. Tell her to be careful.

I nod at this. "Yeah, I caught that," I catch myself. "I just wanted to make sure." Yeah. I just wanted to make sure.

Jenny doesn't buy it, but she decides not to dwell on it. She nods, and smiles at me. "I'll follow you guys to the spaceport."

"Agreed..." I hear Shepard say from behind me. "I've had enough action for now. I just hope a warehouse doesn't collapse on us like that again."

"Oh, come on!" moans Jack. "You're seriously telling me that wasn't one of the most fucking awesome things you've seen in your life?"

"Yeah, I gotta agree with Tattoos here on that one," adds Zaeed as we begin to walk off. "That was bloody impressive the way he blew all those mercs straight to hell."

I chuckle nervously. Okay, I've found my footing back to normal Earth again. "Oh, dear..." I say. "We've got two bloodthirsty people, a fast-talking salarian, an uptight woman with an Australian accent, Garrus, myself, and you, Shepard. I always knew you were a magnet for oddities, but _damn_. I'm pretty sure you just started assembling your team, and _already_ I'm afraid for what little sanity I have left."

Shepard chuckles at this. "Welcome back to the Normandy," she says. "All in a day's work for you, I'm sure."

I crack a smile at this. "It sure feels good to be back, though," I reply. "That's one thing I can't deny."

Joc smiles back, and then we settle into a groove all the way back to the spaceport. It's mostly genial conversation as we did just get two old friends of hers onto the mission. And I think Jack and Zaeed are already impressed with me. I mean, I did take down a warehouse, so... Props to me, I guess? Yes? No? Maybe?

Whatever.

I'm back on the crew of the _Normandy,_ and I'm feelin' _real_ good...

...Well, except for the whole Garrus' squad bit. But I'm sure I'll find out about that in time.

In the meantime, we walk back into the heart of Omega, just a group of friends chatting amongst themselves about how we just owned every single merc company on Omega and how I rejoined the crew of the Normandy.

Fun times abound.


	3. Chapter 2

_A/N: All right, we're back._

_Okay, since there's nothing new to add here... Well, there's not a whole lot to say. Except one thing; I'm beginning to get just a tad overwhelmed by just how freakin' popular this fic is becoming. Seriously, when I started Mass Vexations, I had no idea it would eventually fan out to this kind of following. For this, I guess I'm infinitely grateful, and I hope to keep it all up as we get going._

_So yeah, fun times are had. I'll get started on the chapter... now._

* * *

Chapter 2: Back in the Groove

All right. I'm now standing in the briefing room of the Normandy SR-2. It was pretty hectic over in the spaceport. They kept my items exactly where I left them (thank Cthuhlu), so I got to take them over. My viola was a bit out of tune when I checked it, though. Eh, nothing I can't fix quickly. I gave Jenny a quick hug as she boarded a transport for Horizon. I managed to give her a warning about Horizon, and she took it well. I grabbed my stuff, set it down somewhere, and now...

Well, I'm standing here with Shepard, Garrus, Jacob, and Miranda. Shepard and the two Cerberus operatives are looking at us. Ah, hello there Jacob. You're kind of tough to miss, especially in that Cerberus uniform. Your complexion also helps, and you seem to be doing your best to make me and Garrus feel comfortable under the gaze of the cheerleader.

And... well... we're just sort of standing there. We've gotten a briefing on the suicide mission and what we hope to accomplish with it. Well, apart from TIM's ulterior motives for storming the base, of course. I glance to Miranda every few seconds as I eye her. You know... I liked her better when she was blonde. Damn you, Yvonne Strahovsky! Now I'm going to have to deal with _this_ as your default look! I don't even think she's that pretty anyway. Hell, fucking Wynne from Dragon Age is more attractive than you. I bet she also gets laid more often.

"Well, Commander, I can't exactly say I approve of your decision to keep them here, but it seems I have no choice," says Miranda, looking to the two of us.

I raise my eyebrow. I don't like where this is going... "What don't you like about us coming?" I ask, holding my hands behind my back. "We're old friends of the Commander's. Whether you like it or not, it takes some kind of trust to do this."

Jacob crosses his arms. "Especially on your end, Mr. *********," he comments. "Think about it, Miranda; he has a stable career and a good life. It says a lot to me when he's willing to give that up when he hears a friend needs help. I call that dedication."

"Perhaps," agrees the female operative. "I can't argue with that. The Illusive Man did want unquestionable loyalty. I just question the wisdom of bringing someone on this mission without a prior dossier from the Illusive Man."

Shepard looks to Miranda. "If he takes issue with it, then he can come to me," she replies. "Either way, I could use a good friend on this ship."

"Two good friends, you mean," comments the turian. Oh, that's right, Garrus can also romance Shepard in this game...

The Commander nods, making her stance known. "Of course," she says. "What remains is to figure out where you two will stay on this ship..."

"Well, if it helps, I could stay around the Gunnery Bay," replies Garrus with a nod. "I have gotten pretty good at gun calibrations over the years."

Oh, dear, here we go with calibrations. Now it's going to be nothing but calibrations, calibrations, calibrations from Garrus Vakarian. And I am so not looking forward to it. "Right..." I say. Well... Hey, wait, where the fuck do I go? I don't really know where... Jeez... Unless... "Well, do you have any area of the ship that's more or less by itself and has space?"

As if on cue, I see the blue globe of EDI come up. Oh, hi there, EDI. How are you? "There is a room near life support that should have plenty of space," she says. "I cannot guarantee that there is sound proofing if you are looking for such, but it is the best we have."

I raise one of my eyebrows at this, Garrus also showing surprise at the A.I. We both look to the glowing blue orb and back at Shepard before we go back to the orb.

"Your ship has an A.I.," says the turian. "This goes against so many regulations in the Citadel."

I roll my eyes, shaking my head. "And since when did you ever play by the rules, anyway?" I ask.

He blinks, chortling good-naturedly. "Good point," he says. "It'll make life more interesting than it already was, I guess."

I smile at the turian as I look over to the orb. "So, by life support, huh?" I ask, smiling. Well... I'll be close to Thane, that much is for sure. "Thanks."

The operatives and the commander give us nods. "With that settled..." says Shepard. "I think we can close this meeting. What do you two say?"

"I say we have ourselves a good deal," says Jacob, nodding as he uncrosses his arms. "I'm looking forward to working with you both on this mission."

I give him a grateful nod. "Same here, Mr. Taylor," I reply. And I mean that in a way that's much deeper than you can possibly hope to imagine.

Miranda simply nods, and I give her a small glance. I'm watching you, cheerleader. And at the first sign of you holding pompoms and shouting Cerberus' praises, I'm going to start calling attention to your haughtiness. Just because you're genetically perfect doesn't mean you're not a bitch.

So yeah.

We all agree silently that the meeting is closed, and so Garrus and I file out first, eager to get to our stations. I look over to Garrus as I pick up my stuff, which was left by the elevator.

"So..." he says. "Are you looking forward to this? I mean, a suicide mission seems like pretty bad odds for all of us."

I smile at this, looking back to CIC. "This is Commander Shepard you're talking about," I reply with a smirk. "If she can come back from the dead, she can lead us to and from the Omega 4 relay. I'm sure of it."

Yeah... We'll get through. I hope.

With this, we both nod to each other, and then the elevator opens in front of us. We step in, and press the buttons to our various locations. We say nothing as the elevator doors close, and then it hums to life to take us to our various destinations.

* * *

Well, I'm all settled in now. This space is actually pretty nice. I don't really have much of a bed around here... Thank heaven I packed that inflatable mattress. I'll just call it my bed from here on out as I really don't have much else to call it at the moment. So yeah...

Other stuff about the room... Well, I moved a desk over by the window so I could look out over it into the drive core. I set up my terminal there, knowing that I'll probably get some inspiration to compose just by looking at the drive core. I've already positioned a futuristic music stand off to the side, laying out a few OSD's on the desk by my terminal. My viola case sits religiously by my bed, and I seem to smile as I think about how damn _light_ the thing is compared to my old viola case back home. OSD's certainly took a lot of the weight off, that's for damn sure.

Anything else... Not really. All the rest of my stuff is scattered around. Good thing I don't have to deal with all the extra shit that came with packing a lot more physical objects back home. My pack stands off to the side, but now it's just a memory; I rarely sketch anything by hand anymore, and its usefulness only goes as far as taking it to Paul Shar's when I have to get rags and rosin for my viola. I'm just glad my composition program updates automatically; it was a pain having to deal with Finale version 2008 and then hearing about version 2011 coming to stores soon. It's nice not to have to buy a new OSD every time there are drastic changes to the notation software.

By this time, I've changed out of my armor. By now, my old blue shirt and khaki pants that I wore on the first Normandy got eaten away by the air. So now, I'm standing in a burgundy long-sleeved shirt and brown pants. There's some small stripes of silver by my collar, and as I look out of the window, I think about the material. Man, I'm loving the shirt material of the future. The collar is in the style of shirt that I never used to be fond of, but for some reason I've grown attached to the kind of hill collar that this shirt has. Too bad they don't have any shirts of old properties that aren't eaten with holes. It would be awesome to parade around the Normandy with a 1-Up mushroom on your belly, but you make do with what you've got.

Well... I'm all settled in, and looking forward to the adventure.

As I contemplate this, I hear the door whoosh open, and then I see Shepard walk in.

"Shepard," I say, smiling as I turn away from the drive core. "What's up?"

The woman nods, and I'm suddenly taken by her scars. Yeah... The cybernetics look just a little more disturbing in real life. But, there's really nothing I can do about that. Unfortunately.

She nods in reply, her own expression lighting up. "Nothing much," she says. "Got a few minutes to talk?"

I nod, leaning against the chair that was in front of the table to the drive core. "Sure," I reply. "You're an old friend, remember?"

She nods, cracking a smile. "So how have my two years of being dead treated you?"

I shrug at this. "They treated me gloriously," I reply. "I've really gotten a lot of jobs as a composer lately. A commission from the Citadel Symphony, a few small things here and there, two film scores, and opera orchestra. It's blossomed out of control, really. But it's always good, you know? I'm doing what I love and getting paid a lot for it. I'd think that's any artist's dream."

She nods in agreement. "How'd you get it so well?" she asks.

I smile at this. "The first film score," I reply. "There was a call for submissions to this one human-turian collaboration. I thought I'd submit for that seeing as how film score is one of my fascinations." It's true, too. I just hope _There Will Be Brawl_ exists in this universe, because I have some unfinished business with the unofficial rescoring project. "So I submitted stuff, got a job, and got to work with a bunch of really great people. Most of them were turians, too. It got released to critical acclaim, people took notice of the score, and before I know it I'm getting all these jobs. I'm still trying to sort through most of them."

Shepard raises one of her eyebrows. "You worked with turians?" she asks. "I hope they didn't catch on to the fact that you were best friends with a krogan."

Ha! "Oh, believe me, Shepard, they did," I reply with a snort. "But these weren't your usual turians with a stick up their ass all the time. The director's actually busy doing some post-production work on a vid about us when we chased Saren around, so he came to me for that. We keep up a good relationship, even if he is a turian. I even live with another turian composer on the Citadel thanks to that."

"Must be strange working with all these new influences in the Citadel," she comments.

I chuckle. "You have no idea," I reply. It's really been interesting. Before, I could write reasonably well for human instruments, but now that I have all these alien instruments as well I've basically had to relearn orchestration. I've got a good handle on turian orchestration and a reasonable one with instruments commonly used in film scores, but still. And with each instrument comes different cultures, and somehow I've come to embrace the staunch militairism of turian rhythms and put them into Varèsian contexts. Fun times abound. "It's been incredibly enlightening, being on the Citadel. I'm really glad I decided to stay there; it's been a new kind of experience, and it's one that really beats staying around on Earth all the time, you know?"

"Sounds like you have a lot on your plate," says the commander. "Are you sure it won't get in the way of the mission?"

I shake my head. "Doubt it," I reply. "Usually I just compose whenever, but here I'm sure I can get to some composing in between missions and stuff. And if I'm not on your ground team, you can expect me to be sitting here looking out into the drive core as I write a chord progression."

She nods. "All right," she says. "Have you kept up with any of the old crew?"

"Yep," I reply, looking out the window. "Tali and I keep in touch best of all; I was actually thinking of getting a comm conversation in before I turned in tonight. Wrex and I keep touch fairly well, but he's quiet most of the time. Can't say I blame him; he's got a lot on his plate, what with uniting the krogan under one banner and all. I lost touch with Liara; from what I hear she's on Illium. Even wilder rumors say she's an information broker, but really, what are the chances of that?" I share a chuckle with the commander. But... I know it's true, so mine is slightly more half-hearted. "And Kaidan..."

I hesitate at this, and I instantly see her freeze. "What about Kaidan?" she asks, concern in her voice.

"He's fine..." I say. I wish I could say something about Horizon, but... Oh, damn it! Why does this have to be so hard? I see her exhale in relief, and I continue. "He's still in the Alliance. But your death really hit him hard, Shepard. I don't know if he's going to be glad that you're alive or pissed that you're flying with a Cerberus logo on your ship." Twelve thousand credits says the latter is his feeling. And I know I'm going to win this one.

I feel her gaze go down. "I don't know either," she says. "I... I at least wish he'll let me explain everything. Let whatever happen afterwards happen, but I want him to hear it from me first..."

Oh, dear. This is gonna result in much heartbreak. And now I'm feeling guilty about my Thane/Shepard leanings... I wouldn't wish this on her if I had any kind of control over it. "I hope so too," I say, more to assuage myself than her. "If he doesn't, I'm yelling at him when I manage to get him alone." I turn back to face her with a smirk tugging at my lips. "Because really, who would be stupid enough not to listen to Commander Shepard?"

I don't really feel the nature of it though. But, the commander takes it in stride as she nods. "Yeah, that's a good point," she says. "I'm glad you're here, Art. It makes me feel a little more comfortable having some old friends around to talk to everything about. Sometimes I don't trust some of these people with what I have to say."

"I'm glad to be here, Joc," I say, smiling at her. "If you ever want to talk, you're welcome to come down here. Unless I'm in a conversation with Tali, but I'll have the door locked when I am in one."

She nods. "I'll leave you be now," she says.

I nod, standing at attention. "It's good to be back, Shepard," I state with a soft smile tugging at my lips.

She gives me a smile before walking off again. Ah, Shepard, fun times abound. I really am glad to be back, as I'll get back into the action again. And there shall be cake. Lots and lots of cake. Even if it does eventually turn out to be a complete lie.

I think I'll get to a bit of composing now, and then I'll go over to the mess hall and hang around a bit.

So I sit down at the desk, turn on the terminal, and access my notation software.

* * *

Okay, I've made pretty good progress on that commission for the singer. Seven songs about joys shouldn't be too hard. It's just happy observations on happy feelings. Nothing too complicated, and the simplicity is astounding even for me.

Although I keep on getting stumped on the love poem. For some reason I can get contemplation and innocence right, but I just can't figure out anything about love. Jeez, what's with me on that? I... am really not sure where to go with this.

Eh, I guess I'll figure it out eventually. Whatever.

I think now's as good a time as any to make my rounds around the Normandy. So... first stop... Well, I could chat it up with Jacob, but I think we're kind of level on that...

Hm... Speaking of Jacob... I just remembered a little something. Jacob is a black guy, of course, and probably the only black guy I've seen in the games unless you make Shepard black. His last name is Taylor. And he's often considered one of the blander characters of the game. What else...? Oh, yeah, his abs have the ability to turn perfectly straight gamers gay for a few seconds. Comes as part of the package of spending more time rendering something that only appears in one scene than most of the faces in the game. So yeah.

I can't help but think that he's Bioware's take that to the prissy-boy werewolf from _Twilight_ who has to get rid of his shirt every ten minutes of screentime. I mean, really. The guy's name is Jacob Black in the _Twilight_ series. Jacob Taylor is a black guy, and Jacob Black has black in his last name. So there's that. But then, the movies have him played by a Taylor Lautner. Coincidence?

I think not. Either way, I'm probably never going to think about Jacob without wondering if he's secretly a werewolf. Too bad I don't have comparison materials; apparently, Stephenie Meyer didn't exist in the ME universe. Ah, well. That's the only downside to all this, really; _New Moon_ was one of the most boring movies I've ever seen in my life. And I can't find any other prissy boy versions of werewolves, so thank the lord.

Another good thing? I can avoid the fangirls at long last. The absolute last thing I need is for stupid _Twilight_ fangirls to accuse Universal of ripping off of Stephenie Meyer for their _Wolfman _remake even though the original Lon Cheney Jr. movie came out about 60 years before Meyer wrote that series. Seriously, fangirl logic is insane.

Although, if I want to be honest, Jacob was one of the more developed characters of that series. And to be honest, if I have to deal with thinking about one character from that series the entire time here, I'm at least glad it's Jacob. Jacob Taylor is going to stir some strange-ass memories, but at least it'll be the better side of the _Twilight _series.

...

Fuck, after that long train of thought, I guess I have no choice.

Right. Off to Jacob's part of the ship.

When I see him next, he's busy working on an assault rifle. I step closer to him, and he cocks his head, seeming to notice I'm there. Well, at least he's acknowledging my presence.

"Mr. Taylor," I say, walking into the room with my hands behind my back.

He pauses in his work, and then turns to me. "Mr. *********," he replies. "How can I help you?"

"Eh, I just wanted to chat," I reply, shrugging. Hm... first things first. "I notice you didn't agree with Miranda all that much. Yet from what I understand, you're still a Cerberus operative. So...?"

The man shrugs. "Yes, I am with Cerberus," he replies. "It doesn't mean I have to like everything they do. There's some things I don't agree with. Comes with being ex-Alliance."

I raise one of my eyebrows in curiosity before nodding. "I see," I reply. "Good to know that there are people in Cerberus that still know what's ethical and all."

Jacob raises his eyebrow. "Why is that?" he asks.

I shrug. "I heard about what happened on Akuze," I reply. Ah, yes, the Sole Survivor reputation; always fun times with thresher maws. "You could say I have friends in high places, but I heard that was really bad. I mean, come on, leaving people to die thanks to thresher maw? I haven't fought one of those things, but from the sound of it I intend never to fight one. If I can help it, that is." Yeah, because when we get Grunt on board and have to get his loyalty mission out of the way... That's not gonna be fun.

Jacob nods his agreement. "That is definitely one thing I don't agree with," he says. "But, at the same time I don't have too much beaurocracy to hold me back. At least here I can serve humanity without too much getting in the way."

I raise one of my eyebrows before nodding. "I see," I reply. "Can't say I blame you for that one. I wasn't too happy when the Council brushed the Reapers under the rug after Shepard died. In fact, I was a little furious..."

"I can imagine your feeling, what with having been on the original Normandy," he says. "To see all of your commander's work just fall apart at the word of one group of people... That must have been rather infuriating for you."

"Well, it wasn't as bad for me as you'd think, Mr. Taylor," I reply, shrugging as I cast a glance to the side. "It's one of the reasons I like being a musician so much. It gives me an outlet for my emotions if I feel really strongly about something. It destroyed some of us more than others, if I want to be honest. I feel angry at something? I write. I feel sad at something? I write. I feel happy about something? I write. It's... theraputic, in addition to being a job. You know?"

He nods. "I can see you're quite into your craft," he says, crossing his arms. "Are you sure you want in on this?"

I shrug. "Shepard needs support, you know," I say. "And in my case, I'm better off showing my support here on the Normandy and on the ground team than I am back on the Citadel writing. Plus, someone needs to stop the Reapers, and if anyone can do it it's Shepard. But she can't do it alone."

"Glad we're both on the same page, then," he says. "I think we're going to work well as a team."

"As do I," I reply, smiling. I gesture over to the firearm he was working on. "I'll leave you to whatever you were doing. I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Likewise, Mr. *********."

And with this, Jacob returns to work. Hm... I'd better ask him about werewolf/vampire mythos sometime later. Right now is a bit too early to ask about his thoughts on that. Ah, well. I'll get my opportunity eventually.

I leave the armory soon after, leaving Jacob to his work.

* * *

Okay, who to talk to next, who to talk to next...

Well, Garrus... Yeah, he does owe me some kind of explanation of why he just disappeared, so I might as well head down to the gun bay and whatever.

And... Well, I'm down here. Red glow all around, Garrus standing at his console, the crates over to the side... Fun times, fun times. I look over to Garrus as he stands there, and as the door closes behind me, he turns his head to acknowledge me.

"Hey, Garrus," I say, my tone not altogether that amused. "You got some time to talk?"

"Can it wait?" he asks. Oh, hell no. He is not pulling that excuse. "I'm in the middle of-"

"No, it can't wait, Garrus," I interrupt, a small frown setting on my face as I cross my arms in front of him. "You must have known that this conversation was coming a long time ago when we were reunited on Omega. After all, we did use to room together."

He pauses mid-type on his console, his eyes seeming to widen just the slightest bit. He sighed, looking back at me as he turns his body from the console. Now I can see him... And to be honest, I'm glad his face doesn't have any scars on it. I'd hate to see a metal plate on his face all the time just because he got blasted with a missile.

But still, this conversation was a long time coming, so I'll get to that later.

"I... I guess I can pause for a second," he agrees, looking a little disappointed as he leans forward a little.

"That's what I thought, Garrus," I reply, my frown intensifying. "You must have seen this coming, I'm sure. So, my first question to you: why did you go to Omega in the first place?" Gotta keep in character.

"I left you the note, didn't I?" he asked.

I nod. "Yes, and it would have been nice if it had actually been written _in English_!" I point out. "I couldn't figure out how to translate that datapad until stuff happened!"

"I..." begins Garrus. "I got tired of C-Sec and the Council. I... I never told you this, but I applied for Spectrehood after I had rejoined C-Sec." Oh, Christ, are you serious? "The Commander recommended I do that, because she understood my need to not always play by the rules. But then the Council brushed everything under the rug... and, well, I couldn't take it. So I left. I started my own operation on Omega, and before long, I had gotten my squad... And you know the rest from what I told Jenny, I'm sure."

Oh, don't remind me. I'm _still_ trying to process the fact that your squad is alive now. But there are more pressing questions at hand... "Wait, you applied for Spectrehood?" I ask, my voice conveying surprise. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," he says. "A really pleasant one for a friend. But then Shepard died, and things changed quickly."

I blink, looking over at the turian as he looks down. "Right," I say. "And you didn't try telling me any of your plans to go away because...?"

Garrus opens his mouth to reply, but no sound comes out. He realizes he's at a loss, and his mandibles hang out as he tries to figure out what he can tell me. But he closes it eventually, and shakes his head.

"I don't know anymore," he says.

"Yeah, that was a pretty big dick move, Garrus," I agree. "It would've been nice to know you were gonna leave, maybe even the day before. But leaving a datapad and expecting me to find it after opera orchestra? That's low, Garrus. That's really fuckin' low. And on top of that, you could've at least given me some kind of warning before you went off!"

"But you did say you had been capable of living alone," says the turian. "So... I figured you would be fine back home."

"Yeah, well, that gets kind of hard when you're _evicted_ from said home," I reply, my voice still dripping in unamusement as it raises itself. "You're damn lucky I got that film score job I was stressing out about before Shepard died. I was homeless for a week, Garrus! If not for some friends that offered me a place to stay, I would _still_ be homeless. You should've just told me where you were going and that would have been that!"

Garrus' reply dies in his throat as he looks over. I take this as my cue to continue, and I take a breath as I look at him kindly. "Don't bother giving me an excuse," I say. "The more I think about it... the less important it gets. Just... tell me one thing Garrus. And one thing only."

He nods at this, and then looks at me. "Yes?" he asks.

"Do you think you did the right thing?" I ask. "By going over to Omega in the first place?"

The turian glances at me, not sure how to reply to that statement. He looks up, then back down, and then when he finally speaks I can sense the doubt in his voice.

"I like to think I did," he replies. "But I don't know for sure. Omega's a damn rotten hellhole, but I like to think that while I was there I made some difference. Every time I rescued an asari slave and saw the grateful look in her eyes... It kept on reminding me, even if I was never able to completely stop the drug trade there. So yeah, I like to think I made a difference, if not for everyone on Omega, then for some."

Huh. I never knew Garrus could get so eloquent. I nod at this, uncrossing my arms. "Then that's all that matters," I reply, nodding. "I'm sorry if I came off as a bit angry there. It's just... I wanted to get all that off my chest."

He tilts his head to the side, confused. "Really?" he asks.

"Yeah, I don't tend to let go of grudges very easily," I reply. "I understand why you went. But I was still a little angry at the fact that you sort of just ditched me at your apartment without even letting me know in person."

He nods. "I see..." he says. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for putting you through all that hell before I left the Citadel. I... I really shouldn't have."

I nod in turn, holding my hands behind me back. "It's all right," I say. "I'm glad we got to get through this."

"So..." says Garrus. "Does this mean we're still friends?"

I shrug, a coy smile coming on my lips. "Yeah, it does," I reply. "I've got your back when we go to kick some Collective ass."

His mandibles flare out and he laughs. "Good," he says. "It's nice to see you're still milling about, anyway. It'll be just like old times."

"I dunno," I reply, rubbing my chin in thought. "I almost think it'll be better than old times in its own, strange little way."

Garrus nods at this. "Right," he says.

I nod, looking over to the turian. "I'll let you get back to your calibrations," I say with a nod. "I have a feeling you're going to greet me with that all the time from here on out. Maybe I should just call you Garrus Calibratian instead of Detective Vakarian from now on."

"Very funny, _Mr. Squarepants,_" he replies sarcastically, turning back to his console. Despite this, there's a light in his eyes as if he's smiling. "Right. I'll get back to work. I'll talk to you later."

"Likewise," I say, and I turn and exit the main gun.

Okay, that works out to my advantage. There is no way in hell I'm asking about his squad now. It would be too soon, I think. So I'll just wait and see what comes of that, and whatever happens in that regard will happen however. I have this strange feeling I might know what caused it, though...

But I can't be too sure.

Ah, well. At least I managed to get the whole 'you ditched me' bit off my chest. I really was pretty angry when I thought about it after the fact, and I'm glad we got to make up about the whole thing.

Right... I'm feeling pretty hungry myself, so I guess it's time for the mess hall.

* * *

When I get there, the place is mostly empty. I guess I'm early for lunch. Yeah, that must be it.

Mess Sergeant Gardner is really nice, though. I get food, I sit down at the table, and we both go back to minding our own businesses. As I sit down... Hm...

I'm pretty sure I remember that Gardner was supposed to be a terrible cook. There were infamously legendary stories about it all around the Normandy's crew. I wonder if that's actually true with this stuff... I don't know what the hell it was supposed to be, but hey, we'll see.

So I grab my silverware, look at the food, and attach some to it. I then bring it up to my mouth, put it in, and...

...

_Ew!_

Yeah, the stories were not exaggerating. This has got to be the saddest excuse for mac and cheese I have ever seen _in my life_. My god, even the cafeteria at Guilford college didn't fuck up _this_ badly! Yech! Gross!

I swallow it, leaving a very sour taste in my mouth. I bite my lower lip, and I can feel my eyes water. Okay... Just calm down... You're gonna have to deal with this sooner or later... Right?

...

Oh, God damn it, I really think I should've waited for everyone else to show up. That way I'd at least have some way of taking my mind of this thing...

Mind... Hm... I wonder if Orange has any thoughts to contribute to this. Good thing I can talk to her wherever; Orange can read my mind, so I don't actually have to vocalize my answers. Means I can have a meaningful conversation by myself now without wondering about where my train of thought goes next.

As I wrangle in another forkfull of stuff, my left hand sifts into my left pocket. I feel the orange paperweight in my left pocket, and then I feel something enter my mind.

"You wanted to speak, child?_"_ asks the paperweight's voice.

Sure, I guess. I've got a bit on my mind.

"I imagine it is quite a few thoughts,_"_ replies Orange's voice. "I sense much turbulence in your mind. What troubles you, keeper?"

Some things didn't go totally according to how I remember them from the game. Garrus' squad survived... And the thing is they weren't supposed to... Do you have any kind of explanation for this, Orange?

"I do," replies the Prothean voice, still inside my mind. "But I think it is better for you if you find these things out on your own."

Oh, Christ, why are you so intent on playing games with me?

"Fear not, for the answers shall come to you soon," continues Orange. "I do not wish to play 'games'; only that you understand that soon you will not have any idea over what shall happen next. Remember this, for it will be a critical step as keeper to find this out."

I shake my head. Jeez, Orange, I hate it when you get all cryptic on me... What the hell am I supposed to do anyway? You keep on talking about me like I'm the freaking keeper, but I never know what I'm supposed to do. And every time I ask, you're always all 'you shall find out soon'. When is soon?

"Fret not, child, for 'soon' shall come after the attack of those who seek things out for the wicked..." replies Orange.

Attack of those who seek... Seeker swarms...

Oh. Okay. I get to find out after Horizon. Okay. Yeah, if my memory serves me correctly Horizon happens pretty soon. So I don't have to wait too long.

Yay! I finally figured out one of her own overwrought metaphors! Fun times abound!

"I would not celebrate just yet if I were you," says Orange, and I can feel the slight disapproval in her voice as she speaks. "There shall be more than you think before you see the attack of the seekers."

Oh, great, there's more? Whoop de friggin' do, Orange. What else?

"You must find this out on your own," she repeats. Oh, god damn it, Orange. "There is much you must learn about in this short time. I have very little left to say other than this; enter the door. You shall learn more then. But I cannot help you find this door; you must find it on your own."

I shake my head, taking my hand out of my pocket and frowning.

God damn it. At first I thought it would be cool getting a psychic friend who can read my mind. But no. All she does is sit around making random metaphors all day that don't make sense. What the fuck does that mean, 'enter the door'? And why can't she just tell me every answer? It would be easier than just sitting here hearing metaphors.

And yet, every time I end a conversation with her, I just can't help myself. Yes, it's a her; I'm sure of it now, having heard her voice periodically throughout the years. But still, it's wierd. She's all cryptic and stuff, and it annoys me whenever I have a conversation with her in my head, but whenever I'm not talking with her I find myself fascinated. It's a very strange on/off kind of relationship I have with her, and I really don't know what to make of it...

The short version? Having an orange paperweight for a companion is really messing with my head...

I manipulate my gross mac and cheese thinking about other things. I hear a set of footsteps come over in my direction, and I just shrug at this.

It's not until I hear someone sit across from me that I take any notice that they're there. I look up, jumping back slightly as I see Zaeed sit down in front of me. Yeesh... that one eye is a bit creepier in real life. Can't say I blame him, though; must be tough to be shot in the head by your 'friend'. I wonder... can I make Vido burn and still save the hostages? Hm... I'll have to see about that. In the meantime, though...

"Oh," I say, blinking in surprise. "Um... Zaeed Massani, was it?"

"Ya got that right," he says, looking at me with his good eye. Wow, his scars give him a much more badass impression in real life... Yeah... "You know, there are a lot of things I saw coming with this mission. But workin' with a musician who uses guns? Now that's somethin' I never saw comin'."

I shrug at this. "Trust me, Zaeed," I reply, smilling. "I still kind of feel the same way about the first time I worked with Shepard. Now those were some fun times that came right the fuck out of nowhere, you know?"

Zaeed nods at this. "And for a musician, you've got a lot of fight in ya, kid," he says. "I haven't seen anything so god damn explosive since I crashed a turian frigate on a planet a few years back. And seeing you here, I think your warehouse takedown was the better of the two. I'm glad I was there to see it."

I raise my eyebrow at this, leaning forward. "Wait, you crashed a turian frigate?" I ask, shifting in my seat.

He nods at this. "I had to lead a mission into a turian frigate with only five men and whatever guns we were carrying," he continues. "We had to crash it from the inside, ya see."

I blink briefly, laying my elbows on the table and holding my hands together. "That must've been a hell of a mission," I reply. "I mean, those things are heavily armed, even inside. How the hell did you manage to crash it?"

"I'm still not sure," he admits. "It was suicide. Zero percent chance of survival. But we did it. It was my first impossible mission as an indepent contractor. Everyone died but me."

"Must've been a crazy firefight then," I reply. "How the hell did you survive?"

"I dunno," replies Zaeed. "But I did. So I made like a bandit and watched as that turian ship crashed planetside. Hell of a ship, it was. I got a lot of missions after that, but there was nothin' quite as impressive as watching that ship crash planetside. And then you came along and blew all those Blue Suns straight to hell. The explosions were great, but it was the warehouse falling in on itself that really impressed me most."

I shrug. "If I want to be honest, I was not expecting the warehouse to collapse," I reply, shifting as I speared some food on my fork. "But yeah, I guess it was the most impressive part of the whole thing. I'll bet Aria's pissed about it."

"Don't worry too much, kid," he says. "She doesn't 'ave to know you did that."

I shrug. "I guess not," I reply. "But still, I think I enjoyed gunning all of them down a bit too much."

"Possibly, but it got the job done," says the veteran. "Although, I still don't understand why you were yelling so loudly in that voice. I almost thought you were dyin' of a punctured lung or somethin'."

At this, I crack a smirk at Zaeed. "It's all in rule of fun," I reply. "You ever heard of the Angry Video Game Nerd?"

Zaeed raises one of his eyebrows at this and shifts, crossing his arms in front of him. "Can't say I have," he says. "Why?"

I nod. "Yeah, you don't get it yet," I reply. "When you've got time, head to the extranet, look him up, and watch one of those old vids. You'll get the reference if you have the right episode on."

"Right, I'll keep it in mind," he says. "Anyway, that was pretty impressive work ya did there. I wonder what ya do with yer guns when ye're not in an airship shooting down mercs."

I shrug, cracking a smile as I do so. "Well, I can do pretty good damage with a shotgun," I reply. "I hope we won't have to use it all that much, though."

"Oh, what're you talkin' about?" he asks. "Sometimes you just gotta go with your gut feelin', kid. You learn that real fast. Also to watch yourself. I've gotten myself in quite a few messes from not doin' that."

I nod at this. Yeah, Vido Santiago is a bit of a bitch like that. "Yeah," I reply. "But just 'cause I don't like to fire a gun doesn't mean I don't think there are times I can shoot stuff with. I just prefer to go without shooting stuff when I really don't have to. And if you're wondering if 'when I have to', I'm thinking something like your turian frigate that you crashed."

He nods. "Good to see your head's on right, then," he says. "At least you know when you have to shoot."

"Yep," I say, tapping my fork against the tray. "So... you have any other war stories involving some form of impressive pyrotechnics, or...?"

Zaeed smirks at this. "As a matter of fact, I do," he replies.

And so, he sits there, telling me about a batarian slaver ship he had to blow up as part of a job once. Ah, Zaeed, you and your war stories. Thankfully, I'm going to get to hear more of them than I could ever have hoped to hear in the game. Not being constrained by being a DLC character is certainly going to help with that, methinks. I listen attentively, and we both sort of come to some strange kind of understanding about each other.

Funny how I always seem to get along with the people I really shouldn't be able to get along with...

* * *

I made my usual rounds around the new Normandy. I introduced myself to a few of the crew members, and I got to talk to Joker more extensively. He's glad to be back on his baby girl again, and he's not so eager to lose it this time. That's a good thing; it means he'll be all up for defending it when the Collectors come to take the crew away. He'll be fine, I know it, and we managed to crack a few jokes at each other's expense. I hope.

Seeing Chakwas again was nice, too. When I ran into her, I made a brief joke about how I'd have to get another check-up since I had just gotten onto the Normandy. She brushed it off, though; in a way, I can't say I blame her. Asari parkour is a great way to stay in shape, I can tell myself that much. All the better since I can't find a gym in this iteration of the Normandy. Ah, well. I'll live anyway.

I made the rest of the rounds, looking over to the console that Tali would eventually be standing at down in engineering. I also met Ken and Gabby down there for the first time. I'm gonna be seeing them a lot once Tali comes onto the ship, so I figured I'd make myself friendly at first. It was a rather good feeling, I should think.

I returned to my quarters after having dinner with Garrus and Shepard. Man, I'm a little tired. I could use some bed.

But first... Time to see if Tali can open a comm channel right about now...

Hm... I did send her a message that I wanted to chat over a secure comm channel, so... Okay...

Ah. My omni-tool pings as I see a comm channel open for discussion. All right... Let me get something here... Do that there... And boom. Tali and I are talking.

"Tali?" I ask into the comm link.

A few seconds pass before I hear the reply. "_Hey, Art,_" she says. "_You wanted to talk to me?_"

I nod at this, walking over to the desk where my terminal is and looking out to the drive core. "Well, I'll give you two guesses as to where I am," I say. "The Citadel does not count."

She hesitates for a few seconds, the delay in the comm boueys not helping at all. "_Let me guess..._" she says. "_You're on the Normandy._"

I smirk as her reply comes through. "Technically, that's the Normandy SR-2 to you," I say, smiling.

I hear nothing for a few seconds, and then she seems to be quite happy. "_Good!_" she says. "_It's good to see she's really back from the dead! Is there anybody else from the old crew that's there?_"

I shrug. "Well, there's Chakwas and Joker," I reply. "You know how Joker is; he wouldn't have it anywhere else but the Normandy. And Chakwas is a sweetheart as always."

"_That's good to hear,_" replies the quarian. "_Anybody else?_"

I shift my head over to my omni-tool. "Well, believe it or not, Garrus is here too," I reply, a smile gracing my mouth.

"_Garrus is there?_" she asks. "_How is he?_"

I roll my eyes. "He made a lot of enemies in the two years that I saw him last," I reply. "He was a vigilante. But there's something about him that bothers me a little... Some things didn't happen according to how they happened in the game..."

"_Really?_" asks Tali. "_What happened? Is Garrus seriously injured?_"

Whoah, that's the conclusion she jumped to? "Actually, one thing I did was I prevented incredibly serious on his part," I reply. "In the game, he was supposed to be nailed in the face by a missile. But here, I hijacked the airship that was supposed to nail him in the face, so we're all good with that."

"_Oh, well that's good,_" she says. "_So what happened?_"

I blink, sighing as I look out of the drive core. "It's about his squad," I reply. "I remembered to tell you about Garrus' squad that he assembled on Omega during his stint as Archangel, right?"

"_You did,_" she says. "_You said something about how he got that squad together, and how it was supposed to die. What happened?_"

I snort at this. "It survived, that's what," I reply. "Also, I have the slightest suspicion Garrus isn't pissed off at Sidonis like he's supposed to be."

Tali is silent for a little longer than the delay covers. When she speaks, it's grave. "_I see..._" she says. "_What do you think caused this?_"

I shake my head. "I have no fucking clue," I reply. "That's what gets me about the whole thing. I just have no idea what the hell happened to make events play out in this manner. I really don't. I can't say I'm totally unhappy at this, but it still throws me for a bit of a huge loop. Now Garrus' loyalty mission is going to be totally different..."

I can feel Tali's nod of understanding across the galaxy. "_I can understand your trepidation,_" she says. "_You will survive, though. You have been through much worse._"

I nod at this. "Indeed I have," I reply. "I take it you're heading to the next mission for the Fleet?"

"_I'm in the transport as we speak,_" says Tali. "_I take it you know where..._"

I nod. "It'll be at Haestrom," I reply. "There's an old quarian colony there. You're taking readings on its sun, and avoiding the geth that are all around the damn place while you're at it. You've got a squad with you, and you'll try to work quickly. You have Kal'Reegar as a squad leader, and... well, that's the story."

"_That's pretty much it,_" says Tali. "_But that is Kal'Reegar vas Rayya to you._"

I beam at this. "Ah, so that's his ship!" I exclaim. "They never mentioned what ship he served on in the game. So yeah..."

"_They never did?_" she asks. "_That is certainly very strange..._"

"I know!" I say. "And what's even crazier is that the writers at Bioware had no excuse for that. They give the quarians that only appear in the tie-in materials ship names and everything, but for some reason if your name is Kal or Veetor they don't. It's very, very strange..."

"_I see..._" she says.

I nod. "Although, to be fair, I kind of did guess Kal would be serving on the Rayya," I comment. "He shows up there anyway."

I can feel a brief silence as Tali probably sits... stands there? I dunno. "_Wait, you have to come to the fleet?_" she asks.

"Yeah," I reply. "It's an incredibly long story, but the Admiralty board will be gathered in the Rayya, and so will a whole crap-ton of other people. Veetor and Kal will even be there."

"_Oh,_" she says, her voice filled with glee. "_You'll get to meet everyone I know on the Fleet! And you'll get to visit my birth ship! And I can introduce you to Auntie Raan and my father!_"

I chuckle nervously at her display of enthusiasm. When she finds out why we have to go there... I doubt she'll be as enthusiastic. "Yes..." I reply, glancing to the side. "Yes, I will... I'm sure it'll be quite fun when I finally meet them."

If she sees the unease in my voice, she doesn't comment about it. And so, she seems to shift around, as I can hear some kind of motion in there. "_You get to see Kal before, right?_"

"Yep," I reply. "And it'll be fun when we get to meet him."

"_Of course,_" replies Tali, and I can feel her look. "_I was wondering something... when do I know my mission is over?_"

I bite my lower lip. Oh, dear. Yeah, this is gonna be fun. "Yeah... uh... see..." I begin, gesturing with my right hand. "Shepard's gonna have to come in and rescue your ass from the geth."

The silence is palpable. When she finally speaks, it's pretty... unflattered. "_I see..._" she says. "_This is great. I do work for the Fleet, and I get to join you by getting rescued._"

I shrug. "To be fair, it's not your typical damsel in distress situation," I reply. "The geth will be trying to get you. You'll keep the door locked, and you'll constantly hack to avoid that."

"_And what of the squad?_" she asks. "_Will they make it...?_"

I bite my lower lip again as I shake my head. "In the game, Kal'Reegar was the only other quarian who was still alive when Shepard showed up," I reply. "And this is the worst part; I have no way of knowing what the hell happened to make him the only survivor of the rest of the squad. All I know is that a geth colossus attacks you, and that's really about it."

"_A colossus, you say?_" she asks. "_It's certainly something to keep in mind... I'll see what happens. Thank you._"

I nod at this, looking over to where I would imagine Tali would be if she were here. "No problem," I say. "Any other questions?"

The question is out almost too quickly. "_What's my loyalty mission?_" she asks. "_You told me everybody else's mission, but not mine..._"

I blink. Oh, Christ. No... She's better off finding out about her mission on her own. I don't think I can tell her she's being put up for treason. How in the world would she react? Disbelief? Anger? Sadness? I don't want to upset Tali any more than I have to. She'll need her full concentration on Haestrom. Besides, I can warn her father beforehand; she doesn't need to know he dies in the game, right? No, I didn't think so. And so, I look up at the ceiling before shaking my head.

"Uh..." I begin. "I think it's best if you find that out for yourself. Trust me, you wouldn't believe me if I told."

She's a little skeptical at this, but she decides not to push it. "_All right,_" she says. "_I hope it is nothing too serious..._" Oh, trust me Tali, it _is_ serious. That's one reason why I'm not opening up about it at all. "_Listen, I have to go soon. We're about to travel into Haestrom's system, and I'm afraid we're going to have to cut contact as there are no buoys in the system._"

"Oh..." I say with a shrug. "Well... It was nice talking to you again, Tali. I'll see you soon enough."

"_Likewise,_" she says. "_I'm looking forward to seeing you, Shepard, and Garrus all over again!_"

I smile at this, looking over to my omni-tool. "All right," I say. "Bye."

"_Keelah se'lai._"

With this, the comm connection is cut, and I'm left to the silence once again. I look out to the drive core once again as I smile. It's always a pleasure talking to Tali. The day it stops being so is the day that I die, I'm sure. Well, unless she's pissed, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm sure she'll understand, yes?

Ah, whatever. I'll see what happens eventually.

For now, though... It's been a pretty long day. I arrived on Omega, talked to Aria, blew shit up, wandered around the new Normandy, and found out we're going to nab Okeer. Or try to; we all know how well that ends. Baby krogan, ahoy! I wonder what Grunt's gonna be like. I'm sure I'm going to get along just fine with Grunt. I did get along excellently with Wrex, after all... So I'm sure I'll get along very well with Grunt.

Jeez, I always seem to get in good with all the violent people. It was Wrex in the first game, and now it's shaping up to be Zaeed, Jack, and Grunt in this one. Although, that might come with a counterbalance, as I seem to be getting along fine with Jacob. I dunno. I thought he was gonna be bland here from what I remember of the game, but he's actually one of the nicest guys. And somehow, seeing him in person I can appreciate his niceness a lot more. Even if he does remind me of people that wander around shirtless for no reason other than to make fangirls swoon at the sight.

I stand up from my desk, and decide to go to bed. I walk rather dreamily to the mattress and plop down on it, feeling at home at last on the Normandy. It's good to be back in the groove, thank goodness. I look up, smiling as I think of what's to come.

And slowly, I fall asleep, looking up at the ceiling and feeling lulled to sleep by the impenetrable silence all around me.

Life is good. What can I say?


	4. Chapter 3

_A/N: Okay, welcome back to here. We're back with more stuff._

_And this time, we'll start to get some explanation into what some of Orange's words meant last chapter. This time, we also find Grunt. Fun times are had there. And yes, Garrus will always be doing calibrations. Fuck that._

_So without further ado? Let's get this show on the road._

* * *

Chapter 3: Dutilleux: Metaboles

_I find myself in a hallway. It's almost like the hallway of my apartment building back in Boston. Except... It's kind of narrow. But that's besides the point._

_I advance in the hall, seeing a table to my left. The table... This is a little odd, isn't it? It looks like it's melting into the floor. Some of the paintings in the walls are also a little strangely shaped, all in unnatural shapes and that. I can see details of Van Gogh in there, and it all looks perfectly fine, except the canvas seems to flow in time like a river of molten magma. The paintings themselves stay in there. But it's still damn creepy to see the canvas just creep around. I also see various light fixtures bent in all sorts of strange positions._

_Well, someone must have had a field day in furniture design. Or really loved the paintings of Salvador Dali. Either way, I don't like where this is going... It's too surreal for my own good, I think..._

_I walk down the hallway, watching as it twists. I feel something unpleasant creep into my skin as I look around. I slowly feel the hallway seemingly flow around me, like I'm standing in a river of solid concrete that is always changing. It's ebbing away, slowly, and I can feel some kind of strangeness._

_I look around... Something isn't right about this setup..._

_I can hear the sound of an out of tune string quartet somewhere within the walls, and also the sounds of voice actors of Heavy Rain. The sound seems to be travelling around me in an endless circle with the voice-overs taking turns to talk. As I walk, the only thing that pierces this strangeness is the sound of my own footsteps. Despite certain things, though, I can't really hear them; if they echo off the walls, it's not showing..._

_I look around as I traverse down the hallway. My steps seem lost in the air around me. I feel stifled in here, and yet I don't see any dust around here. It's old, and yet the paint job is really deceptive as the hall traverses about. It's so seamless how it's doing it. I don't really know what to think of it..._

_I walk along, looking around. As I do, I feel like the room is rotating around itself. Or something; I don't really know what to describe how I feel as I walk down. It's not just my skin going cold; I feel like something is trying to tug me away from my feet but isn't really succeeding in doing so. This is a little disturbing, I think... But I can't explain it..._

_I suddenly hear a very loud creak. I look down to my right foot as it steps on a certain area of the floor. Well, that's strange. If it's a steel floor, why is it that it creaks like a wooden floor if I step on one particular spot._

_I don't get to think too hard about it, though, because then I hear someone scream out from behind me. I turn around, and suddenly there is a very angry mob of people. They're rushing towards me in the hallway, and I suddenly don't know what to do._

_So I do the first thing that comes to my mind. I run as fast as I can, taking a glance at the mob behind me as my feet spring into action._

_My feet pound against the steel floor, making no more sounds as the mob rushes in behind me. Despite myself, I keep looking behind me, afraid of their progress. My heart's pumping really fast, and my eyes are wide in fear. I run down the hallway, but don't see any end in sight to the hallway. It keeps meandering, and I feel the strange tugs all around me as something tries to hold me off. The sounds of the string quartet and the Heavy Rain voices stop, and I can only hear the rushing mob._

_As I go around, I finally see a door at the end of the hallway. It's wierdly shaped, as if Dr. Seuss drew it onto the wall. Either way, it's the only place I can turn to for safety. So I rush for it._

_But as I do, I turn the knob and find that it's locked. I turn it again, shaking the doorknob for extra measure. But it's no use. I can hear the thunderous mob behind me, and I look again. I can see it more clearly now. They're held back by something; maybe trying to get over each other. I turn back to the door, and ram my elbow into it. I shake it again, bang my head against it, whatever comes to mind._

_But it's not enough, for then I suddenly feel the mob crash into me. I'm briefly aware of being shoved into the door before I begin to feel things beat and stab into my body. I scream out as pain begins to scream in my skin. But it all seems far-off. Like it's happening to someone miles away, but not to me. It's the strangest sensation._

_And I slowly get beaten to death, seeing my own blood leak out around me and onto the floor, and suddenly I swear the blood is pooling in a corner and running up the wall..._

* * *

I let out a sharp gasp, sitting up in bed. I'm back in my room on the Normandy SR-2, my viola case still by my mattress as I blink. I briefly turn my head to the terminal, and subsequently the window it's situated in front of. The pale blue light of the drive core can be seen from here...

I groan, and bring my hand to my face as I shake my head. I let out a shaky breath, taking another one in as I throw my arm unceremoniously against my leg, looking at the wall.

Oh, god damn it... It's the same dream I've been having for the past year now. Jeez, I'm on the Normandy and I still can't get rid of it? Jesus Christ on a pikestaff...

It's always that dream. I specifically remember strange dreams like that for some reason. I remember being beat down in alleyways in some brick-walled city. I remember being taken away on a starship that was on a mission to destroy worlds. I remember being left out on a snowy field. Hell, I even remember that one dream where the cast of _Super Smash Brothers: Melee_ was taken to some secret laboratory, with testing that ended with Zelda wielding an arm cannon and kicking ass.

But all those are dreams I have had a comparatively small number of times.

This one... I remember every detail. Not just because it's so damn strange, but because I've been having it over and over again for no reason. I've almost memorized the table to exactly where it seems to melt into the floor from its table supports. I've come to recognize some of the paintings on the wall in the hallway. I seem to remember the way the hallway pulls at me as I move along it. I know the door is locked whenever I get there, but there's nothing else I can do. I've even placed a few names to some of the faces from the mob, even if I've never met some of the people in the mob.

It's a dream that terrifies me every time I have it. I wish I could not have it just for once, but I still have it all the time for some reason...

I hope I can figure out what lies beyond that door. I have the distinct feeling that it's the door Orange is talking about, and yet I have no clue how to fucking open it.

So what am I supposed to do?

I see a panel in the room light up, and then I see the globular interface of EDI light up. "Serviceman *********," says the AI.

Oh, dear... "I guess some names stick, huh?" I ask, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "It's wierd to be called 'Serviceman' again..."

"I see nothing unusual about referring to you by your rank," replies EDI nonchalantly.

I shake my head. "Yeah, well, I feel a bit differently about that from two years of not being in the Alliance," I reply as I throw the covers off of me. "What is it?"

"Commander Shepard is requesting your presence in the briefing room," says the AI. "We are about to recruit Okeer, and she would like you on the ground team."

Oh. Well, good thing my dream woke me up at an opportune time. Well, we're recruiting Grunt now, eh? I know it's technically Okeer, but he's gonna be dead by the time we're done killing all the mercs that are in the area at the same time. Some things just can't be helped, I suppose. But that's not really an issue, I think. Just don't mention that we'll have a baby krogan on the team until we actually have the baby krogan on the ship.

"All right," I say, looking to the AI as I stand up. "Tell the Commander I'll be down there soon."

"Of course," says EDI. "Logging you out."

And with this, the blue globe peters out of existence on the control panel. I look up at it as I stand up, brushing the back of my head and breathing in and out nervously as I bite my lower lip. Well, no use wondering about my dream now, I suppose. Time to get back into my armor.

I look over to where I kept my armor stored throughout the night. I smile, and walk over to it. The first thing I do is to pull a grey cloth out of the armor. It's the very same grey cloth that Ash gave me on the first Normandy. I kept it stored in my greave on Omega; I ended up not needing it. I rarely use it these days; my hair's grown out a lot since I've been here. Now it's long enough that I can tie my hair behind me into a sort of ponytail that comes to around the midway point between my two shoulders. I still shave some parts of it, and I still cut my bangs every so often, but now that I don't have my mom trying to get it cut at every opportunity and my dad making 'one hair cut' jokes at my expense, I've found that growing out is good for me.

But, I still keep the cloth as a sort of token of my days from the first Normandy. Usually I tie it around my arm now, covering one of the black tattoos that I have. Now that I'm no longer really Alliance, I can keep my hair pretty long. I guess it also explains why Miranda always wades into battle with her hair flowing out behind her.

Ah, well. I shrug, and set the cloth back on the table. I take my armor and start to put it on piece by piece, loving the feeling that comes with putting it back on in a ship called the Normandy.

* * *

Well, we're here now. We're on the Kodiak, and somehow I feel a little more at home in here than I ever have before.

It's a small bunch I'm here with, and undoubtedly a rather strange one too. Shepard is busy piloting the Kodiak down to Korlus, with me wondering how long it's going to take before we touch the planet. I look to the others around me, and cross my arms. Garrus is sitting next to me on the rather small shuttle, checking his sniper rifle yet again. Mordin and Jack are also here, and I'm beginning to wonder if Shepard just doesn't like Miranda and Jacob. I mean, honestly, Jacob's a nice guy, but it's clear he doesn't approve of every Cerberus decision there is...

Hm...

I look over to Jack as she sits on the other end of the shuttle, and then over to Mordin as he simply stands around. It's fairly quiet as I sit there, and my eyes flitter between the fast-talking salarian doctor and the violent manic-depressive woman on the other side of the shuttle.

I shift where I sit, feeling my normal three-piece ensemble behind me. Right... Pistol, assault rifle, shotgun. Fuck the sniper rifle; I've found I'm a terrible sniper if I don't have time to set it up beforehand. I work better with shotgun, I find. Even if I did elbow Ash that one time by accident. But... I've grown used to the recoil. And thank good for the firing range; that thing is great at helping me keep my firing skills up to par.

But... stuff happens.

And so, I look between the doctor and the convict, looking up.

"You seem edgy. Must be nerves. Understandeable. Nerves always present before mission."

Wait, what? Wow, Mordin really does talk fast. So fast, I don't even realize he's done talking. I blink, glancing at him as I bite my lower lip.

"Uh... right," I reply. "I'll pretend I was actually listening to whatever the hell you were saying and get on with my life."

"Different individuals react differently to nerves," says the doctor. "You deal with it by sarcasm. Much to think about. Implications... variable."

I blink. Okay, I actually heard all of that. "Oh, great," I reply, shaking my head. "You've only ever said two sentences to me, and already I'm afraid of what's going to happen. I fear what little sanity I have left..."

Jack chuckles at this, and then I look to her. "You're in the same room as me, kid," she says. "I'm surprised you haven't already driven yourself up the fucking wall yet."

I raise my eyebrow, crossing my arms. "Really?" I ask. "But the thing is, we only just met. So I haven't really gotten much time to drive myself up the wall, you know?"

Jack shakes her head. "You've heard all the crazy stories, though, right?" she replies. "What with you being the Commander's fucking lap-dog or something."

I frown at this, but before I can throw in my towel, Garrus speaks up. "We didn't always agree with Shepard back on the first Normandy," he mentions. "I remember it took nearly two days to convince him out of his room after that one mission on that one planet... We had STG with us there..."

"Virmire?" asks Mordin. "Have heard of it, yes. Serviceman big hero there. Led STG unit into battle, very few casualties."

I shake my head. Oh, for the love of peace... "Really, Garrus?" I ask. "You're going to bring up that mission?"

"Yes," says the turian.

I playfully punch him in the arm, shaking my head as a half-hearted frown comes on my face. "Fuck you..." I whisper, chuckling as I do this.

"What?" asks the convict. "You went all ape-shit after that?"

I shake my head, my smirk dying away. "I'd rather not go into that," I reply. "It's one of the more... embarrasing moments of my life."

"He was busy crying through it all," says Garrus without missing a beat.

Oh, the little-! "Garrus!" I squeal out, punching him in the arm even harder.

Jack lets out a laugh, looking right at me. "And to think that the same kid who took down that fuckin' warehouse was cryin' for two days over one person," she replies plainly. "You need to man the fuck up."

I shake my head. "Trust me, it was much more complicated than that," I reply. "First of all, that was two years ago. I've had plenty of time to think about it, so I'm not planning on wangsting on it anytime soon. Second, Garrus here oversimplified it. Greatly." I cross my arms. "He doesn't even know the whole truth, even. And the day that he knows the whole truth is the day that Cerberus will be ethical in its experiments."

At this, Jack lets out a short bark, throwing me off. She looks at me, a small smirk on her face as she looks. "Good to know we're on the same fuckin' page here," she says. "Fuck the two lapdogs."

I blink. "Well, I mean, Jacob's actually a pretty nice guy," I point out. "And he doesn't totally agree with Cerberus."

"He still wears the fuckin' uniform," replies Jack. "That's enough for me. But at least you've got your head screwed on right. I'd hate to have to yell at yet another human on this fucking ship."

I snort, shaking my head as I look at the ceiling of the transport. "I know the feeling," I reply. "I imagine you'd want to drown them in the ink from all your tattoos?"

Here, she gives me a steeley look, and I suddenly find any mirth I had evaporating almost on cue. Wow, just one glare from her makes me shut up. I fear my sanity already. "In ink, but not from these things," she replies, pointing to her tattoos. "I'll rip your head clean off your body before you pull any shit like that."

I blink. "Uh... Okay..." I say, scratching the back of my head. "Not like I have any way to take them all off anyway... Unless you wanted me to take a scalpel to all that and extract the individual ink blots, and even then I think I'd fail miserably at getting all the ink out in a form suitable to get it in liquid form. Not without me accidentally cutting you once or twice. Or dying first, either by old age or because of you tearing me apart with biotics."

Garrus appreciates the humor at least, but she blinks at this, non-plussed. "You really don't know how these things work, do you?" she asks. "What the fuck do you mean by all that?"

I shrug. "You tell me," I reply. "I've never stepped into a tattoo parlor before, so I wouldn't know shit about tattoos. And plus, I've never needed to, so yeah." I better not go into how being raised by loving parents on Earth was. Yet, anyway. She'll be incredibly pissed until we blow that facility on Pragia to Kingdom Come if I mention it. Ah, well, good thing we can't exactly activate the casual sex scene, what with Shepard being a woman.

"Right, you're a pussy," she says. "An incredibly ballsy pussy, but still a pussy. Should've known it from the moment I saw that fuckin' music thing or whatever you call it."

I frown, crossing my arms at this. "Wait, so if I'm 'ballsy', doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of _being _a pussy in the first place?"

There is dead silence in the Kodiak as we feel ourselves slowly lower towards the ground. I keep my arms crossed, and nobody dares reply. I shrug at this, looking at Jack as a smug smirk comes to my face. Nobody dares challenge me, and I feel Jack look straight at me boring holes into my head. Somehow, I don't care that she'll violently rip me to shreds without a second thought. And as her glare intensifies, my smirk only intensifies.

But before she can reply, the salarian speaks first. "Interesting," he says. "Strange mesh of personalities. Will be great to work with. Looking forward to rest of the mission. Especially talk about tattoos. Will be interesting to see solutions on how to remove them. Knife? No, no, too messy... Perhaps injection is preferable. No... would not work..."

I blink again as the salarian goes on and on after that I glance at the doctor as Garrus chuckles. Jack and I are both speechless at this, and we both lose our glare and my smirk. I look to Mordin, then back to Jack, and then back to Mordin before I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Note to self," I say, closing my eyes. "_Never_ talk about tattoos around Mordin. _Ever_ again."

"Ditto," agrees Jack.

And with this, the rest of the Kodiak ride down to the planet Okeer is on is rather silent.

* * *

When we step out of the Kodiak, we see that we're on a rather deserted planet. There's debris absolutely fucking everywhere, like we just touched down on a huge chunk of ground zero. Well... My question is, how the hell did things get so bad? Granted, Tuchanka is a planet-wide case of Hiroshima, but really, this place doesn't look like it's faring much better.

We rush over to a chest-high wall, taking cover behind it as we look on. Shepard is silent as we sidle up against the wall, and I give her a nod.

"The dossier doesn't say if Okeer is here by choice," she says. "Assume hostiles."

Before we can get moving, however... "There is only one measure of success," shouts a voice over a loudspeaker quite a distance away. "Kill or be killed."

I blink at this, coming out of cover to see nobody heading our way. Our weapons are already drawn, and then we look over there.

"Broadcasting orders over loudspeaker. Foolish. Indicates lack of organization," comments Mordin.

"Stay focused," replies the Commander. "We're looking for a krogan warlord.

I step over the uneven stones as I grip my assault rifle in my hands. Jack has her shotgun out, with Mordin holding out a pistol and Garrus standing by with his sniper rifle in his hands. Shepard comes to the front of the group, dressed in... Well, her armor certainly changed. Now she's in that armor from one of the DLC packages. It's that black armor with the red kind of thing you'd find in the inside of the 3D version of the Citgo logo rather than on the battlefield. But hey, what can I do?

We advance slowly, my eyes flying over the broken wasteland around us. Yes, there is a lot of damage here. A reactor there, a broken building there, stuff like the WTC when it first fell off in the distance... Wow, whoever was on the planet last really did a number here, especially on this stretch of land. I can see huge numbers painted onto something in the distance, and the whole thing reminds me of post-apocalyptic America...

...Oh, great, that was another flashback to the _Book of Eli_ that I didn't want. Good God, did I hate that movie. Seriously, fuck that movie. They really couldn't have come up with a better plot twist than "oh, he's blind, and God is real". Yeah, you also invalidated your premise. So fuck you, movie.

"Being hired is merely the beginning," I hear a loud voice boom in the distance. This effectively interrupts my thoughts as we all look to the source of the sound. "You must earn your place in the mighty army we are building."

We turn a corner as we hear this, and then I roll my eyes. "Great, we're dealing with crazies..." I mutter to myself as we advance.

Yeah, there are an inordinately high number of chest-high walls around here. Yeah, Yahtzee, you really weren't kidding. That's where the first firefight starts... And it looks like they're ready for battle.

"Observation post," comments Garrus. "And ready for a fight it looks like."

Shepard nods at this. "Keep calm," says the Commander. "And if we enter a firefight, we take them all down."

We only acknowledge this, and then we come across them.

My shields flicker suddenly, the report of a shotgun going off and taking a rather large chunk of my shields. I dive behind cover as soon as I feel this, Mordin rolling up next to me as Garrus takes a position behind the wall. Jack simply runs over to cover, firing her shotgun at one of the mercs and then throwing him into the air as Shepard rolls behind cover, shooting at him with her assault rifle.

All right, my first firefight of ME2 begins!

My shields regenerate, and without waiting to see what else is there I come out of cover. I see another merc pop out of some chest-high wall up an incline that's directly in front of us. I decide to concentrate my fire on that, as Mordin comes out as well. He manages to fire a few pistol shots into the merc there, taking its shields down. I tear at it with my assault rifle, the rounds flying across the air as they impact against the merc's face. He goes down, and then I dive behind cover as I feel my shields take a hit. I reload, watching other people do the same as I peer back out of cover.

Yeah, the merc is down, but in his place is someone else. Not a moment too soon, I suddenly see Shepard jump straight out of cover, and before I'm aware of what is happening I see her fly across the battlefield in a burst of blue energy, and then I sit there shocked as she rushes up to a merc and punches it in the chest. Holy shit... As she retreats, a lone sniper shot nails him in the head. Garrus.

Holy shit... I almost forgot Shepard was a biotic for a second! And I forgot that biotics can punch things in ME2 for a really powerful attack. Shit, I can't believe I forgot that! There are two other mercs that show up, and then they both shoot at the commander. Her shields take a hit, but Jack manages to toss a warp at one of them. This throws them off balance for massive damage, and Mordin immediately starts shooting it.

Which leaves the last one to me. As Shepard lowers its shields, I come out of cover, and then fire on the merc. Its shields go down, and then a few more rounds from me puts the merc out of commission. I turn my attention to the merc that Jack threw, and after seeing Mordin destroy his shields I fire at it myself.

All is silent as we look up. I blink at this, and then get out of cover.

Well, that was fast. A little anticlimactic for a first firefight, too... Well, the mercs don't really get hard until we find that one tank-bred krogan over there.

Shepard comes out of cover, her assault rifle still brandished as we climb up the incline. We don't see any more mercs here, so... Yeah, we should be safe. We walk past the chest-high walls, and then we're greeted with the sight of a wounded mercenary sitting on the ground and muttering to himself. We see him stand up, and constantly swearing his head off as he stands up. He holds most of his weight on one leg, and we hear him complain about his wounds.

I raise my eyebrows at this. "He doesn't look too bad, actually," I reply. "I've seen worse." That is, if you count Tommy Wiseau's ass as 'worse'.

"He doesn't need to know that," comments Shepard.

With this, our full attention goes to the merc. Yep, he's in Blue Suns armor. Fun. He looks to us, and he frowns a little. Yeah, he's all bloody, but nothing some good medigel won't fix.

"Oh, I knew it wasn't berserkers," he says between clenched teeth. "Not in range. You're mercs. Or Alliance. I'm not telling you anything!"

I see Shepard's omni-tool light up as she looks to the merc. "I've got a nice application of medi-gel ready to go," she says. "Or if you'd rather I just keep walkin'."

I gesture to her with my head, and he nods his head down once. "Son of a bitch," he says. "I just... I don't know anything. I just shoot the overflow from the labs. The old krogan up there... He's really been cleaning house lately. Jedore hired him to make her an army, but the krogan he creates are insane so we all use them for live ammo training." Somehow, actually hearing it live is a little more scary. "God damn it, I don't get paid enough to bleed out like this."

As soon as he finishes talking, his comm unit is activated. "Outpost four, Jedore wants us to move. We need coordinates on that krogan pack."

I blink and raise my eyebrows, looking at the merc. He looks to us, and I look over to Shepard. I'm going to leave this one to the commander.

"You heard the man on the radio," she says, her voice suddenly turning quite cold. "He needs direction."

...

Hey, wait a minute. Isn't that from the Intimidate prompt? What in the world...?

"I mean... I don't have the info they want," says the merc. "You showed up before I could get my normal sightings."

She pauses for only a second before replying. "You've got other problems," she says icily.

Yes, yes it is from the Intimidate prompt. What the hell? I thought she was Paragon all the way! What happened that she went with the renegade option? Wait... Her scars are still showing... So... The scars only heal up if you're completely paragon. Oh, dear, did she turn into a Paragade on my ass? I hope not. Eh, this will probably only be one instance. Right?

"Patrol, uh... uh... Patrol sighting, east of station 2," says the merc, a lot of uncertainty in his voice. "Yeah."

"Copy, east of 2," says the voice on the other end. Wow, the person over there must be a complete idiot if he fell for that shit...

"Bitch, they'll run blind into krogan," he says, his eyes steely even despite wounds.

Shepard decides to get straight to the point. "Have you seen Okeer?" she asks. "Does he know about all this?"

I space out as the conversation continues. Yeah, this is gonna be pretty boring. Infodump, infodump, infodump. It's not like I don't know what's happening here, and the snippets I do catch match what I know so far. Okeer is still in the labs, Jedore hired him to make a krogan army, they all come out insane, she can't control them, it's guarded enough to keep airships from doing too much damage, blah blah blah, , cock puncher.

Right. I'm in good hands as Shepard talks. But I can't help but think about her going Renegade on me earlier in the conversation. This is... disturbing. And I don't like it one bit.

Still, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she won't do anything as reckless for a little bit. Ah, well.

I know the conversation is over as he limps away. Jack makes some off-handed comment about the scare, and after a brief amount of time Shepard takes out her assault rifle.

I pull out mine too, and prepare myself for the firefight that's undoubtedly ahead of us.

* * *

Phew, that was a lot of mercenaries. Some of them were firing rocket launchers at us... Others were just damn crazy. I really couldn't understand the freaking deaths here... Here is Jedore screaming over loudspeaker about how they need to move. What the hell is Jedore's motivation, anyway? Does she want to take over the suns from Vido? Does she want to take over the galaxy? What?

Either way, it makes it a bit hard to understand why the hell she hired Okeer to make all these tank-bred krogan.

One of which we're standing in front of right now. It's fully armored, and I can see its yellow... erm... eyes looking at us. We approach, and Garrus' first action is to keep his sniper rifle trained on us. I can understand his trepidation... But he's not that bad. Seriously, didn't you see him firing off shots at all those mercs, earlier? He's friendly! Trust me on that much, Garrus.

The krogan simply tilts its head to the side. As soon as we see this, Shepard can see he means no harm, so she lifts her hand up. Garrus obediently de-aims the sniper rifle from the krogan in question. As he does, the krogan comes forward, standing right up to Shepard.

"You... are different," it begins. "You don't smell like this world. Seven night cycles, and I have only felt the need to kill. But you... Something makes me speak."

"Seven night cycles?" asks Garrus, one of his mandibles moving in curiosity.

I set my hands on my hips. "Okay, and now I get to socialize with fully-grown baby krogan," I comment. "This is gonna be fun."

"He must breed them full size and ready to kill," replies Shepard. "Not much better than regular mercs if you ask me."

"Bred... to kill..." says the krogan. "No. I kill because my blood and bone tell me to. But it's not why I was flushed from glass mother. Survival is what I hear in my head against the enemy that threatens all my kind, but I failed, even before waking. That is what the voice in the water said. That is why I wait here."

Shepard shifts slightly where she stands. All right, here come the questions. "You were made for a mercenary company," she says. "Do you remember Jedore?"

The krogan looks at us. "I know that name," he says. "It causes anger, but also laughter." Oh, she sounds more like Tommy Wiseau with each passing second. "It is not a name that will be sung when we march. I don't know what it means, but I have heard it many times."

Shepard gestures to him with her hand. "How can you speak if you're only a week old?" she asks.

"There was a scratching sound in my head," he replies. "It became the voice. It taught things I would need. Walking, talking, hitting, shooting. Then the voice said I was not perfect. And the teaching stopped. And now I am here."

"Taught everything they need in tank," says Mordin. "Interesting."

"The question is, why?" I ask. "If Okeer was looking for the perfect krogan... What does that mean?"

"Maybe a krogan that can kick a lot of ass without breaking a sweat?" asks Jack.

I raise one of my eyebrows at this. "Possibly," I reply. "But why breed them in a lab?"

"Something to ask Okeer," notes the salarian scientist. "Possibilities... interesting."

"Indeed," notes Shepard. "Why were you not deemed perfect?"

"I don't know," replies the krogan. "It was decided before I left tank mother. I was not perfect."

"If mercenary was correct, krogan prone to mental instability," says Mordin.

"Eh, I doubt that's the only thing at play here..." I comment, rubbing my chin in thought.

The krogan is not phased by this. "I do not know of that," he replies. "But I know am not perfect."

Shepard seems satisfied for now, and looks to the krogan. "Can you show us to the labs?"

The krogan nods simply at this. He walks on, and slowly we follow. We see a piece of metal there that seems out of place with everything else, and the krogan approaches it. His hands come around it, and with a grunt he hefts it. The piece of metal falls to the side with a crash, and then we see a rather small pathway lay out before us. Shepard approaches, the rest of us following behind closely. Yes, there's a pretty crazy firefight in here...

"You fleshy things are slow when big things are in your way," says the lab-bred krogan.

Shepard turns to him. "You could have run, or tried to fight your way through the labs. Why stay here?" she asks.

"I am waiting," he says. "The voice told me. If they come, I will fight."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "But you could die out here," I point out.

"I have accepted that," replies the krogan. "An imperfect krogan doesn't have a purpose, but it is the way things are."

I look over to it, and suddenly pity washes over me. Here's a krogan that's been tank-bred for one purpose. But it fails even at that purpose, just because one voice says so. And now, he's just left there, either until he dies a thousand years from now or the Blue Suns get him. I look over to him as Shepard draws her gun. Jack and Mordin file in next, but I hang around, with Garrus giving me a strange look.

Finally, I move slowly over to the krogan, Garrus giving me a surprised look as I edge closer to the krogan. I slowly lay my hand on its arm, blinking as I come closer. The krogan doesn't move at the contact, which is good. I... How could anyone do this to their experiments? I don't understand this at all. It's... it's unfair.

My fingers then touch the krogan's arm, and my hand pulls away. I draw a straight line down, biting my lower lip. My hand comes up, and I draw another line horizontally. Wow... It feels so damn wierd to be doing this. My hand pulls away as I look to the krogan. I can't read the expression behind the helmet, but I can tell that it's confused by what I'm doing.

"Uh..." I say. "Sign of the cross. It's a human gesture. For good luck. And for hope."

His posture softens, and I can sense something in there. "I have never..." he says. "I do not understand what hope is. But... I feel... strange. I cannot put a word to this emotion. It is a good emotion, though. I shall call it 'hope', then. Thank you."

I smile sadly at him. He regards it with a shift in tone, and as I look to him I pat his shoulder. "You take care of yourself, all right?" I ask.

He simply nods in reply. I then hear some gunshots fly out from the area, and I hear mercs scream in pain. I look over to Garrus, and then I draw my pistol as he draws his sniper rifle. We both leave the krogan standing there, and descend into the passage after Jack and Mordin. As we move along, I suddenly see that there's a krogan rushing straight for us. Oh, great, the other lab-bred krogan are meanies. Great going.

Garrus looks over to me as we rush behind cover, Shepard and Mordin taking down the Blue Suns mercs as they rush our position. When they get behind cover, they see a krogan rushing towards us. Neither of us speaks until we get behind cover, and then he taps me on the shoulder. As he gestures out to where we just exited from, I can already sense what he wants to talk about.

"I guess I shouldn't have been surprised," he says. "But still, I can't help but wonder. Was that really for good luck?"

"Well, technically, it's a blessing," I reply. "Religious symbols tend to double for a lot of things."

"Religious blessings... coming from an atheist?" he asks.

I nod. "Sure," I reply, shrugging. "Why?"

"It means you gave him false hope," replies Garrus.

I look over to the turian as we both take cover, the firefight starting ahead of us. "It's still hope," I reply. "He's milling about there with no purpose just because one person said so. I don't think anyone deserves that fate, Garrus. He's sentient; he could use a positive emotion somewhere after what happened to him..."

The turian looks over at me as I pop out of cover to take a few pistol shots at a krogan that approaches. I see Jack snatch it up with biotics, and then duck down behind cover.

"I suppose you're right," says the turian. "Once again, you prove to be a good friend of krogan everywhere."

"All in a day's work," I reply with a smirk as I reload.

Garrus nods his agreement before popping out of cover and lining up his sniper rifle. I hear the harsh report of the sniper rifle go off, and then my mind goes entirely into the battle.

The turian's sniper shot takes down the krogan's shields as it kind of just floats in the air. Peering out with my assault rifle, I pepper the krogan with bullets. It goes down unceremoniously, and then it plops to the ground. But it still stands up. Fortunately, Shepard's reloaded, and so a couple of pistol shots to the face take the krogan completely out of commission.

We pick ourselves up, and then we all advance. I come forward in the group just a little bit, with Garrus remaining just the slightest bit behind. We're on a precarious pathway now, and it looks like a long way down if we get in there. Hm... Reminds me of that one part from that obscure Lord of the Rings RPG that was released for Gamecube... I think it was Minas Tirith? I forget. Anyway, I'm reminded of how lost I got in those corridors trying to find the way to the end point. It was fun controlling Gandalf in a party with the Balrog, although I really hated it because the Balrog kept off killing everyone except Gandalf. I forgot the name of the RPG... It didn't feature the canon characters all that much, though... What was it called?

Ah, it's not important. For then I see a krogan coming out at us. It fires its shotgun once, and I see Shepard's shields flicker. There's a crate nearby, but I roll into cover quickly as the shotgun is fired. I peer back out and fire my assault rifle into the krogan, its shields depleting somewhat. I see another tank-bred krogan rush our position out of the corner of my eye.

It's not important. I duck back down and reload, the heat sink popping out unceremoniously. I hear the krogan yell out in surprise, and when I come out of cover, I see the first krogan floating around a miniature black hole. Ah, thanks Jack. Or was it Shepard?

I don't really care, because there's another one rushing right at us. Mordin and Garrus both take aim at the floating krogan, and I look over to the one rushing us. I pepper it with assault rifle fire, and I smile as its shields go down. Jack catches on, and then she tosses a biotic warp into play. The warp tears at him, and then I see Shepard fire a few pistol shots into the krogan.

It stumbles backwards, and then I reconcentrate my fire on the floating krogan. With a final grunt, I see it hang lifelessly around, and then the black hole finally expires. We look ahead of us, and then we advance slowly. We see another krogan rush at us as we hold our weapons level, and there's another one close behind it.

Shepard is quick to act. She throws one of those black hole things out at the krogan, and it takes to the floor. As one krogan rushes it, it finds itself suddenly floating around in a strange gravity. The other one seems to learn, and instead of rushing in fires its shotgun at us. My shields take a very slight hit, and as I quickly fall into cover I see Jack throw a singularity at it. The krogan is sent stumbling back, and I come out and move to shoot at the floating krogan when I see it float over the chasm. Oh. Well... I just have to hope it'll stay there and we'll be good.

I accordingly redirect my fire at the other krogan. Mordin and Shepard all get the same idea, and as Jack pumps her shotgun and shoots the floating krogan the three of us assault it with fire. Shepard's pistol, Mordin's submachine gun, and my assault rifle all bore into its shields, and when those fail they bore into the krogan itself. The krogan falls after a few shots from Mordin cause it to fall over, and at that time, the black hole's grip on the floating krogan greatly weakens. It falls into the chasm below unceremoniously as it screams at us, its arms flailing around.

We don't get much of a break before another one comes right for us. However, Garrus is quick, and we see a bullet deflect off of the krogan's shields. This gives Jack enough time to pump her shotgun once again and fire it at the krogan, taking down its shields completely. I'm behind cover, reloading as quickly as I can. Mordin is already firing bullets into the krogan, however, and Shepard decides enough is enough. As I pop out of cover, I see her rush forward, blue biotic energy flashing out as she then punches the krogan. It stumbles back, orange blood spilling from its nose as Shepard quickly backpedals.

She's able to unload one pistol round, and then the krogan goes down.

I blink, looking over at the krogan. There are no more of the bloody things rushing our position, so I take it this is our opportunity to move our asses.

And we do so, passing the dead bodies of quite a few mercs as we do so. I hear something about heavies on the radio, and know that we're in for a bit of trouble soon. I mean, they're going to start firing rockets at us! It might as well be Garrus' recruitment mission all over again!

We come to a door, and as Shepard hacks it, I look to my assault rifle. Eh, we'll be very close to some mercs soon... I whip out my shotgun, cocking it briefly as I look over there.

"More dakka?" asks Jack.

I smirk, glancing over to her. "You bet."

I lick my lips as the door opens after Shepard's successful hack attempt. We ascend up a flight of stairs, and then Shepard sees a weapon laying down there. She quickly scans it with her omni-tool, and then walks over to the doorway. The lock is flashing green, so she brings up the omni-tool. The door opens unceremoniously, and we see a firefight going on.

Well, that was a short break. There are mercs firing into an area below, and there's one right there. There's a big chasm, with one merc here and all the rest across the chasm.

Right. More dakka, indeed. I bring up my shotgun and shoot the guy in the back. His shields go down, and then he turns to us with a startled expression on his face. Jack is right behind me, though, and so she blasts his face in with the shotgun, and he falls over dead. I quickly come up behind cover as Garrus, Mordin, and Shepard all enter, and then I press my back up against it.

I hear a whoosh go right by me, and suddenly, I see a rocket launcher. I peer back around cover, seeing another rocket fly past me as the first one impacts against the wall. Well... It's too far away for the shotgun to be of any use, so let's fix that.

I quickly change to my assault rifle as I see yet another rocket whistle above me. I peer out over cover, and see one merc fall. I glance over to Garrus, who had scoped and dropped the merc in question, and then nod as I come out of cover.

Okay... Ah, there's one of the heavies. She's aiming a rocket... Now! I let loose some assault rifle fire at the heavy. I miss the rocket, but I manage to take some of her shields down. I look over to the rocket, and then I fall flat on my back just as the rocket is about to make contact with my shields. I roll back into cover and come back up, resuming firing on the heavy. I see another one fly up in the air, and as Mordin fires on that one the heavy I was shooting at sees its shields drop. Shepard takes this opportunity to fire at it with her pistol, and then the merc falls after a few shots.

I come back down under cover and reload. Man, I wish there was some kind of foot pedal here. Oh, well. I glance over to see Mordin is still taking down the floating heavy, and as I see Jack she comes out of cover and launches a singularity somewhere to the other side. I come up and see a merc fly to the side from the force of the singularity. Deciding to concentrate on this, I pepper it with machine gun fire. I feel pretty satisfied when his shields drop and I get him with bullets across the chest, with one lodging itself in the merc's neck.

I look up and see another merc rushing on the other side that Mordin's already weakening with submachinegun fire. With a sniper shot from Garrus, the merc's shields go down, and I think quickly. I pepper the merc in question with some more assault rifle fire, and then he goes down just like the rest. Jack's already lifted another merc by this time, but when the biotics wear off he's sent falling into the chasm below.

Right, time to move on.

We file out behind Shepard, coming out to an area with a bunch of chest-high walls. Yep, there shall be no firefight here!

And of course, my hunch proves correct, as then my shields take some hits from some mercs that are then rushing into the room. I duck down behind cover, Mordin rolling in next to me. You know, for an old motherfucker, he sure is agile. I'll give him that, especially when he starts gunning down a merc with his submachine gun. I come up, switching my assault rifle for a shotgun and seeing a merc rushing right towards us. Idiot. Mordin concentrates his fire on that, and then when his shields go down I come up and shoot him in the chest with the shotgun. The force of the blast is enough to send him back to kill him, but my shields have been torn down and now it's just normal health.

Right. I duck back behind cover, waiting for my shields to regenerate. I see a rocket suddenly fly right by me, impacting on Mordin's shields. The proffessor quickly ducks behind cover, and I take the time to replace the heat sink on my shotgun. I glance over to Mordin, and as the indicator shows that my shields are back up I nod to him. I come back out of cover, only to see another rocket heading straight towards me.

Thinking quickly, I fall backwards, falling on my back as the rocket passes overhead. It impacts on a wall behind me, and then I look to the professor. I can tell he's disapproving, but he simply shakes his head as his shields come back online. I quickly stand up, the shotgun still in my hand as I bring it up. There's a merc rushing Shepard and Jack's position, and to my great relief I see that Jack has thrown the heavy up in the air. I fire at the merc rushing us as Shepard and Garrus finish the floating heavy. With my shotgun blast, his shields go down, and then Mordin takes it down with some submachine gun fire.

We both nod to each other, seeing the lack of mercs coming in. At approximately the same time we both come out of cover as Garrus kills the floating heavy with a precise sniper rifle shot. Mordin and I both come across pair of pillars at the L-shape that leads out of the room. I take position at the closer one while Mordin moves to the further one, the fast-talking salarian running as fast as he talks. It doesn't mean that some fire doesn't pepper his shields, however, and then Jack takes a place close to where I am. Shepard and Garrus both reposition themselves quickly, and then I see the mercs come at us.

Without wasting any time, I cock my shotgun and peer out. Okay, there's one merc... there! I fire the shotgun at it, the merc's shields dying out with a sputter as Shepard then fires her pistol several times at it. I don't care to look at the merc's demise as I cock my shotgun and fire it at another merc that's rushing Mordin's side of the room. Its shields go down, and the salarian doctor finishes it.

Jack comes up from behind me, and I lean against the wall as she then sends out biotic energy. The lift throws one of the mercs up in the air, and then I wait for her to fall back behind cover before going back out. I see another merc come at us, and I shoot at it. Its shields have already failed thanks to Garrus, so it only takes one shotgun blast to take the motherfucker down. He stumbles forward, and then I see the floating merc fall down onto the ground as Shepard shoots at it.

With this, I suddenly see Jack rush out of cover, her fist glowing blue. She rushes forward, letting out a battle cry as she jumps up. When she jumps, we see her fly back down to the ground, a huge biotic shockwave impacting the ground and sending all the remaining mercs storming our position flying away. Some fall into the chasm below, and some fall right in front of us.

Taking the cue, I fire my shotgun one last time into one of the mercs, blowing its head and... ew, brainstuffs. Ew, just ew. Shepard and Mordin both take cues and shoot most of the rest of the mercs down. Garrus takes up his sniper rifle as Jack then seems to throw some biotic energy at mercs that are not in our view. He snipes one merc that was thrown away as I come out of cover and rush the area Jack is at. Shepard and Mordin do the same as Garrus snipes another merc.

And seeing one crawl away, I shoot at it before we get into a successive hail of gunfire.

Well, looks like cutscene power to the max doesn't apply here. Good thing, too; we could really use her unleashing hell on these mercs, even if she's wearing nothing but straps on her tits. Seriously, what's with the choice of attire? I don't know, and I won't ask.

Either way, it helps clear the coming area of mercs as Garrus comes around. Shepard throws a quick biotic black hole into the area, suspending quite a few people. Garrus comes in quickly, and doesn't even care to set up his sniper rifle before he starts firing. I hear mercs moaning in pain as they all get shot down by Garrus, and then I see Jack throw in a few singularities for good measure. After that... well, we pretty much annihilated them all. It's a rather quick firefight, but I know it's not over. We still have a few mercs to work our way through, and then it's time to give Okeer a piece of my mind.

So I come out of cover and follow Shepard as we get closer to Okeer's lab. We come to the lab's defenses, and then we're greeted with gunfire from a whole crapton more mercs.

* * *

Well, that sure was an intense firefight. If my mom knew what I was getting myself into, I'd be afraid of what she'd be doing in the bathroom. Either way... fun times abound with that. It was full of Jack throwing biotic stuffs, but what can you do when cutscene power doesn't apply to real life? You have a ball, that's what!

Well... that was before we ran into the random asari scientist. Apparently she was on Virmire for some reason. I dunno. I just didn't expect to see a well-dressed asari scientist in a facility run by Blue Suns. There's a first time for everything I guess. She ran the hell out of there, knowing how we work. Given the fate of Virmire, I can't say I blame her.

And after all that, here we are. We see a gigantic tank in there. Why, hello there Grunt. I think I know who's a cute widdle baby krogan! Shepard comes around first, and then we see the hulking figure of a krogan presiding over some kind of terminal. I'm standing just behind Shepard, with Mordin and Jack the same distance from her as me. Garrus looks over at the tank, and the krogan mutters something quiet. I come forward, my body very close to the tank as finally the scientist krogan turns his head.

"It's about time," he says impatiently. "The batteries on these tanks will not wait while you play with these idiotic mercs."

Well, he sure is quite gruff. Oh well. Shepard holds her hands on her hips as she speaks. "I take it you're Okeer," she says. "You don't seem particularly caged or grateful that I'm here."

The krogan looks at his monitor for a brief second. "You may claim to be here to help, but a formerly deceased Shepard is not a sign of gentle change," he says, turning to face us mid-sentence. He turns fully around as soon as he finishes this. Okay, yeah, he's a bit stimpy for a krogan. Brown face-plate, yellow eyes (that are just a little sickly in real life, I might add), yellowing armor. He just looks old more than anything else. Like a really old, pathetic man. Much less manly than Wrex, and he's supposed to be older! Really, is there anything I should like about this son of a bitch, other than the fact that he created Grunt?

A response is just on the tip of my tongue, but Shepard takes the words right out of my mouth. "If this is about my actions on Virmire, I did what I had to," she replies. "I'm sure you're eager to retell the story."

Okeer slowly advances, throwing his arms out. "Such a tale," he says. "Saren, the Spectre traitor, threatens the return of the krogan horde by curing the genophage, undoing the gentle genocide of the turians and salarians." He turns right back around, heading back to the terminal and facing us again just before he gets there. "But, before Saren can deliver his endless troops, in rides Shepard, securing victory through nuclear vial. I like that part. It has weight..."

I blink, feeling a small shiver crawl down my spine. I close my eyes, biting on my lower lip as Shepard continues the conversation. "I didn't have a lot of room for finesse," she replies. "If there were any other option, I would've considered it."

"But I approve." The krogan gestures with his arms. "Saren's big hoarde were not true krogan. They were the mistakes of an outsider, one that these mercenaries have also made." He walks over to the window, and for the first time I see the numerous tanks that are there. Wow... There's a whole city-load of these things! "I gave their leader my rejects for her army. But she grows impatient. It's time for you to take me out of here."

Right. I look to the rest of the group, and seeing that nobody else is willing to speak, I cross my arms. "Makes it easier on us, then," I reply. "'Cause we're here about the Collectors."

The scientist krogan turns back to us, a strange kind of glint in his eye. "I see..." he says. "Yes... Collector attacks have increased. A human concern. My requests were focused elsewhere."

"Like what?" I ask, the words flying out of my mouth before I can contain myself. "Making a perfect krogan?"

Before anyone can reply, the lone breathing krogan in the room looks to the tank. "You could say that," he replies. He edges closer to the tank, looking upon it with glee. Okay... you shall drip rubies, you'll soon drip precious rubies much? Seriously, if this guy were any more obsessed with his goals I'd hand him a razor and a scheming Angela Lansbury and tell him to go nuts. "I acquired the knowledge to create one pure soldier. With that, I will inflict upon the genophage the greatest insult an enemy can suffer: to be ignored."

I shift where I stand as my glance looks to Grunt. My gaze hardens as it turns to Okeer, but before I can say anything...

"There sure were a lot of rejects," says Garrus from behind me.

"Yeah, what the fuck was up with that?" asks Jack in turn. "You're just going to leave them out there to get their faces shot off?"

I would question her in any other circumstance. Given what happened on Pragia, though... "I fail no one," he replies simply. "My rejects are exactly what Jedore asked for. She simply lacks the ability to command. They are strong, healthy, and useless to me. I look for perfection. If a few thousand are rejected, so be it. We will be renewed."

I frown at this. "I dunno, it's kind of hard to have any leadership over krogan that are undergoing identity crises, you know?" I ask. "Either way, you're one manipulative son of a bitch."

"Experiments quite unethical," adds Mordin. "Also possibly sadistic for failures."

"That is your opinion," states the warlord. "But I will restore the krogan. My soldier will not provoke a nuclear response, as a cure or a horde would. My legacy is perfection, with each perfect krogan reaching higher by standing on our dead." Yeesh, I wouldn't wanna be around Grunt when he's an adolescent, then... "They will exceed, but not forget."

"Right..." I reply, shaking my head. "Pretty it up however you want. I'm still drawing a gigantic black spot on your face if I ever have to say anything about you."

"Do as you wish," says Okeer with a dismissive arm gesture. "My work is for the krogan, not for you."

With this, the subject is dropped. The silence threatens a headbutt, and given that I got one from Wrex, I'm afraid of getting that spot hit. Yeah, that was definitely a bad idea... Shepard shifts around, looking at the krogan warlord.

"So you don't want a horde, and you don't want to cure the genophage," replies the commander. "I see..." She pauses, pondering what to say next. "What about the Collectors?"

"They are strange," admits Okeer. "I gave them a few krogan in exchange for some tech." Oh, fun, you just admitted to being a little like whoever worked on that facility on Virmire. "The tech was consumed in the prototype, however. I cannot tell you more as much as I would like to."

Shepard tilts her head to the side, crossing her arms as she eyes the krogan. "Your methods are extreme, but you know how to deconstruct a threat," she says. "Will you help us?"

Okeer looks out the window as he replies. "Perhaps I can strike a deal to secure passage," he says. "But my prototype is not negotiable. It is the key to my legacy." My eyes look over to Grunt as he lays suspended in the tank. From this position... he looks innocent. Almost too innocent, really. And to think, this guy will go running around the battlefield with a shotgun in the near future shouting "I AM KROGAN" like he's King fucking Leonidas. Oh, well. I guess I'll enjoy his innocent phase while I can. It'll fade out soon enough, unfortunately...

Jedore's voice suddenly surprises us as it comes on over loudspeakers. "Attention, I have traced the krogan release," says Jedore. "Okeer, of course. I'm calling a blank slate on this project. Gas the commandos and start from scratch with Okeer's data. Flush the tanks!"

We all gather at the window as we see Jedore. I look down there, watching the woman move around. "Okay, scratch that," I say. "I'm drawing the black spot on her. I mean, why the fuck does she even want these armies?"

Before Okeer can reply, a sharp ping throws us all off. We look behind us, and suddenly notice that the vents in the room are starting to leak some kind of gas in here. I jolt where I stand as the streams of air start to fly up. Oh, shit... This is not good. This is not good at all... The jet streams are released all around the room, and then, perhaps most startling, I see a valve open just above the tank. Oh, dear, that's not good.

Okeer turns to the tank that Grunt is in. "She's that weak willed," he says, disdain apparent in his voice. Yep, that she is. "She'll kill my damn legacy with a valve. Shepard, you want information on the Collectors. Stop them. She'll try to access contaminants in the storage bay!"

"Sorry doctor," says Shepard. "It appears your position has just weakened."

I glance over to Shepard in surprise. But this is all too brief before Okeer looks at us with his arms crossed. "I understand, but you'll have nothing if she poisons us all," he says. "Jedore will be with the rejected tanks. Kill her. I will... stay, and do what must be done."

I look to Jack, who smiles wickedly as she grabs out her shotgun. I raise my eyebrows as I pull out my assault rifle. Garrus does the same with his sniper rifle, and Shepard and Mordin both draw weapons. We nod to each other, and then I tilt my head to the window.

"Right, you heard the man," I say. "To the Bat-Cave!"

Garrus lets out a hefty groan of disapproval as Shepard shakes her head. Mordin doesn't comment, and Jack just looks at us confusedly. We simply file out of there, leaving the lab where Okeer is standing, frantically typing away at the terminal by his tank. We move around, and before long we come across a door.

When it opens, we're peering out into the area where the tanks are simply standing there. Jedore has pulled out a rocket launcher by the time we're down there, and we also see an YMIR mech. Yay, I get to fight one of those fuckers! As we enter, we also see a few of the tanks open, and then there are krogan stepping out unceremoniously. All of these things look to us, and I grab my assault rifle. My grip is firm on it as we stand at the door, watching them eye us as we begin to radiate outward throughout the room. I'm close to Garrus and Mordin, while Shepard and Jack seem to go in another direction. It just sort of happens, and we stare everything down.

All right... The stage is set, the actors are in place...

Commence firefight!

Jedore fires the first shot at us, the rocket flying straight for me. I jump out of the way just in time, the rocket impacting harmlessly (somehow) against the wall. If I'm supposed to be thrown back... Then what the hell is this? I don't know, and I don't have time to think about it. I see Jack lift one of the krogan up biotically, with Shepard throwing in a miniature black hole. All the krogan are sent flying around, leaving them prime for Jack's shotgun. I see Garrus take this time to snipe them too, and Mordin and Shepard contribute their own firepower.

I raise my assault rifle at Jedore, who I see is preparing another rocket while tapping buttons on a console. Oh, yeah, we kill her, the krogan stop spawning. Unless she auto-runs the damn things to open by themselves in real life...

I look back down to see more krogan rush out of the tanks. It's a group of five this time. By this time, however, Mordin is only then finishing the krogan off, with Shepard having taken two of the others down with her weapon. I look to the YMIR mech that's approaching them, seeing it slowly approach as the krogan peer at Shepard's group from behind the mech.

Yay, I get to fight a mech, and I start with the big guys rather than the small guys. I turn my assault rifle and pepper its shields with fire. I need to weaken it enough that Shepard, Mordin, and Jack can kill it. Garrus lifts his rifle, setting his sites on Jedore as she works at a console to release more krogan. He steadies his aim, but just before he can pull the trigger Jedore notices this. She ducks behind the console just as Garrus pulls the trigger, the bullet flying to the side. I hear him grumble something before he moves on down another area to find a better vantabe point.

Right, he'll take care of the sniper. I better provide cover fire for Shepard and her group.

The YMIR mech approaches them, and this time I see Shepard and Mordin firing at the thing relentlessly. Jack is concentrating on the steady stream of krogan that is being released. By now, there are a good fifteen krogan in the area. I reload quickly and fire once more at the YMIR mech, and with a satisfying sound, the mech's shields drop.

And god damn it, Jack is good at catching cues. With a hand signal from Shepard, the small biotic woman lights up with an ethereal blue energy, and she rushes up to the mech. As she lets out a yell, she jumps in mid-air, her fist charging with energy. When she lands on the mech, she unleases a ludicrously powerful punch that's enough to send the things' head flying right through the shields of some of the krogan. Another biotically charged punch puts an end to the mech, and it seems to go in a huge shower of sparks as Jack looks to the rest of the krogan.

Her hands still glowing blue, she lifts one of the krogan up, with Shepard throwing in another small black hole. I see another group of three krogan enter, and then Jack seems to notice this as she prepares as biotic shockwave. Jeez... She's surrounded by krogan, they're coming up really fast... And I'm sitting here doing nothing!

Right. Time to change that.

I aim my assault rifle at the krogan lifted by jack, and fire away into the krogan's body. It's shields go down rather quickly, but fortunately Mordin catches on fast and finishes the krogan with a few submachine gun rounds to the face. I quickly divert my attention to krogan that were unfortunate enough to get caught up in Shepard's biotic black hole, picking one out of the crowd and firing at that. Shepard also fires at it quickly, and before long its shields are down. Some assault rifle fire from my end puts it down, and then I concentrate elsewhere.

Well... that is, not before Jack throws out a biotic shockwave. It sends krogan flying everywhere; some fly up in the air, where Mordin unloads into their already almost obliterated shields, some crash into already-open tanks, some get sent flying at an angle away from Shepard and Mordin...

And one would likely have crushed me if not for the fact that I had rolled out of the way in time. It creates a dent in the wall before slumping down, its shields pretty much destroyed. I blink at it before I turn my attention to the rest of the room.

I promptly see a rocket flying straight for my person. Oh, crap, Jedore! I do what instinct implies and jump out of the way of the rocket, the thing impacting. But I also hear a groan, and as I lay there in surprise I look back to the tank-bred krogan. And when I do, I promptly find that part of his face has been blown off, and... well, he's sort of sitting there, still trying to hold his shotgun. I quickly bring up my assault rifle and end it for him with a few rounds to the face. He slumps to the ground, and I breathe in and out before turning my attention back to Jedore.

Oh, God damn it, Garrus, where are you?

When I look around the room trying to find the turian, it's only then that I become aware of how scattered the krogan are. They're only now getting up, but already I see Shepard and Mordin killing some of the krogan. Jack has pumped her shotgun, and is now firing almost too gleefully into whatever krogan are unlucky enough to cross her path. I see another two tanks open, the krogan from within looking at Jack wildly...

Shit! I aim my assault rifle at one of the krogan that just came out, and pressing my advantage I open fire. The things shields go down, but at this distance I can't get everything I need. I think it was only partly down when I hear the harsh report of a sniper rifle crack overhead.

I look over to Jedore then, and I can clearly see that her shields have failed her. She looks to the source of the sniper shots wildly, her expression of professionalism long having melted down. She doesn't get to find out who did it, though, as then another shot is fired, and I see her collapse to the ground. Okay, thanks Garrus! That'll stem the krogan release.

With this, I take a stronger hold on my assault rifle and rush over to Jack. Shepard and Mordin are all taking care of some other krogan, so I figure Jack can use the help. I switch out my assault rifle for my shotgun as I approach, and then I see her lift one of the krogan off the ground... from where she was apparently knocked. I see the other krogan charging at her, cocking his shotgun.

Oh, no, we can't have that! With a blast of my own shotgun, the krogan's shields drop. I cock it again before firing at the krogan, and this time I manage to blow its face off. Not taking any chances, I cock the shotgun again, taking down the krogan quickly.

Jack by this point has gotten back up, and by now Shepard and Mordin are firing at the biotically lifted krogan with their guns, and as his shields fail he falls to the floor. Right, time to put an end to this! I cock my shotgun again, and as Jack gets one last blast in, he impacts the ground. One last shotgun blast from me puts the final krogan out of comission.

After this battle, I see Garrus rush towards us, his sniper rifle having been stored on his back. I look to Mordin and Jack with a nod, a small smile settling on itself. Jack finally has a chance to relax her biotic energy, and she turns her head on her neck slowly. Garrus eventually joins up with us and gives us a nod. I bite back the urge to make some kind of comment at his expense about Jedore. After all, I'm sure he did his best, so I can't really fault him for that.

As we stand there, Shepard suddenly gets some kind of comm transmission. She nods to us, gesturing back to the lab. Oh, dear... Looks like EDI just gave us the warning about poison gas. Shepard stores her gun away and we're all high-tailing it to the labs. I store my shotgun away, knowing that we're done with firefights for this mission.

As we move, I can't help but think about Jedore. What the hell did she want with her army? Why the hell did she think she could manage an army of krogan, anyhow? I don't understand. Was she trying to take over the Blue Suns? The world? The Alliance? The galaxy? What?

Either way, the response is probably going to stay the same given these power-hungry types of villains:

_Of course!_

I hear some computerized voice mention something about emergency vents kicking in, but by that time, we're pretty close to the labs. So we move quickly...

And we see Okeer has collapsed over by the tank and the terminal. Wow, he didn't move an inch from where he last was. That says something about him. I'm not sure what it says, but it still says something about his obsession. Jeez. There was a barber and his tank, indeed...

There's a recording on the terminal that plays. As we get closer, we see that it's playing a video feed of Okeer's last moments. Oh, I guess he had enough time to do that in real life, too. "_Shepard,_" it says. "_If I knew what the collectors want, I would tell you. Everything is in my prototype. My legacy is pure. This... one soldier..._" Here, he stumbles away from the monitor, and we can already see him in his deaht throes. "_This... Grunt... Perfect..._" He sinks out of range of the camera, and then a thud is heard on the playback.

We look at this for a few seconds, and then I come around to look at the tank holding Grunt. Garrus, Jack, and Mordin all come around as Shepard looks over to the tank's side.

"I can't believe Okeer just wasted his life to save one krogan," says Garrus.

"Seemingly obsessed with one simple krogan," says Mordin. "Implications are disturbing."

I look at the tank and cross my arms. "So, Shepard, now that Okeer's joined the crowd invisible, are you planning on opening this thing?"

"I say crack it open," comments Jack. "See what the pure krogan's got."

"Inadviseable," says Mordin. "No one knows what perfect krognan capable of. Also don't know mental state. Could be quite dangerous."

Shepard looks to all of us. "We'll just have to see what happens then," she says, crossing her arms. "I'm taking the tank onto the Normandy."

Her hand shoots up, and then she radios back the Normandy. "Shepard to Normandy," she begins. "Okeer's a no go. But we have a package that needs retrieval. A big one."

She cuts the comm link after this, and then I smirk and shake my head. "Oh, goody," I reply, bringing my arms up playfully. "We're bringing a baby krogan onto the ship. One that'll be violent, possibly manic-depressive, and given to bouts of insanty if he's anything like the rejects."

"Indeed," says Garrus. "I'm not so sure about this, Shepard."

The woman shrugs to us. "Well, we'll just have to live with it," she says. "I'm not leaving without something of Okeer's."

"True enough," I say, bringing my hand up to the tank. "But still... Don't you guys think he's so adorable?"

At this, everyone looks at me with their eyes bulging. Even Jack turns her head, her expression showing surprise. "What the fuck are you talking about, kid?" she asks.

"I mean, look at 'im!" I reply, gesturing to the tank. "It's a baby krogan! Don't you think it'll be cute?"

"Erm... Never actually seen krogan baby, have you?" asks Mordin as he points a finger clinically. "Baby krogan as violent as parents. Get into fights constantly. Could be dangerous to have full size baby krogan on ship."

I pout at this, crossing my arms and shaking my head. "Oh, chill doctor," I say, facing the krogan. "I still think it's a cute baby. A big one, but a cute one."

"Right, well, don't give him some pussy nickname," comments Jack. "That's the last thing he'd want, knowing these fuckers."

I blink, looking at the tank-bred krogan as he lays suspended in there. "I'll keep it in mind," I reply, rubbing my hand over the glass of the tank.

We wait in silence for the rest of the time, waiting for something to come pick us and the package up. Ah, Grunt, I think we're going to have some good times, you and me. We'll just see what happens when you grow up and become a real krogan and we'll all be in good hands.

Oh, and you better be up for killing Thresher Maws. Because if you're not, I'm... Uh... I'm going to do something! And it ain't gonna be pretty! Right?


	5. Chapter 4

_A/N: Okay, welcome back to here. Last time, we found a baby krogan! Fun times ensued._

_So this time, we have a bit of exposition with Garrus concerning his squad, we have some fun times with the thing, and we reinstate the vid nights. Oh, and we encounter Grunt for the first time too. Fun times ensue._

_And this chapter also proves that__ I am a total geek. Yes, I am so much of a geek that I wrote one verse for a fictional patter song. Who knows? If I ever get famous, maybe I could sing it._

_I definitely didn't do it alone, though, as it was really, really hard. I'd like to take this moment to thank Foxwolf Jackson for brainstorming the missing lines with me. Without him, Verse 1 of Scientist Salarian would not have been possible. Seriously, I never would've thought of working 'fusion cores' into a rhyme without him. So thanks a ton, and here's a shoutout for you!_

_So yeah, I'll get to that... now._

* * *

Chapter 4: Elgar: Enigma Variations

Well, we went to debriefing. And that went rather well, so we get to go off and do stuff.

However... we got another minor curveball thrown at us. Apparently, the Illusive Man gave Thane's dossier before Horizon. I have no idea what the hell prompted that, but right now we're en route to Illium to get the assassin. This is definitely going to be fun. I'll definitely start playing matchmaker when he gets on board. Well... if Horizon follows afterwards, that is.

Ah, I'm just bummed that I'll have to keep it down, now. Ah, well, you can't have everything. I wonder what Thane will have to say when we get to know each other better. He's a bit of a poet with the solipsism, I'm a bit of a poet with my instrument... I think I'll get along with him well, if I don't make him a little uncomfortable at how much I bounce off the walls first.

Especially during vid night. Yes, I managed to talk Shepard into reinstating vid night on the Normandy SR-2! Fun times shall be had on the ship, although I imagine it'll be full of cheesy 80's action movies now that Zaeed, Jack, and Grunt are here. They're likely to skimp out on the whole venture unless we've got Rambo, I'm sure, but we'll figure that stuff out later. For now... we're starting business off with... Well, _First Blood_. How the hell did that happen? I dunno. But it's gonna be crazy seeing Rambo tear shit up with an assault rifle.

Right... I wonder how Tali's doing on Haestrom. She's probably all right. The geth haven't tried to attack her yet, I'm sure. And if they have, we'll know about it thanks to TIM. I hope Kal doesn't get injured as badly as he did in the game. I wonder if Tali will also work to save the rest of the people with her. She did mention knowing about the collosus would be a good thing for her, so I guess it's mostly good things to look forward to. We'll have to see what happens next...

In the meantime, I'm going over to the gunnery bay. I wanted to chat with Garrus a little bit. Maybe see what's up with him and what he's thinking about his squad. Or, maybe get some insight into how his squad survived. That would definitely be nice, but I don't know if I should intrude. Ah, well.

It'll be a nice change of pace while Shepard wakes Grunt up. I wonder what Grunt's going to say upon seeing First Blood. Shepard will probalbly forbid him from coming along... but the corruptibility of the young krogan must be tested! For science!

I strut over to that bay then, a small skip in my step as I whistle the tune from the last movement of the Shostakovich 9th Symphony. I've got my hands behind my back as the door opens, and then I see Garrus standing there, typing away at his console.

"Herro, Garrus," I say cheerfully. "You have a few minutes to talk?"

The turian is quick to reply. "Can it wait a bit?" he asks. "I'm in the middle of some calibrations."

I shake my head, walking to Garrus' side as I look out to the area that Garrus's console overlooks. "I mean, you can probably type while you're talking, yes, Mr. Calibratian?"

"I suppose, Mr. Squarepants," says the turian, his tone a little jestful. I chuckle at this as he returns his attention to the console. "But seriously. Shepard's asking me to research this wierd gun thing that she's thinking of installing. It's some very advanced kind of weapon, and she thinks we'll need it."

Oh, the Thanix Cannon! All right, she is going to do upgrades. Well, if we get the Thanix Cannon all researched and stuff, we'll be good. Because then that's one less squad member dying before we get to the Collector base. Fun times abound with that.

"Ah, okay," I say. "You think it'll come in handy?"

"If we ever come across that ship that blew the first Normandy up again, I'm sure," replies the turian as he types away. "But I'm sure that's not what you wanted to talk about. Did you want to ask me something?"

I shrug. "Oh, I was wondering about your squad," I reply, leaning against the railing looking out into the area with the red light. "I... I wonder if you're up to talking about it."

Garrus continued typing. "Oh, I don't mind," he says. "It's not as if they're dead, anyway." Oh, yeah, the irony of that isn't lost on me, Garrus. In fact, I find it more ironic that you're saying that given... you know... _it fucking died in the game!_ Right, I'll leave that alone now. "I suppose you're curious about my squadmates."

"I am," I reply. "It must've been a fun bunch."

Garrus nods in agreement as he continues typing. "Oh, you have no idea," he replies. "You already know about Nogond, I'm sure."

I nod at this. "Yes," I reply. "Jenny talked a bit about him when I first met her. Sounds like a crazy guy, what with being a quarian biotic."

"Oh, trust me, he was a little crazy," he said. "He... kind of reminded me of you, actually."

I turn to the turian, raising one of my eyebrows. "Really?" I ask. "How so?"

"Crazy, but also a bit pensive. Only thing is that he's not as good with guns as you are," he adds. "He was less like Shepard. He just lifted stuff and threw singularities everywhere."

"I see..." I say. "And were there others?"

"Oh, plenty," he replies. "I'll just skim over most of them. We had a drell assassin in our group. He was a real quiet man. Never spoke much, but he always had such wise things to say. He was... one of the ones that died, unfortunately." I nod at this as he continues. "There were two other casualties. One of them was this STG veteran. He had his heart in the right place, and was also a damn good scientist. I swear he had a red sand radar implanted into his head at a young age. And no, he did not serve on Virmire, if you're wondering. And then the other was a human woman who I swear used more references to human culture than you did."

I raise my eyebrows. "Really?" I ask, smiling. "What kind of things did she reference?"

"All these old Earth vids that almost none of us had seen," replies the turian, his mandible flaring out slightly as he continued typing. "She was a little bit on the crazy side. The only reason I understood some of the references was because of the vid nights on the Normandy and some human vids I saw. Especially that one night that Kaidan had us watch the entire _Star Wars _trilogy."

Oh, yeah, that night. "Ah," I say. "Did you make any attempt to watch any of those vids?"

"All the time," replied Garrus. "We were always watching vids to figure out her references. And every time we did, she always pulled a new one on us." Garrus chuckled a little at this. "She owned the land our base was on, though, so it's all good."

"Indeed," I reply. "And what of the people that survived?"

"Well... there was this asari," he says. "She was a very gifted biotic, and also pretty good at scouting on locations. She was always quiet, typically distanced herself from us. But when it was time to work, she was always one of the ones calling the shots. Nogond was our main biotic, but she was also very good with biotics."

Huh, that's certainly interesting. "I see..." she says. "You say she was distant. Did she ever get into a relationship with anyone?"

Garrus nods at this. "She's in a relationship with my former point man," he replies. "They grew... extremely close. We all knew they were in love when we were forced to abandon Omega. They never talked about it much, but it was obvious in all the physical cues. I'm surprised they haven't jumped all over each other at all..."

"And your point man?" I ask. "What was he like?"

"He was a turian by the name of Lantar Sidonis," replies Garrus. Oh dear, touchy conversation coming up. "He was extremely reliable. He got all sorts of information on our targets. Where they would be, what they'd be doing... he was in charge of all that."

"Oh, dear..." I say. "What happened with him that you mention him by name? Something bad?"

Garrus' typing didn't cease as he turned to look at me. "Actually, he's the only reason we're all alive now," he replies.

Wait... So does this mean...? Wait, Garrus isn't mad at Sidonis at all! Oh, dear. This greatly changes his loyalty mission completely! Oh dear...

"So what happened?" I asked.

"He got approached by some Blue Suns mercs," replies the turian as he turns back to the console. "They wanted him to betray my squad. We were really causing hell for all the merc groups, but I think the Blue Suns had it worst. There was a big huge plan to attack the base, and it was mostly because Sidonis... well... He gave them that information." Hey, wait, so everything's going as before. So what changed to-? "And that's another reason why I think he was in love with the asari. He ended up betraying the Blue Suns right back because he didn't think he could live with the betrayal. He sent me to the house of my XO, planted fake drug exchanges throughout Omega to get the squad away from the base, and then told us all to meet him at the spaceport through encoded messages. A lot of us made it there. The only three that didn't were considered dead, and when I stayed behind on Omega I eventually did find their bodies. I should be mad at Sidonis over that and the fact that he sold us out. But I really can't be. Not after he got us all out of there alive. I can't really be mad at him after that, you know."

Oh. Well, that explains why Garrus isn't angry at Sidonis. Funny the difference one person can make. That's maybe all it is. Point man falls in love, and said love seems to bring him out of his betrayal. And actually, it makes sense. When Sidonis was found in the game, he was still haunted by the faces of the squad that he caused to die. I can't imagine what he would be going through if one of those faces also turned out to be his lover. Yeah, that would suck. Greatly. Well, at least now I know why most of his squad survived.

But... Now that I think about it, what was up with the asari that he met? Sidonis could've met that same asari in the game. So what happened with that asari that prevented their meeting in the game? I don't know. I guess I'll find out when we go around doing stuff on the Citadel.

"I see," I reply. "Is there anybody else of note you'd like to talk about?"

Garrus blinks, and his hands stop working instantly. Oh, this is gonna be good. He steps back from the console, and when I look at his eyes, there's some kind of glimmer in them. Like... he's extremely happy just thinking about it.

"Yeah," he replies. "There was this one person. She was the third person to join my squad, right after my XO and Sidonis. She was a human woman, came from Earth. She had no idea how the hell she got on Omega, but I first saved her from being raped in an alleyway."

"Oh?" I ask. "And how'd she join your squad?"

"She got crafty, that's what," he says, looking out to the gunnery bay. "I remember that Sidonis, Sam, and I were chasing down the head of a prostitution ring about a week after I had encountered her. The three of us remember all those women. Some were incredibly afraid for their lives. Apparently, though, he had a lot of charisma to his credit. Any woman would've fallen for him from the way things sounded. We get to the office of their pimp, go inside, and then we suddenly see that someone beat us to putting a bullet in his head. A few seconds later, all hell breaks loose, and then she comes up to us and gestures to the prostitutes that she had set free. It was all her, naturally, so she ended up joining us."

"Wow," I reply. "She sounds like she was useful."

"Oh, you had no idea," replies the turian as he begins gesturing more animatedly with his arms. "She was a killer with information. Always went undercover, seemed to vanish for a bit, and then came back to us with so much information about someone we were looking for it was a little crazy. Sometimes, she was able to pull up more information than Sidonis ever could, and whenever she did that, we were all shocked. Her specialty was serial killers, and when there was a serial killer on Omega she went absolutely nuts with pulling up information. She had damn fine hands with a camera, too. You should've seen the look on her face when she took down serial killers; I can never forget her broad smile at those kinds of things as long as I live."

I nod at this. "I see..." I reply. "She sounds really awesome."

Garrus nods at this. "She... was a very strange woman," he admits. "I... uh... got to know her quite well, you know. She... she was very strange. She always had some kind of determination. And I don't know what it was... But that drew me to her... I've never seen anybody so determined apart from Shepard... And... Well..."

Oh, Christ. I facepalm silently, looking to Garrus as I bring my hand back away from my forehead and gesture to the air. "Look, Garrus, if you want to tell me you got romantically involved with her, just come out and _say_ it, will you?" I ask.

And as soon as the words leave my mouth, I see an area behind Garrus' face paint take on a slightly darker shade of blue. Wait... turians can blush? Oh, that's so adorable! He glances to the side, simply standing there and letting his arms hang loose. After a few seconds, one of his mandibles moves to the side before coming back to rest against his teeth.

"Well," he says. "I guess... that takes care of that bit."

"Ah," I say, looking over to him. "So you did fall in love." Fun times, fun times. If she's around during your loyalty mission, I can't wait to meet her! Garrus speaks of her like she's Ramona f***ing Flowers, as in the perfect woman for him. He's in love, I can tell. So then...

Wait. Something is bothering me.

"So if you were romantically involved with her, why'd you leave her after Omega?" I ask.

Garrus shakes his head, looking back at his console. "I... I love her so much," he says. "Trust me, I almost did get on that shuttle to the Citadel. But I knew I had to stay behind to give them time to disappear. By now... she's probably on the Citadel somewhere. I... I wish I could contact her. But I know I probably can't... I just want to see her again. Maybe even join her when this mission is over."

His tone is somber, and his shoulders slump slightly as I stand there. Oh. Wow, it's clear this woman means a lot to Garrus. Well... I guess Garrus romancing Shepard is out of the question now. One less piece of competition for Thane, I guess. But at the same time, I can tell he's never been more conflicted in his life. He really wants to contact her, I can tell. Now that is true love. I'm glad Garrus got to find a little bit of happiness with someone, even if it's not the commander. It's all good.

"I see..." I say. Hm... "Maybe we could convince her to join the squad?"

Garrus looks over to me, and I can tell he's seriously thinking about it. "Well..." he says. "I... Why do you ask?"

"Well, I mean, you two won't be separated, for one thing," I reply. "And then for another thing, it keeps the both of you safe. And it makes it harder for them to track down the rest of the squad, right? So why not?"

Garrus acknowledges this with a nod, closing his eyes. "Well..." he says. "I don't see why not. She is a pretty good shot with a pistol, and she's a damn fine one with a sniper rifle. I taught her myself." He chuckles at the end of this. "Yeah... We could use her on the mission. But... Are you sure Shepard will mind?"

I shrug at this, my eyebrows raising. "Well, we're both veteran crew members, right?" I point out. "I think we could afford asking favors of Shepard. And plus, you never know if we'll need to go to the Citadel anyway." Thane's loyalty mission, I'm looking at you. "So I'm sure I can convince her to get to it."

"I see..." he replies. "Well... I guess we could let her on the Normandy. I... I would be grateful if you did that."

"Then consider it done," I reply, crossing my arms and leaning against the guard rails.

He pauses, straightening himself out. He blinks once before looking back at me. "You don't know how much that means to me," he says after a few seconds. "Thanks, Art."

I offer him a smile. "Hey, anything for the guy I hijacked an airship to save, yes?" I comment.

At this, we're both laughing quietly, the two of us appreciating the joke. As I stand there, I begin to think about what this woman Garrus had taken a fancy to. What was she like. How good was she with guns? And how determined was she to do the right thing?

I figured I would figure out the answers to those eventually. I'll just go up to the commander and ask about reuniting Garrus with the woman of his dreams.

After all, it shouldn't be so difficult to convince Shepard, right?

* * *

"Well, Art, I would really love to. I have to run it by Miranda first, but no matter what happens, I'll take you and Garrus up on this."

That was the summary of what Shepard had to say about recruiting this woman. Garrus refused to give us a name, saying it would probably compromise something. (Compromise what, a plot twist? Gimme a break, Garrus.) So he asked us to refer to her as "The Journalist". What the hell that's supposed to mean is anybody's guess. But either way, she agreed to help us.

And now, we're all sitting in Miranda's office. Shepard was just explaining the situation to Miranda, who's still at her terminal. She looks up briefly from typing a few things, and Garrus and I are sitting down by one of the couches. Wow... the office is kept immaculately. Leave it to the cheerleader to do stuff like this. Genetic perfection is the name of the game, after all...

... All of a sudden, I'd hate to be the man who made her.

When Shepard finishes explaining, the three of us look to her expectantly. All right. Either way, we all know that Shepard is going to do as she damn well pleases. The question now is whether Miranda will agree to it or not. And if so, when we can get to it.

And the XO of the SR-2 simply looks to all of us before resting her hand on the desk her terminal is on.

"Shepard, you are not making my job any easier," she replies.

I raise my eyebrow at this, looking at her as I cross my arms. "And why's that?" I ask.

"I hope you do understand how this would look to the Illusive Man," says Miranda.

"She was taught by the best," points out Garrus without missing a beat.

"And she is the lover of one of my old friends," points out Shepard. "I think there is reason to consider this. He knows her better than anyone else in this squad likely will. And I can trust that."

Miranda brushes some locks of black hair out of her face, a small frown taking hold on her features. "This is the second squad member we'll be admitting without a dossier," says Miranda. "You could be undermining the mission, Shepard."

At this, I see Shepard take a step forward, one of her hands clenching into a fist. "The mission?" asks Shepard. "Or Cerberus' tight hold on me?"

"She's got a point, Miranda," I add with a gesture. "All this sounds like you crying foul over the fact that things aren't going exactly according to how you think they are." I mean, really, I know your feeling. But I'm dealing with it. So there.

"I'm just not so sure this is such a good idea," replies the Australian. "We are looking for the best, after all. What if she really is not the best?"

"I can tell you she is one of the best," replies Garrus. "As I said before, she's a damn good shot with a sniper rifle. And she can scare up a lot of information. She's just damn good."

"Again, I am not sure," Miranda says, blinking as she crosses her arms.

The turian shifts where he sits. "Look, she was one of the best people in my squad," he says. "I worked with her on a lot of things. And she was one of the best people I had on the squad. I don't understand why you're refusing my word."

"I have no guarantee that you're saying that simply to get her on the ship," says Miranda. "You do have an intimate history, if what your description of your relationship to her says anything. That may be clouding your judgement."

I frown at this. Oh, great. Bitch, you really should have agreed to this, you know. It's not helping my image of you in any way. I already dislike you, but now you're just coming across like a total bitch. So yeah. I cross my arms at this, frowning. "And I have no guarantee that you're saying that because this is threatening whatever power you think you have," I reply darkly.

Her eyes suddenly shift to me, and she gives me an extremely cold glare. "And what makes you think that?" she asks, her voice steeley.

"I think you know what I mean, Miranda," I comment. I mean, you suggested putting in a control chip when Lazarus first started. "You were the exact same way when I boarded this ship."

"We had no dossier on you and the word of an old friend," she says. "The opinion was clearly biased, and we need a clear, unbiased voice for this mission."

"Yeah, well, your opinion is biased towards Cerberus and the fact that you're one of their best operatives," I reply, gesturing with the hand. "So there."

"I fail to see how I have a-"

And then Shepard steps forward, looking at Miranda. I can't see her face from here, but whatever look she's giving Miranda is apparently threatening enough to shut her up and cause her to promptly clamp her mouth shut. The way she places her hand on Miranda's desk dangerously is enough. And there's no fist banging, either. It just rests silently there.

And for some reason, I feel a chill fly up and down my spine as I see this.

"Let me put it to you this way, Miranda," she says, her voice dripping with acid as she stares Miranda down. "This is my ship, and I am your commanding officer. As such, I am _ordering_ you to tell the Illusive Man about this recent development. We could use this woman on our mission, and if you have a problem with that you'll have to remember that you're not the one running the show here. If you forget that one more time, I will have no qualms about replacing you with someone else as my XO. Do I make myself clear?"

By the time her little speech ends, I have leaned back against the chair. I glance back to Garrus, and I see the same amount of shock in his eyes. I can already tell that something isn't going to go down well when Miranda and Jack have their loyalty fight. Miranda is also visibly terrified. Her face shows nothing, but I can see a glimmer of shock in her eyes at being addressed this way. But nevertheless, she straightens out.

"Perfectly, commander," she says.

"Good," replies Shepard. "With that, I believe our business is done."

With this, the Commander steps out of the office, leaving me and Garrus sitting in the office. I look out the door as it closes behind her. Miranda's gaze is still steeley as she eyes me, but I'm not concentrating on that right now. Yep... She's definitely a Paragade now. But... I just don't get it.

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff," I let out, shaking my head as I bring my palm to my face.

I can hear Miranda mumble something about control chips as she shakes her head. When she finishes mumbling, she turns to me. I shake my head and shrug.

"I swear to God, she wasn't like this at all when we were busy kicking Saren's ass," I reply. "I don't know what the hell is going on that she got like that."

"I hope it's nothing serious," replies the cheerleader. "It could jeopardize the mission."

I shoot her the nastiest glare I can manage. Just for the mission? Bitch, don't even talk to me! I don't say anything as I stand up, leaving Garrus to sit on the couch. "I'm gonna be hanging around the Normandy," I reply. "If you guys need anything, you can tell EDI."

And with this, I exit the office. Seriously. The less time I spend around the cheerleader, the better.

Speaking of cheerleader... I haven't had the chance to talk to Jack yet. So I think I'll go do that right the fuck now.

I bet she's already making a few dolls of Miranda for her abusive pleasure.

* * *

I walk down to Jack's area of the ship. Wow, this area was even darker than it was in the game. I mean, it still looks out into the drive core, but now it's covered in a lot more shadow. I notice as I enter that most of the lights are out, and as my footsteps sound in the small room I get the feeling maybe this wasn't the best idea. But you know what? We both hate Miranda. So that should be enough, right?

I step inside, and then I see her eyes shine in the light. From the blue light of the drive core, I can tell that her eyes are open, and I can see all of her tattoos. As I enter, she gives me a strange look.

"Well, if it isn't the ballsy pussy," she says.

I blink, frowning as I cross my arms. "I thought we've been over why that doesn't work that way," I reply, looking at her as she sits calmly on the bench.

"Yeah, well, it sticks," she says.

At this, I nod. "Well, you do have to admit, it does sound rather catchy," I comment. "I could write a song about it. And fun times would really be had."

"You do what you want with it," she says, leaning back and crossing her legs. "What the fuck are you doing here anyway?"

I roll my eyes and let out a sigh as I step away from the door, moving further into the room. "I need to stay the hell away from Little Miss Uptight for a few minutes," I reply, shaking my head. "Good God, I really don't like Miranda."

Jack snorts at this. "Well, if that's the case, I can't say I blame you," she says. "That fucking cheerleader won't shut up about how Cerberus is full of good people. Fuck that. She doesn't know what they put me through."

I shrug at this. "And I assume they put you through a ton of shit," I reply.

"You got that right, kid," replies the biotic. "All those experiments... It's not easy being there. And yet the cheerleader just likes to pretend it all never happened."

"Yeah, I haven't seen her do that yet," I reply. "But God damn it, is she uptight. I don't like her because she's always all 'oooh, Commander, I'm not sure this is such a good idear, eh, mate?'" I do my best impression of an Australian accent... which sounds like a horribly done British accent. "'Oooh, Commander, we need more people here that someone has given us a prior dossier of! Oooh, Commander, I need to go take a piss because you're undermining my power!'" Jack lets out a short bark at this, and I can briefly see her lean back.

And now, for the cincher. I scrunch up my nose, and with a more intentionally squeaky voice than normal I begin. "Commander this, Commander that," I say. "Meeeeeer meermeer meeeeeeeer meer meeeeeeeer meeeeeeer meeeeeeeer!"

This causes a light chuckle out of the biotic as I hold this expression. I don't know if she's laughing because it's ridiculous or because it's true, but either way, I think she gets my point. As I finish this thing, I roll my eyes in derision of Mirand Lawson as I cross my arms.

"Fuckin' bitch needs to shut the fuck up sometimes," I reply, shaking my head. "I swear, one of these days I'm going to end up beating her up."

"If you ever do, feel free to come down here to celebrate," says Jack. "The fuckin' bitch will probably have deserved it by the time you do."

I shrug. "We'll have to see," I reply. "At any rate, I think I have someone I can bitch to if I ever have a problem with Little Miss Uptight upstairs."

"Just don't come down here too much, kid," she says. "I like my fuckin' silence, you know?"

Yes, yes you do. "Of course," I reply. "But still, it's nice to know there's someone who agrees with me about her and is open about it."

She nods. "Don't get ideas in your head, though," she says. "I don't trust anyone. And if you want that, then you've got a long ways to go."

"Of course," I reply. "I guess I'll catch you some other time then. I'll see you around, Jack."

"You too, you ballsy pussy."

I let out a groan as I turn around. "I'll pretend we never talked about why that doesn't work from now on," I reply.

And with this, I exit the area. Well... I'm on good footing with Jack, even if she still refers to me as "the ballsy pussy". It's nice to have someone to vent to about the cheerleader at any rate, so for that there shall be much cake. I do have to admit, though, there is a certain ring to "ballsy pussy". It would probably be a really good thing to throw into a patter song at any rate. It's just so alliterative. And it partly rhymes anyhow, so yeah.

... Speaking of patter songs... I think it's time I approached Mordin about something.

* * *

When I find Mordin, I see him tapping away. I approach his desk, looking over to him. Wow, he sure can type fast. His fingers seem to fly across the holographic interface with a skill I never knew a living being could possess. He also looks completely concentrated in what he's doing. The only thing that's missing is a lab coat, and I know for a fact that he won't go for it. But still, it's somewhat entrancing to see him working on something. I wonder what he's doing...

Either way, I raise one of my eyebrows at seeing this, and bite my lower lip. Okay... how to broach the subject... how to broach the subject...?

Yeah, I think I might have a good idea on that.

"Ah. Mr. *********," begins Mordin. "How may I help?"

I shrug. "Well, Mordin, I'm sure you know how I'm a musician, right?" I ask him.

"Of course," says the salarian scientist. "Salarian mindset on music, different from human. Personally, think it's... interesting. But to think musician could be soldier... The possibilities are quite astounding."

"Right," I say. "Well... I'm pretty sure you get what this means when there's a crazy event in the Citadel."

Mordin pauses briefly at his typestation, blinking once. He turns his gaze over to me as I stand there. "I do not follow," he says. "Elaborate."

"Well, being a composer, I have to go a lot of crazy events," I continue with a shrug. "So you can understand where I'm coming from when I found myself attending a reworking of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta with a mostly alien cast."

With this, I produce the object. It's a datapad, with program notes from that one performance of _Pirates of Penzance_. Oh, yeah, it was definitely a crazy production, all right. Frederick was played by a turian (of all things), Ruth was played by an asari wearing a wig (seriously, I'll never get over that as long as I live), Mabel was played by a drell (which begged the question of what the hell would happen to turians if they made out with a drell)...

And of course, in place of the Major General, there was Mordin Solus as a scientist salarian. When I found out they did that in the two years between the two games, I knew I needed to see it live. And so, here I am. I kept the program datapad, of course, along with everything else assosciated with it. Fun times were had, I can tell you that much.

He looks at the program, blinking again. At this, he smiles, and I can see the wrinkles around his mouth as they seem to take on a new life.

"Ah, yes," he says. "Gilbert and Sullivan production. Was very interesting to work with. Did not think I would see somebody that was there."

"It was certainly... interesting," I comment. "I never thought that the Major-General's song could translate so well into the modern day. Especially with aliens."

"It was certainly interesting," he says. "Never learned human verse, though."

Say wha-? "You never what?" I asked.

"Outrageous, I told them," continued the salarian. "Wanted to know human verse. Give me a point of reference. But they had none of it. Salarian verses only. No human verses. Shame. Human verses could be very interesting."

I frown, crossing my arms as I look at him. "All right," I say. "I'll tell you what. We'll do a verse exchange. Right now. So whatever you're doing, stop it, because we're exchanging Gilbert and Sullivan verses. Right now."

Mordin blinks at me, looking me over. "So forceful," he says. "But I like the proposition. Very well."

My frown disappears. "Good," I say, nodding. "I'd pay actual credits to see you sing Gilbert and Sullivan again. It seems I won't have to."

"You will not," replies Mordin. "We should likely get started with verse exchange. I'll start. You follow with one human verse."

With this, I nod, smiling. Oh, God, this is gonna be awesome. I start by snapping my fingers to the quarter note, getting the beat in my head.

And then I start whistling the introduction to _Modern Major General_. Oh, God, I hope it's in the right key for Mordin. He seems to nod at this, though, and so I continue whistling the intro, feeling quite strange about this. They never did finish the song in ME2, so how does the rest of it go...?

I then start humming the bass line, and gesture to Mordin to start after two measures. And with a light smile dancing in his eyes, he begins.

"_I am the very model of a scientist salarian,  
I've studied species turian, asari, and batarian,  
I'm quite good at genetics (as a subset of biology)  
Because I am an expert (which I know is a tautology._"

We both pause for a brief amount of time, and I know that the first time I heard this, I was thrown for a bit of a loop. So let's see what happens here...

"_I'm very well acquainted, too, with studies all about the stars,  
I have the records that we've got from when the humans looked at Mars,  
And when I am not at the lab I'm doing espionage in tours..._

"Hm... tours... tours... Ah, have it!

"_I know the many properties of chemistry in fusion cores!_"

And there is the brilliance of updating lyrics. Astronomy, espionage, and chemistry in one verse! Now that's a tough act to follow. I wonder who wrote this... I think he might've had help, as there's no way I would've thought of that alone...

Ah, well. I whistle the choral interlude, not bothering to try to say the salarian version of the last line. And then, Mordin comes back in.

"_My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian,  
Perhaps as well they circle into matters vegetarian,  
In short in studies turian, asari and batarian,  
I am the very model of a scientist salarian!_"

I whistle the choral end of the verse, thinking about my own verse. Okay... I think we've got this covered. So I finish, and then Mordin takes over, humming the bass line as soon as I finish whistling the interlude between verses. All right, so here we go!

"_I am the very model of a modern major-general,  
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,  
I know the kings of England and I quote the fights historical  
From Marathon to Waterloo in order categorical._"

I continue singing the verse from there, and I end up doing a very stupid dance that is probably going to throw everyone off guard. I hope EDI's not recording this; if Joker ever makes a joke about it, I'm going to break every bone in his body. And when I say every bone, I mean every freakin' bone. So yeah.

We finish the verse exchange rather quickly, and then I look to Mordin. I nod at him, smiling.

"Well, now you know the human verse," I reply.

"Must admit," says Mordin. "Human verse much more clever."

"Yeah, I have to admit that myself," I concur. "Nothing quite like the original verses, I say. W. S. Gilbert really knew how to write hilarious lyrics. I'm surprised you still called it 'Gilbert and Sullivan' after rewriting a lot of the lyrics, though."

"Assosciation similar," replied Mordin. "Brings larger crowd from humans. Either way, its quite witty."

I nod, smiling. I think back to Sturge again, wondering how he's doing. I wonder if he's still teaching at high school, or if he's busy going around the country to see operas and stuff. I know he'd go out of his way to catch a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, although probably not for _Pirates of Penzance_. If they did a multi-species version of _Iolanthe_, though, I imagine he'd go absolutely nuts. First he'd be shocked about it, and then he'd start yelling about how all the changed lyrics are there. But, I'm sure he'd grow to like it eventually.

"Indeed it is," I say. "I've taken enough of your time. I'll leave you be for now."

The salarian nods at this as he returns to his station. "Nice singing with you," he comments. "Would like to do it again."

And with this, I leave the tech lab, humming another Gilbert and Sullivan tune as I leave the room.

* * *

Wow, the Normandy SR-2's rec room looks decidedly different. Everything's in the wrong place, and what's worse is that almost all of it is bolted to the floor.

Ah, well. At least there are more tables around here if we don't feel like sitting with other people on the couches. And the holo projector is of a better quality. There's no Unchained, though, and that just makes me sad. I bet Shepard'll get right on fixing that, though.

Either way, I get in early, presiding over Shepard as she sets the vid up. We're talking a little bit right now, and I can see her cybernetics. Yeah, those things are definitely creepier in real life. The red glow is slightly unsettling, you know? Good thing she won't go completely renegade on us, because those cybernetic eyes get especially creepy with a full renegade meter. At least there'll be some paragon to be had in there. That should hopefully balance things out.

We're talking, and then I look over as the door opens.

And what do you know? The first person to step in here is Grunt, tank-born krogan and future member of the Urdnot clan. Wrex is gonna be real happy to see 'im, I can tell you that much. And... wow. Just wow. His eyes are actually really beautiful. Everyone makes a big deal about his blue eyes back home, but in real life they're even better looking than they are in the game. On the whole, he actually looks a little more attractive. Especially with his arms there... and...

Oh, hell no! Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts!

"Shepard," says Grunt as he looks over to the commander.

"Grunt," she says.

"Oh," I say, smiling. "I see the krogan's ready to play."

"Another part of the krant?" asks Grunt.

"You could say that," says Shepard as she puts the finishing touches on setting up the holo projector to play the vid.

I nod. "So you call yourself Grunt, eh?" I ask. "Why?"

"It has no meaning," he says. "I like it."

I glance to the side, thinking about how wrong he actually is. "I dunno, Grunt, that word has a lot of meanings where I come from," I reply. Like the vocal gesture. Or the foot soldier. "Either way..."

"I come up here to see things get killed, and I'm rewarded with a soft fleshy thing questioning my name?" asks Grunt. I can tell he's not too happy about that.

Shepard simply shrugs. "He's part of the krant whether you like it or not, Grunt," she offers.

Grunt eyes me briefly, and I can tell there's a small scowl. Oh, dear, he doesn't like me. Yeah, I almost forgot I had to go through the phase where I was considered a weakling with Wrex, too. "All right," he says. "But this one seems very weak. If he does not deliver, I'll have to kill him."

I frown. "Apparently nobody told you that I destroyed _an entire fucking warehouse_," I reply, leaning close to emphasize the warehouse bit. "So yeah."

"I didn't see it," replied Grunt. "And the tank made no mention of 'fucking'. What is a 'fucking'?"

... What?

I blink. Okay...

"Uh..." I say, glancing over to the side. "Yeah..."

Shepard bursts out laughing at this, causing Grunt and I to eye her rather quickly. We both stare at her as she rolls off the couch and onto the floor, pounding it with her fist as she beholds this. I'm too horrified to join her. I mean, really. It's almost as bad as 'don't know how to fuck something'. Oh dear...

This is going to make corrupting the youth of Tuchanka very interesting...

I turn back to Grunt, shrugging. "I think it's better if you don't ask that," I reply.

"Agreed," replies the krogan, rotating his shoulders. "Well, here I am. I might as well see that you can do in a battle."

I smile. "Good to see you're not holing yourself up in there when I decide to show up," I say. "Speaking of which... How are you feeling? After being woken up and all?"

"I see no answer for a soft, fleshy thing," replies Grunt.

I raise my eyebrow at this, crossing my arms. "I'll have you know that that was exactly what Urdnot Wrex about me once," I reply. "And then he ended up eating his words. I'll do the same for you."

He tilts his head to the side, crossing his arms. "Urdnot Wrex?" he asks. "The tank told me of no such thing. Who is this?"

I smile. All right, children, it's story time! "Well, once upon a time, there was a krogan from the clan of Urdnot," I reply. "His name was Wrex. He did a lot of things as a young krogan, including killing a thresher maw."

He looks over as I say this, and then I see Shepard sit off to the side, watching this. "A thresher maw?" asks Grunt. "I heard whisperings of one in a tank. A fearsome thing. A worthy opponent of any krogan. If he could kill one, he must be strong indeed."

"Yep, that he was," I reply. "Anyhow, stuff happened, and then he wandered the galaxy as a gun for hire for many years." I place my hands on my hips and stand on the balls of my feet briefly. "I met him two years ago while he was still a mercenary. He was an incredible person. Funny, strong... in other words, a perfect krogan."

"Sounds like my kind of person," says Grunt.

Oh, boy... "Yeah, if you ever meet him, I imagine you two would get along spectacularly," I comment. "But anyway, I helped him get some stuff. Krogan armor from a turian collector. I did most of the work of infiltrating, he killed all the mercs..." Well, most of them, anyway. "And it was good. He and I are really good friends, you know. We haven't seen each other, but he's still a very good friend of mine."

"I see," he says. "The tank made no mention of soft fleshy things having stories like that..."

"The tank forgot to mention a lot of things about 'soft fleshy things', it seems," I comment. "Either way, I'm wondering what else the tank taught you."

"I'm not saying I believe you," he says. "You seem like the last person to become friends with a krogan."

Oh, trust me, I think you'll change your mind when you get onto Tuchanka and meet Wrex. "We'll see about that," I reply. "And trust me, I thought the same thing when I first met him. But we'll see what happens as time goes on, yes?"

"Maybe," replies the tank-bred krogan. "But I wouldn't bet on it. For now, you're soft. And weak."

Shepard doesn't say anything, and neither does Grunt. I decide I should keep my mouth shut too, because then Zaeed and Jack come in. I can tell he doesn't really believe me, but I didn't sense any hostility in him, so I think we're good. Plus, he'll get confirmation when we meet Wrex on Tuchanka. So yeah.

Right. Now it's time to see how many more people in the crew of the new Normandy show up to see _First Blood_.

* * *

"_It's over Johnny. It's over!_"

"_Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off!_"

Whoah, this film is getting dark. God damn it, I was not expecting it to get all dark and stuff. I just remember being recommended because, hey, it's an 80's action movie, it's gonna be fun watching shit blow up, right? Apparently, that wasn't completely correct; it was a lot darker than I was expecting.

Sure, Jack and Zaeed had fun watching shit get fucked up, and Grunt had a good time watching things get killed, but when it got to this?

Hot fucking damn...

"_It wasn't my war! You asked me, I didn't ask you!_"

And I sit there watching Rambo rage on and on about various things in the war. God damn... He continues to rant about war in front of the colonel, how he can't fit in and stuff. Wow, Stallone is really going at it here.

I guess throwing the gun at the locker in rage really cements it.

... And right when I think he's stopping, he starts crying and slumps on the floor. And then he tells the story about how his friend got blown up by a booby trapped shoe shiner box thing. And he's just sitting there crying with his voice cracking as the colonel stands there, not sure how to react to this.

I'm not sure how to react either. Here's Stallone, someone known for all his 80's action films, and he's having a completely convincing breakdown. I wasn't expecting this, that's for damn sure. And somehow, I'm feeling completely different.

And now, the movie is slowly drawing to its close. And somehow, that doesn't abett the pain that John Rambo is going through. And the ending leaves me very thoroughly depressed.

I think it had the same effect on everyone else. Grunt, not so much, as he's too young to understand and a krogan. Zaeed, though... Man, I never thought I could see such a hollow expression on a man's face. Jack isn't tempered by it at all, and I can see Miranda has the same reaction. Shepard is seemingly non-plussed, as is Garrus, but I can tell that Mordin definitely had an impression left on him.

We all sit there briefly, not sure what to make of this ending. And somehow, after waiting for about a minute, we all just sort of leave without saying a word.

I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Either way, I'm hanging out with Joker for the next hour.

* * *

So I go over to the front of the Normandy, and see Joker sitting there. I hold my hand on my hips, and slowly, he turns his chair around. I raise my eyebrows up at him, and then he looks me over briefly.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Squarepants," he jokes.

I blink at Joker, frowning at him. "Joker, I swear to all things holy, if you ever call me that again I'm going to break your arms with the ship's AI," I reply in a sort of mock joking voice.

Joker makes to reply, but before he can say anything EDI lights up, and I can see the globe just stand there. "I may remind you that I cannot be used for such a purpose, Mr. *********," replies EDI.

I blink, frowning at it as Joker turns to the AI. Yep, EDI is definitely a little annoying sometimes. "It's a joke, EDI," he says before turning back to me "Sorry about EDI. She takes everything literally."

"Trust me, I know the feeling," I reply. "Next thing we both know, she's going to be taking me seriously when I threaten to break your arms with the air."

The pilot lets out a scoff at this, smiling slightly as he leans back in his chair. "Don't remind me," he says. "I'm constantly finding myself slipping my hand on the mute button. Always by accident."

"I see no accidents in when you-"

And then EDI becomes quite silent. Ah, the wonders of the mute button. Fun times abound with that. Upon seeing this, I nod, cracking a short smile at the pilot.

"Wow, you know, she kind of reminds me of my mom," I reply, pointing at the globe. "Always nagging you about this, that, and the other, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," says the pilot. "'Oh, Joker, this is what's happening on the ship! You should be careful not to break your arms!'" He rolls his eyes at this. "Seriously, it can get annoying after so long. It's not like I'm completely a cripple now, anyway..."

"Really?" I ask, trying to feign surprise to make it seem like I hadn't heard of this. "So you can walk now?"

"Without help, yeah," replies Joker. "But I still have to be careful."

I nod at this, an evil smirk forming on my face. In lieu of this, I bring my pinky up to the corner of my mouth, holding it there for a brief period of time before speaking. "So I can still break your bones by hugging you too hard," I muse. "I wonder if there are any raging fangirls around here that can glomp you to death if you do the Mr. Squarepants thing again."

Joker rears back. "No offense, but I hate fangirls," he replies. "I'd hate to get killed in a mass of them. 'Jeff Moreau! Pilot of the Normandy, Killed by a Hug!' It's so anticlimactic, you know. I'd wanna go out epically."

"I dunno, Joker," I reply. "I want to die an old man, content with my life and where it's gone. Not as an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone, you know?"

"Hey, so do I," he says. "After all, there's nothing quite so epic as dying of old age!"

I raise my eyebrows, crossing my arms as I behold this. "That was supposed to be a joke?" I ask.

He blinks, and instantly I get the idea that yes, yes it was supposed to be a joke. "Yeah, kinda," he replies. "That'll teach me to pull from the Friedberg and Seltzer school of comedy."

I growl at this, glancing to the side as I bite my lips. "Don't remind me," I reply, my voice taking on playful anger. "Ever. Or I really will break your arms with the air."

"Oh, yeah, because we all know you stopped Saren with air particles!" replies the pilot, waving his arms around carefully so as not to break his arm. At this, he gets a chuckle from me, and he finally seems to feel a little bit content with himself. "So I see you're back on the Normandy."

I shrug, looking to the cripple as I smile. "Yeah, well, it's hard to resist when you hear Shepard's back from the dead," I reply. "I'll admit it was a bit tough getting back here, though. I had to do a lot of travelling, more than I'm used to, really."

"Shepard tends to induce that in people," admits the pilot. "She's pretty cool, I think."

I nod. "So do I," I add. "The fact that she has a track record of doing the impossible repeatedly also helps. Especially when one of those things is being able to say 'fuck you' to dying. You know how it is. I guess you're on with Shepard, too."

"Yep," replies the pilot, nodding. "That, and I got dissatisfied with the Alliance after everything the Council did to sweep the Reapers under the rug. They kept on trying to make sure I would be quiet. I left, and, well, here I am. It's good to be back on the Normandy again."

"I know the feeling," I reply, looking out to the stars as I see them out by where the pilot is. "You and the Normandy were always inseperable, I can tell you that much. It's good to see another somewhat more familiar face around here, that's for sure."

"Indeed," he says. "I hope you get to hang out here more often. It was wierd only just meeting you at the funeral and then realizing 'hey, this kid was on the Normandy too!'"

I nod at this. "So do I," I say. "But... I've got things to do, so I'll leave you to your own devices now."

Joker nods, the seat swivelling back around. "I guess I'll see you around, Art," he says. "We're trading jokes next time, just so you know!"

"I'm looking forward to it," I reply, smiling.

With this, I turn around and leave the area, crossing my arms and humming a happy tune as I strut along.


	6. Chapter 5

_A/N: And we're back, with more MV2. So last time, social fun was had around the Normandy, a fake patter song was written, a krogan used a joke that was made infamous by the Angry Video Game Nerd, and we socialized with the crew for the first time since Chapter 6 of MV1._

_This time, we add Thane to our little sortie. So why is Thane coming in before Horizon? A couple of reasons:_

_1) It would be a little strange if the mission on Horizon came immediately after the start, ya know._

_2) Remember that woman Garrus mentioned? With the unscheduled additional recruit, we still get a nice even tally of three new squadmates after Horizon._

_3) It's MV2, so now it's Thane/Shepard shippin' teim!_

_So yeah, those are the big reasons for putting Thane's recruitment mission where it is. You know the drill._

_I started school earlier this week, so updates in general might come a bit slower. This might not abett update times for this, though; for now, Mass Vexations takes top priority on the list of fanfics I'd like to do. So hopefully the update schedule won't get too trussled up._

_Oh, and one last thing. By request, Ryan Priessman has asked that I add the following disclaimer: Sam and that one chick from Garrus' squad don't belong to me. They both belong to him. So yeah._

_Let's get started with the chapter, then._

* * *

Chapter 5: The Assassin

I suit up, tying the grey cloth Ash gave me two years ago around my arm as we prepare to get off the ship. My viola rests in the case that's been moved against the desk my terminal sits on. I look at it briefly, tying the knot on my grey cloth as I look out into the drive core again.

Okay... All right, and do a quick weapons check. Assault rifle? Check. Shotgun? Check. Sniper rifle? Check. I think I might have to do sniper rifle, given how we have to walk on that unfinished walkway between the two buildings... Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that... At all.

All my weapons are in the right place, and I have my armor on.

All right, it's time to recruit Thane. I'm insanely happy about this, seeing as how Thane was one of my favorite characters from either game. I gunned to romance him with my female Shepard, and I was quite satisfied with how beautiful the whole thing ended up being. Sure, Thane gets emo, but there's something kind of heartwarming about how he's found something to live for... And that it causes him fear.

That is very... er... sentient, I think. And it's beautiful in a lot of ways.

But now that I think about it, I'll be very, very close to where Thane typically hangs out. I wonder if he has an ear for human music as much as he does an eye for Thomas Hobbes. If he does, I think I could have some incredibly interesting conversations with him about quite a few things in music. And if he does have an ear for human music... I wonder where his tastes would lie. Maybe in Baroque music? I don't really know. We'll have to see about that.

Either way, I can't wait to meet Thane. He's just so quiet, so pensive... And something about that makes him my favorite character. I can't see myself getting along with him all that well given how hyperactive I am, but then again I might have to be holding in the spaz attack I'll undoubtedly have when I first see him anyway. But it's just... Thane is incredibly awesome.

Beyond that, there's really not a whole lot to say.

So I strap my weapons to my magnetic straps and walk out of my room, a small smile on my face as I glance to the Life Support doors. This will be the last time the room will be empty.

Right, I better get to the airlock.

I walk over there, looking around and smiling at what I see. I place my hands behind my back as I go along, and I then see the rest of the ground team gather around the airlock. Grunt is there, checking his shotgun again with a light shine in his eyes that isn't in the game. I see Jacob is there too, and he's rolling his neck around as he's undoubtedly preparing to kick some ass with his biotics and gunning skills. I also see Zaeed standing there, checking his flamethrower one last time as he looks in my direction and gives me a nod.

"Well, if it isn't the musician," he says. "Good to see ya again, kid."

"Same here, Zaeed," I reply. "I dunno about the rest of you, but I'm looking forward to some action today."

"It will be a good fight," agrees Grunt. "Let them come. They will fall at our hands."

"Indeed," I reply. "But we're not just killing things, right?"

"No," says Jacob. "We're going to be seeing some information broker before we find this assassin. Liara T'Soni, I think it was."

Wait... Oh, shit, I almost forgot about that. "Liara's here?" I ask. "On Illium? As an information broker?"

Both of the other humans on the ground team blink. "Yes," says the Cerberus operative. "She's become one of the best. I'm surprised you haven't heard about her. Or from her."

"She cut off all contact shortly after Shepard died," I reply with a shrug and a hand gesture. "This is definitely news to me."

"I doubt it'll be the only piece o' news ya get," comments Zaeed, crossing his arms. "From what I hear, information brokin' is a hell of a harsh business. You enter it, it's probably gonna break ya in ways ya couldn't even see comin'."

I blink. "Well, you never know," I reply with a shrug. "Either way... This is going to be nice to see her again."

"I don't doubt it," says Jacob as he looks over to where Shepard is coming along. "Are you ready, Shepard?"

"Of course, Mr. Taylor," she replies with a nod. "Let's go find Mr. Krios."

Hm... I can't help but wonder. I know Zaeed is right; after all, she was 'la la la la Shadow Broker must die la la' in the game, and she did use the exact same line Benezia used on us on Noveria to threaten a buyer. So... Nah, don't dwell on it too much. Maybe things will have changed the way they did for Garrus. Maybe the _Redemption_ comic didn't happen entirely according to canon, the same way _Ascension _didn't happen totally according to canon. Maybe she's not such a bitch. I can hope, right? I mean, maybe she's not as much of a bitch as she is in the game. Yes? No? Maybe?

* * *

"I'll make it simple. Either you pay me, or I flay you alive. With my mind."

...

Bitch Liara it is, then.

She cuts out the comm call, and as the five of us go into the room, we all look to her. Her secretary Nyxeris stands there, ready to do whatever. Liara seems to notice our presence in the room, and then she turns to all of us as Shepard and I come forward.

"Art! Shepard!" she exclaims, turning herself fully around. "Nyxeris, hold my calls."

The more painted asari nods once, and then we both look to Liara.

"Ah, Shepard..." says the asari, nodding once as they come close together. The two women share a rather brief hug right there in Liara's office, and I adjust slightly where I'm standing. She breaks the hug, and then looks over to me. I hold out my hand, and she's all too eager to shake it. We break after a few seconds, and then she nods to us.

"It's great to see you two again," she says. "Especially you, Shepard. My sources said you were alive, but I never believed..."

The two of us walk over to her desk. "It is good to see you as well, Serviceman."

I blink at this as Shepard crosses her arms. "You're threatening to flay people alive now?" she asks. More renegade option, but seriously, it's a valid concern. I honestly would've asked the same thing in Shepard's stance

"Oh, that," she replies. "That was just a customer who was unhappy with the information he received. He'll pay. They always do."

I tilt my head to the side, bringing my hand up and gesturing with it. "Yeah, that's kind of a given when you're threatening to kill them," I reply. "Can't you at least come up with a less violent business plan? It can't be good for business if your customer service consists of death threats."

"In the end, it pays off," replies the asari as the three of us sit down at her desk. "Ever since I helped you stop Saren, people have wanted to be my friend. Or not be my enemy. I've set up a respectable business as an information broker. It's paid the bills since Shepard... well, for two years. And now, you're back, and gunning for the Collectors with Cerberus."

Shepard leans back in her seat. "I'm surprised you're not too broken up about that," she comments. "I imagine you'd be pretty angry."

I sense Liara's hesitation, knowing why she is doing so. "They brought you back, Shepard," she replies simply. "I might not agree with Cerberus, but I know they'd never try to actively control you."

Indeed. "We could use your help, Liara," I mention. "It's a hell of a dangerous mission we're on, you know."

The asari simply folds her hands in her lap, looking at the two of us calmly. "I'd like to," she replies. "But I cannot. I have commitments. Things I need to take care of."

Shepard simply crosses her arms where she sits. "We could help with that," she comments. "What do you need?"

Liara stands up and walks away. As she does, she looks out onto the bustling Illium trading floor. "It's been a long two years, Shepard," she says. "I have had to do many things. As such, I have many debts that need to be repayed." She turns back to us and walks back to her desk. "If you wish to help me, I need someone with reasonably good hacking skills, someone I can trust."

I glance back to our team. Well, Grunt and Zaeed are out of the question, and I only know enough to navigate menus, not to hack. Jacob probably could, given that he got his own IPhone game and will probably know how to hack things as a result, but otherwise I can't really see ourselves having too much tech expertise. But we'll see what happens.

She sits back down. "If you could turn off security at several key points in Illium, you could help me get information that I need," continues the former archeologist. "That'll help me a great deal."

I lean back at this. "And what, exactly, do you want us to do?" I ask.

She leans forward. "I need you to hack terminals for me," she says. Oh, that's pretty simple. Yeah, Jacob can handle it. "But you cannot upload the data from those terminals. It will only create a glitch in the system that will get me the information I need. If you do this for me... I will be thankful to both of you."

Shepard nods at this. "Very well then," she says. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Shepard," says Liara. "I would ask more, but I have a feeling you are not here just to see me again."

"You're right about that," replies the human sitting next to me. "I'm looking for Thane Krios. He's supposed to be here on Illium."

Liara nods at this. "The assassin," she states simply. "Yes, he arrived here a few days ago. My sources tell me that he may be targeting a corporate executive, Nassana Dantius." Okay, that detail checks out at least. Looks like they heard I was coming and decided to make it earlier, just for me. "He contacted a woman named Seryna. Seryna has an office in the cargo transfer levels. Perhaps she can tell you where Krios is."

I blink, rearing my head back. "All that from the top of your head?" I ask, playfully. "Damn, Liara, you've got skills."

I can see the barest hint of a smile. "I am a very good information broker," she replies. "Thank you for the compliment."

Shepard nods at this. "All right then," she says. "Thanks for the help. I should probably leave you be now. I have much that needs to be done."

With this, Shepard and I both stand up, Liara opting to stay seated at her desk. "Thank you, Shepard," she says. "I shall look forward to the information you send me."

And with this, we both get up and leave. I nod to Nyxeris as we leave, and then I give her the most knowing look I can manage. I know what you're up to, bitch. And I know that you're betraying Liara as we speak. We both exit, but if my glance leaves Nixeris at all perturbed, I don't know it.

As soon as we step a safe distance away from the office, Shepard and the rest of the ground team circle around each other.

"Well, this complicates things a touch," comments Zaeed. "I don't know anyone here who can do something so god-damn easy as hack a terminal. It's like asking me to shoot a civilian. It's not worth our time."

"Liara's a friend of ours," I point out, looking to Shepard.

"Besides, I can probably hack the terminals in question," adds Jacob. "Just lead me to the proper terminals and I should be able to work some magic over everything."

"Then what about that assassin, Thane Krios?" asks Zaeed, crossing his arms. "If he's on a hit, he won't wait for us to move before he gets the drop on Nassana. We need to move fast, and we need to move hard."

Shepard looks to Zaeed and Grunt. "You two will go with Art to the docking levels, then," she says. "Art, I want you to talk with Seryna. Figure out where Thane Krios is. Jacob and I will rejoin you later."

... Oh dear. I hope she's not getting the hots for Jacob. That'll be really bad for the Thane/Shepard leanings. Plus, I think we all know what happened when he stripped during his love scene with Shepard... Noses bled for all genders. Yes, even straight guys did it.

Either way, though, I get to activate Thane's recruitment mission. Yay! I nod in reply to Shepard's order.

"Got it," I reply. "I'm guessing I'm giving orders?"

"You think about it," she says. "We'll meet you down in the cargo transport bay when we are done. Good luck."

"You too, Shepard," I reply. "You're going to need it."

And with this, she and Jacob vanish within the crowd of the Illium trader floor. I watch them for a few seconds before turning to Zaeed and Grunt. I can tell neither are overly amused at this prospect, but at least Zaeed seems to be able to tolerate it. How does Grunt feel about it, I wonder.

"Great, I'm left under orders of a weakling," says Grunt with an air of disappointment.

"And I have to take orders from someone younger than me," adds Zaeed.

I shrug. "Yeah, this is gonna be wierd, giving orders to a krogan and someone who's older than me," I reply with a shrug. "But we'll make do with what we've got. Both of you, keep your weapons holstered at all times until Shepard gets back. And... well... don't be afraid to make any comments on what's going on."

And the two people I'm left in charge with glance at each other briefly. I can see Zaeed smile ever so slowly, crossing his arms as he does.

"Ya know?" he asks. "This may not be so bad after all."

"It might not be," I say. "Come on. Let's go find this Seryna lady."

And with this, the three of us walk down the trading floor, hoping to get to the cargo bay of Illium before the Dantius commission is carried out. Because if we don't, then we'll never be able to find Thane. Especially if he dies as he planned to do.

* * *

All right... Seryna, Seryna, Seryna... Okay, she was down here... somewhere...

I hope. This place is a lot bigger than it was in the game. I guess it includes all the areas blocked off to me, so it's a bit of a harder find. That, and I have to make it seem like I don't know exactly where she is to Zaeed and Grunt. So I ended up having to ask around after doing a very brief search. Neither of them commented on this, but they're still following me. And that's more I can say for Grunt than anything else, really.

So where...?

Ah, there she is. Zaeed and Grunt follow me as I look down on an asari typing stuff at a terminal. I walk over there, the human and the krogan behind me as I look down to her.

"Seryna?" I ask.

"Who wants to know?" she asks back.

All right, I've got the right woman. "Someone with questions," I reply. "The name's Art. Liara T'Soni told me you might know something about Thane Krios?"

With this, she glances up at me briefly, her eyes betraying the briefest hint of surprise. She stands up, then, walking around so that she's facing an asari working on a desk facing away from her.

"Tana," she says briefly. "Cover for me." With this, she walks over to the other side of the desk. She passes in front of me before gesturing to the side. "Over here." She walks past, and then I follow behind her as she walks to the balcony a short distance away. There, we both get a rather good view of the Nos Astra skyline as she glances back at me. Zaeed and Grunt both follow, and then she starts.

And the Nos Astra skyline... Hot damn is it big. It's almost like I'm in New York again. Only, with every building about ten times taller. Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, those towers are huge. I find myself darting my eyes back to Seryna. Just look at the asari, and you'll be fine. Just look at the asari, and you won't miss anything. The blue-skinned alien is there, so just look at her.

"Yes, I know who Thane Krios is," she says. "I might've passed him some information, but I didn't hire him."

I raise one of my eyebrows. "Relax, I'm not here because I think you hired him," I reply. "Me and my friends here are lookin' for him. Maybe you could help me find him."

She scoffs at this. "I can tell you, but you won't stop him," she replies. "When I contacted him, I checked up on him. The man never gives up on a job."

"That's not what 'e asked," comments Zaeed. "He asked where we could find the bloody assassin."

I cross my arms. "And even if he was still in a job, why would he invest so much effort into this one?" I ask, to keep up appearances.

Seryna nods once at this. "I used to work for Nassana Dantius," she says. "Then, I found out she was having people killed to protect her dirty secrets." Like her own sister. "She fired me when I confronted her. Her loss. I might have been good enough to stop Thane from taking her down."

"I see...," I comment. "Revenge is a dish best served underhandedly, yes?"

She lets out a goodhearted chuckle at this, her eyes lighting up for the briefest second after I say this. "I hear you, sir," she says.

I nod, smiling as I cross my arms. "Well..." I say, gesturing with one of my hands. "Since you worked there, I'm sure you have some idea of what he's running into."

"Eclipse mercs," says the asari as she looks over at us.

"Eclipse?" asks Zaeed, crossing his arms. "That'll be easy. They're high-tech, but the whole bloody group is undisciplined. If you're as good as this Krios character is, you could probably tear through all of 'em without so much as breakin' a sweat."

I nod at this. "But they are very well equipped," I comment. "At least, that's what I've heard. He's still got quite a trip in store if he's not careful. I'm sure you told him of this?"

"Of course," replies Seryna. "He did not seem deterred."

Grunt shifts behind me after the asari finishes. "Even against such odds, he goes into battle," says Grunt. "He is quite strong, this 'Krios'..."

Yeah, well, I wouldn't bet on that yet, Grunt. "Of course," I reply. "And Nassana sounds like a bitch."

She lets out a loud bark at this, causing me to jolt in place as I mention this. "I couldn't have put it better," she says. "She's had her associates killed, her business partners... I even heard she got rid of her own sister."

"Ooch," I say, cringing at this. "Yeah, she does deserve to die. Slowly. And painfully." Even if a pistol shot to the stomach is none of these things according to the book of Thane Krios. "If I had the option, I'd probably saw her in half incredibly slowly."

At this, Zaeed and Seryna both cringe. Whether they do it at the exact same time because they know it's disgusting or because I'm the one saying it is something I can't really judge from here. "No offense, kid, but that's goddamn brutal," comments Zaeed. "I wouldn't do it to anyone, it sounds so painful."

I shrug. "Whatever rocks your boat, Zaeed," I reply. "Anyhow, we're getting a little off topic. Where can I find Thane?"

Seryna then turns around, walking farther out onto the balcony. "The Dantius Towers," she replies. "Penthouse level of tower one." She then points at the two towers in the Nos Astra skyline, and I suddenly realize how tall the thing is.

... Oh Christ... This isn't gonna end well, is it? Because that's where Nassana will be, and Thane...

And that fucking walkway we have to cross... Shit...

"Hot damn," I say, clenching my hands as I look at the towers. "Those are some tall towers!"

"I take it you're not from around here," comments Seryna.

I snort at this. "Understatement of the century," I reply, shaking my head. "I grew up on Earth my entire life. You know how it is; throw me onto a planet with really tall buildings and I'm pretty floored. I'm guessing there's a second tower somewhere along the way?"

"Yes," replies Seryna. "It's still under construction. If Thane is smart, he'll know to start in there."

I nod at this, looking out into the skyline of Nos Astra where the Dantius Tower... eh... Towers stand. "I'm pretty sure she won't just let us in," I comment. "Maybe you could get us in?"

She shakes her head, and then the two of us walk back t owhere Zaeed and Grunt are standing. "She's as smart as she is paranoid," she says. "No one's getting in or out without a fight."

"Then let the fight come," says Grunt, pounding his fist. "I'll be ready for it!"

"I don't think that's of concern here," replies Zaeed. "I want to know if you can get us all in there or not."

"I can," replies the asari. "But you better be ready."

I shake my head at this. As much as I would like to do this mission myself, I still want to play matchmaker for Shepard and Thane. And given the quality of his entrance... "Not yet," I reply. "We need two more people to show up here. Then we'll be ready."

"Well, you won't have to wait much longer then."

I raise my eyebrows and look over behind us. Shepard and Jacob both come along, the two of them seeming fine as of the moment. Okay, good, no werewolves were harmed in the hacking of those terminals. Shepard herself seems a little relieved that she got here in time. I nod to her, and then nod back to Seryna.

"Well, that takes care of that issue," I reply. "Yep, now we're ready. And by ready, I mean we've got our trigger fingers itching for some action."

She nods at this. "That's what I like to hear," she says. "We'll go tonight as soon as the shift workers clear out of Tower two."

And with this, things are set. All right, we're going to get Thane Krios soon! And there shall be many awesome poses from the assassin after all this is said and done. And many fun times shall be had. And a Shepard shall be romanced, provided she's in the right mood once Kaidan dumps her on Horizon...

Well, after relaying all of this information to Shepard, of course. I immediately get her started on that, and the rest of us just sort of stand around waiting for stuff to happen.

I'm already wishing night would just come already.

Ah, well, it'll be here before you know it. And then, assassins come flying in!

* * *

We get out of the hovercar as it lands on a landing pad on one of the Dantius towers. Seryna is quick to shout out a warning to us, and then she takes off shortly afterwards.

I look up as the hovercar drives away, and then look to Shepard and the rest of the group. She nods to us, pulling out her hand cannon.

"All right," she says. "Excellent work, Serviceman."

I nod in acknowledgement of this as I look to the others. "So what now?" I ask.

"We fight our way to Nassana," she replies. "Thane will probably be there by the time we've fought through her mercs."

Yeah, no kidding there, Shepard. I wonder if Thane will have any moments not brought to you by the power of the cutscene. Either way, it'll be crazy to see his entrance from everywhere other than that one camera. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing him in action indeed.

Anyhow... we all pull out our weapons and begin our assault into the building.

And as soon as we do that, we see a bunch of Eclipse mercs come out to greet us. Almost all of them have their weapons out, and fun times are had. Shepard, Zaeed, Jacob, and I all quickly jump behind cover as the mercs begin firing over us. My grip tightens on my assault rifle as I peer over cover and begin to shoot at a merc. I lower its shields quickly...

But then Grunt gets in my view and charges blindly into battle. I'm so surprised by this turn of events that I only barely register when the merc's body has hit the ground from a shotgun blast from the young krogan. I rear back, almost forgetting about every other merc in the room as then the krogan lets out a loud bellow. He downs a merc that Zaeed had been shooting at with his shotgun.

"This is a great fight!" shouted Grunt as he ran through. "More! More!"

I blink as Shepard shouts orders. In my distraction, I realize a moment too late that my shields have died on me. I realize this, and then just barely manage to duck into cover before a slug grazes my cheek.

Jesus Christ on a pikestaff... I hear Grunt shouting gleefully as his heavy footsteps reverberate through the floor. I wait for my shields to charge up, breathing in and out. Shit... I can hear several more shotgun blasts sound in the small area, and more gleeful shouts.

Fuck, I should've known something like this might happen. But right of the bat? I guess he's getting closer to sexual maturity than I had anticipated. That, or he's just looking for things to kill. Either way, I should've known that he wouldn't stay in cover for long. I should've known right from the start when Shepard stopped being controlled by a mouse and a keyboard. Jeez...

My shields recharge as Shepard attempt to get Grunt to stop running around. When I come out of cover, I see that she's having absolutely no effect on him. And somehow, he's still standing. I don't know how the hell he's doing it, but according to my logic he should be dead by now. Suicidal Rambo gambits can tend to lead to that in real life, Grunt. No offense.

But... Oh, hey, it might not be such a bad thing. I see a whole bunch of Eclipse mercs buckling under the pressure, and as Grunt runs around blasting everything with shotguns I see their lack of training is getting to them. But still, even against untrained mooks this kind of thing is dangerous!

Well... the least I can do is help out.

I aim my assault rifle at a merc that's rushing into the room. As Shepard yells at Grunt again, I fire at that one merc, taking down its shields quickly. Jacob sees this, of course, and is quick to take him down with a pistol shot to the face. I can see him look around uncertainly, and then he biotically lifts a merc. Grunt shoots at it twice with his shotgun, yelling out in glee as his blood begins to spill onto the ground.

I bite my lower lip before ejecting my heat sink. I slam another one in there and see another merc that Grunt has shot at. He dodged that shot, but he won't dodge mine. I bring up my assault rifle and quickly pepper his body with fire. It's enough to take him down, and then I turn to a merc that Zaeed is shooting at with his own gun. I aim and move to finish that merc off before Grunt blindly charges in and offs him with a shotgun blast to the face before he runs around the room again.

Grunt makes yet another circle around the room, and when Shepard shoots at a merc with a pistol, he takes it down with his shotgun. At the rate he's going, I'm surprised he hasn't run out of heatsinks. This is getting dangerous. At least Rambo had ammunition stores all over the place. Grunt is too young for that... Jeez... Impressionable young krogan are always a bad thing for my sanity, it seems... Ah, well.

It goes like this for about a minute, with Grunt either running around the room taking down mercs in one or two hits or with Grunt stealing my kills. Jeez, not even _Runescape_ griefers were that bad with stealing kills! The whole time Shepard keeps on shouting at him, finally giving up on him about halfway through his little rampage. Now we're all just exchanging glances as Jacob and Shepard throw and lift people about the room. I fire my assault rifle at a few Eclipse mercs, but then Grunt just runs right over them and practically mauls them with his shotgun. Lifted biotically? Shotgun. Shields taken down by me or anybody else? Shotgun. Unfortunate enough to be in his path? Shotgun. The list goes on. Zaeed eventually just ends up sitting on his ass watching the carnage, and it proves that Grunt has this.

Some part of me wants to admire how good a warrior Grunt is. It really does. But that's kind of difficult when he's doing something incredibly suicidal in his first fight.

And when the last merc piles in? Shotgun. That ends that battle very quickly, and then Grunt is left standing around in a sea of Eclipse bodies. He looks over to us, a happy shine in his eye as a smile tugs at his lips. Great, should've anticipated that. We all come out of cover and approach the krogan.

"That was a great fight, Shepard," comments Grunt. "My blood boils for more!"

"Are you insane, Grunt?" asks Shepard, the frown on her face evident. "You could have gotten yourself killed out there!"

"But I did not," he replies. "I will live to fight again!"

"Yeah, but if you keep doing that, you may not," replies the commander, raising her finger. "Listen, Grunt; when I give you an order, you follow it. No questions asked. _Ever._ Do I make myself clear?"

The krogan regards her for a moment before lumbering away. "Fine," he says. "I shall follow your lead. Give me a good fight, and I won't complain."

With this, Shepard shakes her head. Jacob follows slowly, and Zaeed and I bring up the rear. I look to the old veteran, shaking my head and crossing my arms. My expression isn't at all amused, and he seems to notice this as I fall into step next to him. He glances at me and then I look him straight in the eye, letting him know that I'm clearly not amused with this.

"I told you getting him to watch a _Rambo_ movie was a bad idea."

* * *

We ended up fighting through a lot more mercs after that. Fortunately, this time Grunt actually listened to Shepard's orders. Thank Jesus, because those were some seriously suicidal tactics we've got there. Now he's just firing his assault rifle the whole time, only taking his shotgun out and running about with it if Shepard tells him to.

That, and when there are few enough in the room. And when he has to get to cover.

I'm greatly relieved by this. With that, Grunt won't be dying before the suicide mission. I can't say it'll help his adolescence, though... But that's a small price to pay, really. He's not too happy about this, but who would be?

Eh, he'll understand eventually. Even Wrex wasn't stupid enough to disobey Shepard; Grunt'll learn that in time.

So with that, we plow through mercenaries, and now that Grunt isn't hogging the space we're getting kills in a lot more efficiently. Jacob and Shepard are both really good with their biotics, and Zaeed does great things with that flamethrower of his. We end up going through a lot of mercenaries as a result, and I begin to get more comfortable with things by the second.

And eventually, we're all standing in an elevator. There's a sea of Eclipse bodies in all of the levels below us, so that's something to brag about, methinks. We're slowly becoming a more efficient team as time goes by, and we're really coming to put ourselves in extremely good hands.

And then the elevator door opens, and then we see a single Eclipse trooper.

Oh dear. This guy. This is going to be a doozy. I just hope Shepard doesn't kick him out the window. Because that would be bad. And renegade. I'm sure there's still some Paragon in her, right?

She approaches the trooper, and by the fact that he hasn't drawn his weapons yet, we know he's not going to attack us. Yet. Also, because he's right by that one window over there. So Shepard approaches as he finishes up whatever report he's giving to his superiors.

We approach slowly and quietly enough that he doesn't hear us. Until...

"Turn around, very slowly."

With this, Jacob and Zaeed draw their weapons, pointing them at the trooper. Grunt and I don't even bother, as we're standing in the back, making sure the elevator that we took isn't going to be filled out by a bunch of Eclipse mercs.

Okay, here starts our conversation.

With this, he turns around to look at us. "Damn it," he says defeatedly.

Shepard starts the questions right away. "Have you seen the assassin?" she asks, walking forward a little bit.

The merc backs up a little bit, and I can tell the trepidation in the subtle way his hand twitches, even if his voice is still rather... erm... stoic. "What are you looking for?" he asks. "You're not one of Nassana's mercs. Who are you?"

She approaches him, and then they get close to the window. Shit... She's actually going to do it... "That doesn't matter," she says. "I'm in a hurry, and I'm asking you for something. And there are two ways down. Express, or coach. It's your choice."

Oh, dear. I can see this not ending well. He looks over to the window, realizing where he is. Shepard only stares him down, and then he gestures with his arm.

"Look, pal," he says. "Even if I knew where he was, I wouldn't tell you."

Shepard leans in, looking him straight in the eyes of the merc's helmet. "Not the answer I was looking for," she replies. Somehow, the fact that she does it no matter which side you play for doesn't help my nerves any.

He takes a step back and crosses his arms, but I can see that one of his hands is twitching madly. Maybe he really is afraid of what could happen. After all, he is now right up against the window. But if he is scared beyond a reasonable doubt, he's doing a damn fine job of it, I'm sure. I probably would've buckled by this point knowing that she is very capable of shoving me out to my doom. But he's keeping himself in check just fine.

"I've got nothing more to say to you," he says. Oh, dear, there goes the renegade interrupt. "If you shoot me, my team's right through there." Wait...

I see her fist clench for the briefest amount of time, and it holds that way. Wait... No, the interrupt would've faded out by now... But no... That shouldn't matter, because things can change...

"We'll be all over you."

And for a while, she stands there, her fist ready to move somewhere. I hold in my breath. Just because she didn't take it immediately doesn't mean she can't take it now. Oh, God, Shepard, don't. Please don't shove the guy out the window... Please God don't...

Her fist unclenches.

I only have a split second to blink before she leans in close to him. "Is a little information really worth dying for?" she asks. "Is Nassana?"

... Oh. She took the charm option instead. Thank the fucking Lord.

He stands there for about a split second before he nods. "No," he replies. "I suppose not."

Shepard takes a step back, giving the merc a little more breathing room. "Okay, look," he begins. "Last I heard the assassin was down at the mezzanine. But the teams on the bridge think they might have spotted him. Nobody knows for sure."

There's a brief silence between the two before Shepard cocks her head back. "Get out of here," she says. "Things are about to get ugly."

The merc holds up his hands and walks past Shepard without so much as picking up his gun. "I'm going," he replies, simply. He walks right by us, leaving us to our own devices as Shepard gives a hand sign.

Grunt and I arm our weapons, but when we see Zaeed and Jacob keep their barrels down we get the idea maybe we should too. The Eclipse merc walks over to the elevator and takes it back down, and then we all follow Shepard.

Well... That was something of a relief. I half-expected her to push the guy through the window... But she didn't. It's a good sign; at least she isn't going totally renegade on my ass. Yes, I would place her squarely in the middle right about now. That's always a good thing. At least the old Shepard I knew from the days of fighting Saren is still there, trying to spare the innocent. I guess I should've seen it coming with the salarians a few levels below us, but I didn't. And now, things are just fine and dandy between all of us.

At least I know that Shepard isn't so inclined to just kill things now...

Right... Back to the mission at hand.

* * *

We fight through a ton of mercs, with Grunt still obeying Shepard's orders. We take them all down, now a little more unified as a team. I think Grunt's beginning to learn how to operate with more than one person at a given time. This is always wonderful, and we're starting to take down the mercs more efficiently.

And when the mercs are all out of the way, we see a few doors out. Right, only...

Wait...

No, hold on... Maybe we'll see what's up with the salarians in the next room...

Shepard notices a door there, and she opens it. When she does, we're greeted with the sight of a dead Eclipse merc on the floor. There are also two salarians there, one of whom seems to notice us enter. Upon seeing this, we see him draw a pistol at us, holding it shakily. We can sense the fear in his eyes, but he simply looks over to us.

Right... "Now, now, settle down," I reply. "Don't do anything stupid, ya hear?"

"S-stay back!" threatens the salarian a little too quickly. "Don't come any closer, or I'll shoot! I swear I will! I don't want to hurt you, but I will! I said get back! I'll do it!"

Well, there goes a missed Renegade interrupt. I hope.

"Please, don't make me do it," he continues, and Shepard simply stands there. All right, Renegade interrupt is not taken!

She shifts around a little bit, holding up a hand. "Hey, I'm not the bad guy here," she says reassuringly. "What's your name?"

"I... I'm Telan," he says, holding his pistol uncertainly. "Don't come any closer." Here, it's rushed out, more as an afterthought than anything. Yep, this guy is scared out of his mind right now. Can't say I blame him. Nassana is a bitch, and I'm sure almost being killed by her would be a sign of many, many bad things to come.

She simply takes it in stride. "Telan, I'm Commander Shepard," she says. "I'm not with the mercs, and I don't want to hurt you."

"Trust us, if we wanted to hurt you, we would've done so by now," I add. "We're here to help you and your friend."

"I..." says Telan, looking at us nervously. "All right. Here." He hands the pistol to Shepard, and he seems a little more calm. Awesomesauce. "I'm sorry. I thought I was dead when all these mercs started pouring through."

I nod at this. Huh, he hasn't fainted. This is a little different here. I look behind Telan to see another salarian come forward. Okay, there's the brother. The other salarian looked over.

"You have any idea what 'appened here?" asks Zaeed. "If you shot the merc, I think you're doing damn fine for yourselves."

Telan blinks, his brother coming forward. "No..." replied Telan. "We don't know who shot the merc."

"Then make that two of us that don't know," says Jacob. "We certainly didn't shoot him."

Shepard looks over to Telan and his brother, shifting slightly on one foot. "What happened exactly?" she asked.

"We were standing here..." says the brother. "The merc shouted at us to move when he came in here. We panicked, and then he started shouting at us. I thought he was going to kill us!"

Telan continues from there. "And then, his head just exploded," he says. "I picked up his gun, but... We were too afraid to leave. And now here you are."

"His head just exploded?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"A perfect headshot..." mutters Shepard.

I blink breifly, looking to the rest of the group. "I think it's likely our assassin just got through here," comments Zaeed. "But a perfect headshot and no collateral damage? I can't wait to meet the son of a bitch."

"Yeah, you've gotta admit, it's fairly impressive," I mention.

"Assassin?" asks Telan.

"Yes, there's an assassin around here," I reply. "He's after Nassana. According to our intel, she's across the..." the bridge... Shit, we do have to cross it... "... She's across the bridge. In the penthouse."

"The bridge?" he says. Yes, we have to be careful. Shitfucker, that bridge is gonna be the death of me... "The bridge is fine, but it's the winds you should watch out for. I think there are also a lot of mercs on the other side of the bridge. You should be careful. If the wind doesn't get you, the mercs will."

Oh, dear... Bridge, very high up off the ground. And if I remember correctly, there are no supports...

Oh shit. What if I fall off...?

"All right," says Shepard. "There are still mercs here. You two should get going before things get rough."

Telan and his brother both nod, and then they make for the exit. "Yes, yes, we should," agrees Telan. "Thank you."

And with this, the two salarians walk out the door. And now, my heart rate starts flying away. Shit... I'm going to be in a high place... And it's a really, really long way down...

Right... We exit the room, and I hear Shepard give orders. I'm a little afraid as I pull out my sniper rifle. I vaguely hear Shepard tell me to bring up the rear, and I simply nod my agreement. Yes, bring up the rear... And stay behind cover, and don't go close to the edge... Whatever you do, dear god, don't go close to the edge...

We walk a little further, and before I know it we're on the bridge. And then we see the mercs begin to open fire. I quickly go behind cover, but then stop myself as soon as I do to look over to the edge. My breathing quickens a little as my eyes widen in terror. Fortunately, everyone else is in front of me, so hopefully they won't notice me freaking the fuck out over here. I take a deep breath, trying to control my heartrate as I grip my sniper rifle a little more harshly.

I then come out over cover, setting my sights on some of the mercs. My trigger hand is shaking slightly as I line up the scope. I line it up... And then pull the trigger before I'm ready. The bullet bounces off the merc's shields, and when I fire again the round misses. Out of instinct, I pull the trigger again, this bullet miraculously hitting him square in the chest before I dive back behind cover, breathing in and out.

My eyes glance at the edge of the bridge, and my breathing quickens. As soon as I notice this, I feel like the wind is beginning to shove me there. In instinct, my hand grabs the edge of the chest-high wall that I'm up against, gripping it as I hear the firefight ahead of me. My eyes close, and I bite my lower lip hard enough that I'm just at the threshold of drawing blood.

Shit... Don't think of the ground... Don't look down, and it'll be all right... Just calm down... You're not going to fly off the edge. And you're not gonna die. Not right away, anyhow.

Eventually, I open my eyes and then look at the sniper rifle out there. I quickly bring it up, setting my sights on an enemy. I can't control the shaking on the barrel of the gun, but I manage somehow. I see him fire down on the squad, and then I pull the trigger a few times. The first shot is deflected off his shields, and the second one is a little off. It does the job, though, and then through sheer chance I get a headshot on him.

Okay, that's a good thing. I duck back behind cover and reload, taking a moment to take a deep breath. All right, back into the fray.

But right as I come out and prepare the sights, I feel the wind slam into me. I skid over a little bit, such that I'm sliding away from my old cover and closer to the other edge of the bridge. I thankfully stop, but I'm fully out of cover and barely holding on to my sniper rifle.

Shitfucker... Shitfucker!

I quickly backpedal into cover as I see my shields go down. I feel a rather sharp graze against my forearm as I quickly crawl back into cover, and then I'm sitting against the chest-high wall I was behind, quivering where I sit. My eyes are shut tight as I feel the winds fly sharply against me. Shit... Just stay in one place and you won't go flying over the edge. Fuck... I bite my lip so hard I can taste iron for the slightest bit in my mouth. I take in several hurried breaths, holding my sniper rifle close.

You'll be fine if you stay like this. You'll be fine if you stay like this... Just take a deep breath and you'll be fine.

I'm barely even aware of the light burn in my arm as I take a minute to steady myself. It feels like an hour has passed before I peer over and see that the group has moved along. Shit... If they've moved, I should get moving too...

I grab my sniper rifle and very slowly crawl to a different piece of cover. It feels like ages when I finally get there, and I'm mostly up to speed with Shepard's squad. With my hands shaking uncontrollably I bring up my rifle and aim. I see a merc come down as Zaeed peppers it with fire. As his shields go down, I deliver a sniper rifle shot to his gut that sends him flying back. I go back into cover, quivering uncontrollably as I reload, taking a few deep breaths as I shake my head.

"Focus, Art..." I mutter under the sound of the howling wind. "You can do this..."

I come out of cover again, my arm shaking slightly. I feel the wind push me to the side, and I briefly lose my composure as I slide to the side. It's enough that I duck back behind cover and enter another quivering spell. I grip my rifle close to my body and I close my eyes again. Fuck... No... Shitfucker...

I quickly come out of cover, but feel the winds buffetting me again. As the bullets die away, I simply shit there, my fist clenched around the barrel of the sniper rifle. Shit, this is not how you normally are! You fought geth on Noveria, Feros, Virmire, and Ilos. And you're freaking the fuck out over some bridge in Illium? No... It is several hundred stories off the ground... Shit... I'm in over my head with this mission. Fuck my life...

It's not until I feel a hand roughly wrap around my arm and yank me to me feet that I snap out of it. And then, I'm led along by Jacob as he grabs my arm and leads me into the tower that Nassana is in. I open my eyes then to find disapproving stares coming at me from Shepard, Zaeed, and Grunt.

"Weak," comments the krogan. "I knew it."

"Grunt," reprimands Shepard sharply. "Save it for the ship."

"What was that all about?" asks Jacob. "You sort of just held back there."

I look behind me out to the bridge. Okay, I'm safe. That's always a good thing, I'm sure. Either way, I hope I don't have to go out there on the way out with Thane. I shiver a little, holding my sniper rifle close as I turn back to Shepard.

"Is now a bad time to mention that I have an acute fear of heights?"

I blink, holding my rifle closer as this information settles in with the rest of the squad. I can see Shepard raise her eyebrows before a grimace sets in on her face.

* * *

We really didn't have time to dwell on the revelation about my fear of heights, because then more mercs came piling in. This time, though, I was surrounded by walls, so I was able to hold my own a little more effectively. We gunned down a hell of a lot more Eclipse mercs, and after working our way up the stairs we're finally at the penthouse.

We don't say anything as we enter the area, with the large circular desk where Nassana is standing with all those mercs. All eyes fall on us very promptly, and I cross my arms. I won't be needing the assault rifle, but I know Thane won't be all that great...

Hey, wait a second. There are two extra mercs here. There was that asari and that human, but now there are two extra humans... Oh dear, how's Thane gonna get out of this one...?

Shepard and Nassana start to talk, but I zone out as I scope the room. Well, the vent that Thane comes out of is over there... So he'll drop down and snap that guy's neck. And in the game, he would steal the asari merc's pistol and kill her with it before shooting Nassana in the stomach. But that won't exactly work here. So what'll he do?

I look back to Shepard as she converses with Nassana, and I can hear some strange fluctuations in her voice I missed in the game. I bite my lower lip, wondering what's going to come of all this.

And then, I hear the loud clang that signals that Thane is about to strike. The asari merc comments on it, and then Nassana sends someone to look at it. Okay... Entrance that makes me cream my pants in three... two... one...

I see the drell drop down from the venthilation shaft, his fall is silent. I think Zaeed notices this too, but he doesn't comment on it. The drell very quickly stalks towards one of the human mercs, and then in a blur I see the guy's neck snap. And just like in the game, he punches the other human close by in the windpipe, knocking him out.

I see another Eclipse merc has taken notice of this, and quickly moves to aim his pistol. But he's extremely close to Thane, so the drell is simply able to flick his arm up and redirect the pistol, such that it flies out of the merc's hands. He then grabs the wrist as the other two mercs in the room take notice, with Nassana only now turning around. As the other mercs come up, he grabs the guard he's disarmed and throws him right as one of the mercs fires his pistol. With this distraction, the drell quickly dashes to the asari, punching her in the throat and grabbing her pistol. As she stumbles back, Thane shoots the merc that had fired at him earlier before turning quickly around and decking the asari merc in the head.

And just as in the game, he moves straight to Nassana before she can even comprehend what hit her. With grace that I haven't seen in a while, he pulls the pistol to her belly and fires, setting her body delicately against him as he lays it against the console she was in front of. As she lets out a last groan of death, he gently places her hands on her breast, and then Nassana Dantius is dead.

The entire thing took a grand total of ten seconds. As soon as the deed is done, he steps back, looking down at Nassana's body. Dead silence settles over the room as he looks at Nassana and cups his hands in prayer. None of us dare say anything as we see the assassin stand there.

I mean... damn... That... I don't even know how to say this... Holy shit on a shit sandwich, man...

"Wow," I finally say. "That was one of the most impressive entrances I've ever seen."

He is quiet as we see him standing there. He is silent, his black eyes looking down at Nassana. I glance over to Shepard, and somehow I see that her hand... Wait, it's slightly different from how she normally holds it. I lean forward slightly, and I see something... strange in her eyes. As if they're shining...

... Is this love at first sight? I thought it didn't exist!

She steps forward, and I can feel something... different in her voice.

"I came a long way to talk to you," she says. I expect her to stop, but then. "I must say... This is not quite what I was expecting..."

"One moment," he replies. "Prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."

Her look is more puzzled as she shifts on her feet. "You really think she deserves prayers?" she asks.

Thane looks up, his obsidian eyes quickly glancing over the five of us as his brow ridges crease. "Not for her," he says. "For me."

He gently lets the pistol down by Nassana's body, and slowly walks around the little thing she was situated behind. "The measure of an individual is difficult to discern by actions alone," he continues, his deep voice rasping a little as he spoke. "Take you, for instance. All this destruction... chaos..."

He comes around the desk as Shepard looks at him a little more intently than I think should be humanly possible. "I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me," he says, coming around so that his body blocks the view of Nassana's body. He turns to Shepard, and their eyes meet. And somehow, it's like a spark has gone off. If it's in my imagination or if it's because Shepard starts biting her lip is something I need to sort out later. "Well, here I am."

"How did you know I was coming at all?" she asks, shifting slightly.

"I didn't," he replies, walking past Shepard and into the small little circle made by us. I eye the assassin, wanting to say something but at the same time not wanting to ruin the magic of the moment. "Not until you marched through the door and started shooting." I can see Zaeed's lips tug, but he doesn't open his mouth. Grunt and Jacob simply look at the drell as he stands among us. "Nassana had become paranoid. You saw the strength of her guard force. She believed one of her sisters would kill her." His head tilts slightly to Shepard. "You were a valuable distraction."

Shepard frowns slightly at this, gesturing at him with a hand. "You used me so you could kill her," she says, a hard edge in her voice that I could somehow tell was half-hearted.

"I needed a diversion," he says. "You needed to speak with me." He looks at us, and it's only then that I realize that Grunt has his shotgun out. He stores it without a second word, and Thane gives a nigh imperceptible nod. "You fulfilled your end of the bargain." He turns to Shepard, his eyes looking at her as he held himself immaculately. "What would you like to discuss?"

"Someone's been abducting human colonies," replies the commander, crossing her arms. "We're gonna stop them." Thane turns to walk to the window, and Shepard turns herself, her eyes following the assassin's every move. "We already know the culprits. They're a race called the Collectors."

Thane pauses in his step, and I can feel the strange tension in the room. Not the tension of 'is he going to agree to this', but the tension of 'what is he saying next'? When he finally speaks, I blink in surprise at how the silence affects me.

"I have heard of them," he states. He then turns his body around to look at Shepard. "Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."

Shepard simply approaches. "They told me it was impossible to get to Ilos too," she comments as her arms fall back to her sides.

"A fair point," Thane agrees as Shepard comes up to the drell. When she's standing next to him, they're both looking out into the Nos Astra skyline. "You have built a career on doing the impossible."

There is a pause, the silence being nearly impenetrable. Thane had the strangest command of silence; he could whip it up anytime, and the spell that results is unlike anything I've ever heard. I swear, this guy could do a vocalist version of _4'33"_. And somehow, it would be just awesome. And the silence is not uncomfortable. Rather, there's something calm and meditative about it, even despite the tension in the air.

"This was to be my last job," he finally states, holding out another few-seconds-long silence. "I'm dying. Low survival odds don't concern me. The abduction of your colonists does."

I blink at this. Hearing him say it so non-chalantly... I know he's already accepted his death and all, but still... It's kind of shocking in its own quiet way, and I can see Shepard's hand twitch slightly upon hearing this. I can also see her blink, and I'm not sure what to make of all this new stuff I'm seeing that is popping up in Shepard's personality.

"I hadn't heard that," she admits as she turns to look at him. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Giving me this opportunity is enough," he states gravely. "The universe is a dark place. I'm trying to make it brighter before I die." He looks over at Nos Astra before turning to Shepard, and I can see a hint of remorse in his eyes. "Many innocents died today. I wasn't fast enough, and they suffered. I must atone for that."

I see them look at each other, and then Thane and Shepard both shake hands. When they part, it's brief, with Thane bringing his hands behind him as he looks at the woman intently. "I will work for you," says the assassin. "Free of charge."

And with this, Shepard simply nods. "I'm glad to have you on the team, Thane," she says. "We should head back to the ship. There is a lot we need to talk about."

Shepard and Thane exit, and then the remaining four of us also exit as well. Nobody dares say anything, not even Zaeed. Leave it up to the assassin to take the words out of my mouth.

But... This is a strange feeling. Thane is with us now. And now it's time to promote them. But was that true love at first sight I saw there? I swear, there was something about Shepard that changed upon looking at the assassin... Something is telling me that she was instantly drawn in by something. But what?

I'm beginning to feel really bad about Horizon. And I get the feeling it's just around the corner now that we've got a whole ton of squadmates...

Ah, well. I'll deal with it as it comes. For now, I get to celebrate, because Thane is in the house!


	7. Chapter 6

_A/N: All right, welcome back. We're here with some more squad interactions, along with some crew interactions *I hope*!_

_Fun times abound with all that. Yes, there will be much Thane/Shepard fanboying over the course of MV2, and if you don't like that kind of thing don't worry, it'll all be played for laughs._

_Oh yeah, and I hit another review milestone with the last chapter. This is the fastest I've ever reached 100 reviews on anything. Soon enough I guess I'll be hearing about the 200 review mark, eh? I couldn't have done this without you guys, so thanks a ton!_

_Either way, I don't have too much to say, so I'll just get going with the chapter._

* * *

Chapter 6: Bach: Cello Suite no. 5

I twist the peg ever so slightly, plucking my A-string as my tongue sticks out of my mouth ever so slightly. I've long gotten out of my armor, and Thane recently moved into Life Support. Okay, twist it... Okay, my A-string is now a higher G-string. I nod as I push the peg into place, bringing my viola onto my shoulders. Okay... draw the bow across the strings... Ooh, the higher G-string is a little sharp. Okay... Tone it down...

No, no, it's the D-string that's out of tune. Right... Okay, now we have a perfect fourth.

I tune my viola, wondering why I haven't practiced yet. We're just leaving Illium now; Shepard doesn't have another dossier, so we're making course for the Citadel at the moment. Honestly, I'm surprised TIM didn't have Samara's dossier ready yet. It's in the same place, so I'd figure, why not? Then again, Miranda's loyalty mission is on Illium, so I guess it won't be a total waste of time to have to go twice. I'm actually a hell of a lot more surprised that Horizon hasn't occurred yet. Maybe it won't occur for a while?

...No, that wouldn't make any sense. I don't get why we're not heading to Horizon. I'm really not looking forward to it, but somehow I can't help but continue thinking about it. It's kind of like that one thing where you know it's bad and it's not going to be good for anyone, but you can't help but wonder when it's coming... Kind of like a jump scare. Yeah, something like that.

Either way... I retune my C-String once my lower G-string is back in tune. Okay, this shall be good. Scordatura playing in general is a bit of a pain, but I thought, why the hell not. Back wrote for it originally, so I think I might as well get things done the way they're written. Well... except for the whole 'cellos are typically an octave deeper' thing, but I'm getting ahead of myself there. Besides, the poor violist has to steal repertory.

It's a good thing 170 years have been really good to the instrument. We've racked up a whole bunch of concerti by that time, even if the Walton, Hindemith, and Bartok concertos are still the pinnacle of the repertory. I've checked a few of them out myself. Some of the other recent pinnacles are okay, some are great, and some are complete shit.

Oh well. I'm getting ahead of myself, though; I'll always fondly remember the stuff I grew up with. So I took it upon myself to learn the scordatura suite in C minor.

Right, this will be a bit hefty.

I bring my bow up to the instrument, and start playing the prelude. It starts with that one octave that I don't hate, on the open string and the third finger. I navigate through the rather slow introduction, feeling the chords pile up on the edges of my fingertips. I'm still not totally sure what to do with the chords here, but then again, it's all a matter of opinion when composers don't write dynamics. I simply go about the prelude, going with gut instinct. On some chords, I'm fairly loud; in others, I'm kind of whispering in a strange kind of way.

And the intro comes to its conclusion rather slowly. Well, there are the last really heavy triple stops for the remainder of the prelude. Those things are always tough in their own wierd ways...

And now we have a one-voice fugue. Which always takes me back to the solo violin fugues, which are monumentally difficult stuff. Not just for those fucking quadruple-stops, but because it's tough musically. So then this comes along and poses a different challenge; how do we bring out the various entrances if it's only one voice? I think I've got a handle on it now, though, and I've been keeping good enough track as it meanders through several different areas of the key of C Minor. And I close my eyes, letting myself get lost in the music as my memory fills in for the datapad that's displaying the music.

I find solace in the music, letting myself go. It helps me clear my head. Helps me forget the little fear of heights fiasco from earlier. I swear, they're never going to let me live it down after that... But I forget about it as I let the sounds of J.S. Bach fill my mind with some kind of calm. My bow seems to float across the strings as I manipulate both bow and string, and before I'm ready for it I end the movement.

When I do realize it, I open my eyes and let my instrument down slightly. It's still resting against my shoulder, though, and so I contemplate a little bit. Okay... the tempo could've been a little more even in this area... And I could've had that chord better in tune... So I still have a few chinks to iron out after all!

Before I can get to that, though, I hear the door open suddenly. The sound startles me out of my more meditative state, and I jolt slightly as a result. My eyes quickly dart to the door, and then I see Thane standing there, his posture a little surprised as he regards me with black eyes. I raise one of my eyebrows at this, and then he comes into the room.

"A musician?" he asks. "Interesting. I was not expecting that of anybody in the Normandy, let alone the one I am closest to in terms of location."

I shrug. "It's not exactly the Normandy's best-kept secret, you know," I reply. "I do have a pretty big career outside of gunning stuff down. And I definitely wasn't expecting you to have a soft spot for Johann Sebastian Bach."

"You were playing the fifth violincello suite in C minor, yes?" he asks.

I nod at this. "With retuned strings and everything," I reply with a shrug.

"It is not on the instrument it was written for," comments the drell.

I point at him, a single motion of my head cluing him in that I know what he's talking about. "No," I reply. "But when you're a violist, you tend to steal a lot from the cello repertory, you know?"

"Of course," he says as the door closes in the room with the two of us inside. "If I am disturbing you, I shall take my leave."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it," I reply as he takes a step towards the door. My reply stops him, and he turns to me. "I mean, it's so rare to see someone outside of Earth who actually likes music from our 17th Century. So this is actually quite welcome."

"I will admit there is a strange... simplicity to it," he says, holding his hands behind him. "Such music hosts a rather strange contradiction, I think. Its complexity lies in how simple it is."

"And then it's up to the performer to figure it out," I nod, leaning against my desk as I look at the assassin, feeling a smile creep on my lips. "There's something kind of beautiful about that, you know?"

"Indeed," he says. "I confess we never did get an opportunity to introduce ourselves in the... rush when I arrived."

I shrug. "No problem," I say. "I take it you're Thane Krios?"

He simply nods in reply. "And you are...?"

"****** *********," I reply. "I go by Art most of the time." I'm a fan of yours, Mr. Krios. God damn it, I wish I could say that.

"A pleasure then, Art," he replies.

I nod at this, bringing my viola down from my shoulder as I hold it up against my body, my hand wrapped around the neck. "So how did you find out about human culture?" I ask. I've always wanted to ever since he quoted Thomas Hobbes, so yeah...

"I had a contact a couple of years ago," he says. "The target was a wealthy man on Earth. He was the head of some red sand operation down there, and an officer had hired me to eliminate him. So I journeyed there and did the job successfully. However, I could not help but note all of the knowledge he had there..."

His second eyelids nictate, and then he seems to get lost somewhere. "_The scent of old pages in the air,_" he says. Oh, dear, here we go into his first solipsism. "_Shelves, lined with old things. Some dissolve in my hands. I take one. 'And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all'. A spark ignites in my mind. Flash of red, followed by a dot on my hand. Leave quickly._"

He blinks once, and then I raise one of my eyebrows. "I was... affected by it," he continues. "And so in the months afterwards I made myself acquainted with many things in human culture."

I blink at this, looking over to him. "What was that?" I ask, keeping in character. "That wierd thing with the rambling on?"

"Drell have... perfect memory," he states. "We can recall everything with perfect clarity. Sometimes, if we think about a memory enough, we can get... lost in it... I will call it a solipsism to make it easier on yourself."

Ah, yes, the perfect memory bit. "Of course," I say. "I didn't think Edgar Allen Poe would set off quite a level of interest in any alien species..."

"You would be rather surprised in that regard," he says. "It is a fascinating culture."

I nod. "So who else tickles your fancy aside from J.S. Bach?" I ask, deciding to go into it a little more.

"If you are asking about composers, then I must say I'm rather fond of the works of Edward Elgar and the French impressionist composers," he replies, folding his hands behind him. "Periods in general... I am quite fond of the Baroque era as well as certain late romantics."

Ah, so he's into more romantic music, then? "I see," I reply. "Always good to be on the more Romantic side of things. Just out of curiosity, what about the German romantics?"

Thane's second eyelids nictate rather briefly. "I will admit I do not exactly admire some of them," he says. "I am rather inclined to dislike Wagner, for instance."

I blink. "Oh dear..." I say, glancing to the side. Damn it, not Wagner. "I take it you don't like the 20th Century then..."

"I should not think so," he replies. "Why do you ask?"

I shrug. "Because you dislike some of the stuff I like most," I say. "But whatever." I give a rather quick shrug. "That's not important. You still like good stuff from where I stand anyways. What's your favorite Elgar, then?"

"Possibly the first symphony," replies the drell. "Yours?"

"The _Enigma Variations_," I reply. "I'll admit I'm not too familiar with Elgar's first symphony. Shame on me, you know?"

He blinks, his expression not changing. "Perhaps, perhaps not," he says. "From my understanding, you admire a different kind of music."

"Oh, yes," I reply. "Where I come in, the order of the day is Edgard Varése followed by a bit of Schoenberg and possibly some Mahler lieder before I go off and have a field day trying to figure out what the hell Stockhausen was trying to say with stuff like the helicopter string quartet and somesuch."

His second eyelids nictate briefly as he stands there. "Our tastes are very different, then," he replies. "But I do not object at all. You listen to what you like, and I would be a fool to try to convince you otherwise."

I raise one of my eyebrows at this. "Wow, I wish everyone had that attitude," I reply. "It'd make my life a hell of a lot easier, you know?" When he simply acknowledges this with a nod, I shift slightly, wondering something. "How did you get all the stuff from the older human cultures, anyway?"

"My contacts were very reliable in this regard," he states, only adjusting where his foot is. "Of course, I did some of my own searching, but most of the time they were able to assist me in this matter. I never imagined I would meet a human musician over the course of my life, however."

I shrug. "I know the feeling," I comment. "I never imagined I would be on the original Normandy helping to kick Saren Arterius' bony turian ass, either. And yet, here I am, helping Shepard. Again."

"Indeed," he says. "I must admit, the commander is an... intriguing woman." Oh, shit... I think he's getting attracted to her already. "I was wondering if you could tell me something about her. Something I don't know..."

... Like, Oh my god! "Of course," I ask, setting the instrument down. "What sort of things did you have in mind?"

"Small things," he says. "Perhaps unimportant things. But I would still be interested."

Oh, yes, I think I shall take the first step to bringing them together... while she's still technically with Kaidan. Hello, Ramona Flowers and Knives Chau! Oh, well. Kaidan's about to dump her anyway, I might as well get my start soon.

"Sure," I say, pulling the chair from the desk and sitting down. "Feel free to sit on the bed."

He tentatively sits on my bed after the gesture, but when he settles there we begin talking about Shepard. And as the conversation goes on, I begin to get a little more giddy. Thane is interested, at least from what I can tell. Intrigue might turn into something else... I should get Thane and the Commander to talk together sometime. Because when that happens, good times will be had. Even if he is set to die in real life, I think it'll do Shepard some good.

* * *

I had a pretty long discussion with Thane before we left each other to our devices. He really is a cool person to talk to, and I'm afraid it's only going to make my fanboying worse. Especially now that I know he likes Edward Elgar...

I probably should've mentioned that I played principal viola in the _Enigma Variations_ once. True story, too; I really did do it before I came over here. But alas, that's not within this universe. But it was still a great experience, mostly because Elgar's viola part was rarely ever boring. That, and being principal I got a pair of really nice solos out of the deal. But that was a bit ago, so now I'm just left doing stuff, I guess.

And now, I'm sitting at my desk, writing stuff. Damn it, I still can't get that poem about love right... I'm typing away with all the other poems, but damn it, that love poem is giving me such a big headache. And even thinking about Shepard and Thane isn't helping me at all! Good Lord...

I shake my head, and open up my notation program. I decide it's better to work on what I already have, so I fill in the accompaniment for the song about friendship. Now there I had plenty of incredible ideas, and I go about with a smile as I fill in the rather playful accompaniment. Lots of fun little things to do here... and...

I hear the door open for the second time since I've been in here. I turn to look at Shepard, who seems to be fairly calm right now. I nod to her and smile.

"Shepard," I say, turning my chair around slightly to look at her. "What's up?"

"Got a few minutes to talk?" she asks.

I nod at this. "Sure," I reply. "I was wondering something myself..."

"If I spoke to Thane?" she asks.

Wait... I blink, raising one of my eyebrows in reply. "How did you know?" I ask.

"He and I have been getting along rather well, I should think," she replies. "I am not sure... There is something... mysterious about him. It's really quite alluring..."

"I see..." I reply. "It seems like you two are getting along just fine."

"We make very fast friends, that is for sure," she says. "He's... sensitive. And something about my conversations with him is relaxing in the strangest ways. I find myself drawn to that. It's... meditative, in a way."

"Oh..." I acknowledge with a brief nod. "I can sense the beginning of something nice."

"So do I," she admits. "Only problem is it might not get past friendship."

I nod, licking my lips and lightly biting my lower lip. "Kaidan..." I say, knowing why she brought him up now. Shit...

The commander shrugs as she shifts on her feet. "I know where he is now," she says, and I can tell there's a bit of trepidation. "He's on a human colony. Horizon."

Oh dear. I know where this is going... "Let me guess," I reply, looking her over. "It's about to be attacked by the Collectors."

She nods gravely. "The Illusive Man told me that all of his intel points at that," she replies. "It scares me a little. I'm afraid for Kaidan's safety. And I'm also... I don't know what he'll say when he sees me again..." Wait, Shepard is showing fear? No way! She begins pacing around the room, her breathing a little more noticeable. "I don't know, Art. I've been dead for two years. How does any relationship work that out?"

... God damn it, I shouldn't have played matchmaker for Kaidan and Shepard back on the first Normandy. Maybe then I wouldn't have this dilemma to deal with. She's starting to fall in love with Thane, I'm sure of it, but the fact that she's still technically taken is suspect. The fact that I fucking _know_ what Kaidan's going to say to her doesn't make that knowledge any better. Shit, this is going to be a really bad mission. And if Shepard does something monumentally stupid afterwards, I'm not going to be surprised. I'll be shocked, but I'll see it coming.

"I... I really don't know," I reply. "We'll just have to see what happens and roll with the punches."

She nods. "I hope he'll accept that I'm taking a paycheck from Cerberus," she says. "I don't think he'll be too happy about it, but we're working for the good of the galaxy here. We don't have the time for petty disputes. I'm sure he'll see that... right?"

And for the first time, I really don't know what to tell her. Should I tell her... No, that would mean I'd have to spill the beans about myself. And I'm not up to doing that. So yeah... This is a tough call... I nod gravely, glancing at the ground before looking at her.

"Tell you what," I say. "Bring me on the ground team. And if worse comes to worse, I'll be right there. And if you need someone to vent to, you can come to Garrus or me."

She nods. "All right," she says. "I'll do that. And speaking of Garrus... he's not too happy about the detour."

"I can imagine he wouldn't be," I reply with a nod. "But it'll only be this one detour, right?"

"Yes," says Shepard, crossing her arms in front of her. "But at the top of my mind, Kaidan is my greatest concern."

With this, she nods to me. "Thanks, Art," she says. "You're an incredibly reliable friend."

I nod, cracking a soft smile. "Don't mention it," I reply. "It's good to be around here, Shepard."

And with this, she nods and leaves. As soon as she does, my smile falls, and I look back at my work. Damn it... I'm such a horrible friend. I should've just stopped her from falling for Kaidan... I don't know what I was thinking two years ago when I said 'ah, we'll let whatever happen happen.' Because now, the fallout is going to be incredible...

Shit, I should've just let her run...

I look back at my terminal, and suddenly find myself unwilling to work on the friendship song. I save my progress and close it before moving on to something else that's begging for my attention.

* * *

I compose a little bit more before I see it fit to wonder around the Normandy. Hm... I haven't checked in with Zaeed all that much outside of where he is. Might as well get to that now...

I walk over to where he is, and I find him leaning against the wall, his arms crossed as he looks at the area. Well... Everything's certainly laid out much the same way. The model of the turian frigate over there... Jessie laying on the table... And that sort of thing. As soon as I enter, he gives me a rather odd look, and then I go in and look around.

"Well, if it isn't the musician again," he says. "The musician who also freezes up on high bridges."

I blink, and violently whip my head around to look at him. "Oh, come on, I have a fear of heights!" I say. "That, and there was nothing protecting me from falling off."

"True, there's nothin' worse than a dead comerade," he agrees. "But still, did ya have to hide back there?"

I raise my eyebrows. "You try living on nothing but flat land for 19 years of your life," I reply. "You get really afraid of heights after that, let me tell you."

I walk into the room, feeling Zaeed's gaze on me. "Maybe, but I wouldn't let it get ta me," he says.

"Yeah, well, you're older than I am," I comment. "You've had more than enough experience not to get jostled by that thing. Me? The only thing I did was to kick the ass of a turian Spectre and get my ass handed to me on a silver platter by just about everyone else. You've been fighting wars for much longer than I have."

"Ya, that may be true, but you're not givin' yourself enough credit, I think," he says, uncrossing his arms. "It takes a hell of a lot of bravado to do what ya did two years ago. You joined a mission with no firearm experience and by the end of it managed to take down a Spectre. That's damn near close enough to all my 20 years of mercenary work, I tell ya."

I blink, moving over by Jessie. "I see," I say, standing right next to his old rifle. I glance down at the thing... Wow, the bloody thing is caked in dirt and grime and all that other pretty stuff. It's... kind of charming, in its own odd little way. "What's this?"

Zaeed starts a little, but when I place my hands behind my back he settles a little bit. "Don't touch," he says. "That rifle is older than you are, and it's killed more men than died in the Skillian Blitz. I call 'er Jessie..."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "Naming your rifles, eh?" I ask. "This one must've been incredibly dear to you..."

"She was the first gun I picked up," he says as he comes around. I can see him getting a little misty as he approaches me, his hand trailing lovingly down Jessie's barrel. "She didn't have much punch, but she was reliable as all hell. She'd been through a lot when I found 'er, but even then I never had to resight 'er once."

"Wow, that is a pretty reliable gun," I reply, smiling at the thought. "You must've been through a lot together."

"That we did," he said. "I took 'er everywhere. She was like a sister to me, she was. I remember her first kill. A turian arms dealer out of Omega. I ran miles through all this filth and rust to hunt him down. By the time I found 'im that gun was caked in two inches of the worst sludge you can think of. But Jessie wanted 'im dead as much as I did, so two shots, and he was dead."

I nod. "I'll bet the day you had to put her down was the saddest day of your life," I say.

"That it was," he replies. "I was takin' down this batarian slaver. I went through 100 mooks, never ejected a single clip. I get to the slaver, pull the trigger, and... nothing." His voice goes melancholic as he looks out the window beyond Jessie. "The old bitch had finally jammed. And after that, she couldn't be fixed. It's like she finally had enough blood." He looks back down at Jessie. "I'd give up every gun I own for one last mission with this shitty old rifle. I owe her everythin' about me." He's all misty and stuff... Aw, he loves something! A gun, but still.

He looks over to me. "I don't expect ya to get it," he comments. "Jessie and I had somethin' special. Somethin' you couldn't understand. She was like a sister, that gun. I still keep 'er with me even if I can't use it anymore."

I nod, looking down at the rifle. "I know the feeling," I reply, smiling and thinking of things back home. "Back on Earth, I knew this girl. We never actually met in person, but we had a hell of a great extranet correspondence. The two of us were oddballs in our society. We both loved stuff that was older than even our grandparents, and we both wrote things based on that, you know? She kind of became like a sister to me, too; I trusted her with stuff I wouldn't even trust my parents with."

I look out the window as I cross my arms. How to make this relatable to Zaeed...? Oh! I know! "She had this car," I reply. "It was this blue station wagon. A Chevy Malibu, I think the thing was called. From 2003, if I remember correctly. I don't quite remember what else was mentioned about the car, but she still treated it like something special. I still don't know how the hell she got it to work, but she did. She called it Boshi..."

Zaeed snorts upon hearing the name. "Boshi?" he asks. "What kind of silly name for somethin' is that?"

"I don't know, but it was a hell of a catchy name, so it stuck," I reply. "Anyway... She took that old car everywhere. Her twin brother ended up having to fix it all the time, but she still referred to it affectionately. I remember she'd make comments on various web pages about Boshi, and how she always freaked out whenever she got into an accident with that shitty old car."

I shrugged. "I found myself on the Citadel after one of those instances," I reply. "I still don't know the fate of that ridiculously old car. But I hope it was good, for her sake as well as mine. She loved that car dearly, kind of the way you feel for Jessie."

He nods at this. "Some things are so god damn strange," says the old merc. "Boshi... Jessie..."

I nod. "Attachments to material items are an odd thing indeed," I agree, crossing my arms in front of me. "I dunno. If I ever name something I have I'll be sure to let you know. Even if it does happen on the 12th of Never."

He scoffs at this. "I'm sure you'll find somethin' down the line," he says. "I didn't use to think I'd name anythin' until I found Jessie. Ya know what happened after."

"Right," I say, walking past him and towards the door to the rest of the ship. "Lucky charms are always awesome. I'll see you around Zaeed."

"Same 'ere," he says. "Don't fall off anythin', ya hear?"

I blink, knowing what he's making fun of indirectly. "I'll keep it in mind," I say, continuing to walk out of the room, not wanting to touch on the fact that I know he's talking about the bridge of the Dantius towers.

So I simply walk out, and I feel strange about having talked about Jessie and Boshi in the same conversation. Seriously, what give?

* * *

I find myself over at Jacob's work station after a little bit, where he's busy at work calibrating his rifle. Or picking at oversized nails. Depends on whether he's actually a werewolf or not. Speaking of which...

"Heyo, Mr. Taylor," I greet.

He doesn't seem to move as he hears me, but he does spare me a glance back. "Mr. *********," he replies nonchalantly. "How are you today?"

"Fine," I say. "Well... except that I don't think Zaeed will ever let me live down the whole 'fear of heights' fiasco..."

He chuckles at this. "That was a little troublesome, I have to admit," he says. "Speaking of which... I hope you're feeling better after that?"

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine now," I reply. "And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have freaked out if I saw something that could help keep us from falling off. Living on a flat place all your life does that to you."

"Indeed," he says. "I'm sure you came here to talk about more than your fear of heights though..."

I nod, smiling as he works on the weapon still. Always so formal. "Well, Mr. Taylor, I actually had a question I wanted to ask," I say. "A silly question, probably, but one that I'd like to see answered anyhow..."

"What is it?" asks the armoury chief.

I cross my arms. "If you had a choice of being a vampire or a werewolf, which one would you go with?"

I don't see so much as I hear the pause after this. He glances back to me for the first time in the conversation, and he gives me the only real expression of confusion I've ever seen him give. He turns around, his expression still knit in a confused way as he leaned against the table.

"Why are you asking me that?" he asks.

I shrug. "If I told you, you probably wouldn't get it," I reply. "Probably me being silly, but... I'm just curious is all..."

Jacob raises one of his eyebrows, still retaining the rather confused expression on his face. "You're not going to leave me alone until I answer, are you?" he asks.

I wink at him playfully. "Maybe, maybe not," I reply. "But definitely leaning more towards maybe at the moment."

He closes his eyes and lets out a small sigh. "This is embarrasing," he mutters, his fingers tapping against his arm, thinking. I tilt my head as I wait for his answer. Finally, he uncrosses his arms and stands fully upright. "If you must know, I would go with vampire."

... _Vampire?_ "Really?" I ask. "Why vampire?"

"I'm not sure," he admits at first. "But you have to admit there is something rather... interesting about only being able to come out at night. True, I have to live on blood for the rest of my life, but I think it would be nice to sleep in a coffin during the day. Why the confusion?"

I bring my hand up, and I bite my lower lip to keep myself from smirking. "You look like more of a werewolf type to me," I comment. "I mean, you get to transform at night, run around like a wolf..."

"The transformation is probably painful, though," he replies. "I don't think I'd like that."

"Yeah, but it beats almost burning to death every time you come into contact with UV radiation," I point out. "That, and you become a wolf! Wolves are badass!"

Jacob blinks at this. "They're also extinct," he replies.

... Oh... Right... "Well... _were_ badass... anyhow..." I say, remembering that they went extinct at least 2 years before the turn of the 22nd Century. "But still, you get my point." Besides, we already have a black vampire in the form of that one Bob Marley wannabe who's probably really from Haiti.

"I just don't like the thought of turning into an extinct species," he comments. "If it's fictional, I'd prefer to go with whatever is not already dead. That, and I don't like the fact that I lose myself completely to instincts."

"Well, you forget that werewolves aren't completely wolven," I reply, crossing my arms. "So you get superhuman agility. And besides, you can get lost to instinct if you're a vampire too. The blood lust can drive you mad."

"Still," replies Jacob. "I wonder if animal blood would cut it. Or maybe I could even be a vegan vampire. It would be interesting to see what would-"

"Uh, no, it would not," I interrupt nervously, biting my lip. "Vegan vampires are idiotic. I hear that if you're a vegan vampire, you sparkle."

He blinks at this, not entirely sure what to say to this. It's silent in the armoury for a few seconds as he processes this last bit of information in his head. Finally, he frowns, shaking his head.

"You're right, that does sound idiotic," he says. "All right then... animal blood it is."

I cross my arms. "You never know if that'll cut it," I reply.

Jacob shrugs. "Still, I prefer vampire," he says. "I take it you're a werewolf kind of man?"

"Yes," I reply, shrugging and smiling a little bit. "Definitely werewolf. I was just curious to see where you stand."

"And I'm even more curious to see why you wanted to ask me that," replies Jacob.

I nod at this. "Fair point," I reply. "But that's reasons for me to know and you to find out. Just know that I was a little curious."

"Right," he says. "I'll hold you on your word for now. But know that it's a strange question and that I don't feel comfortable thinking about what this means."

... Oh dear, I just spawned a new Kaidan Alenko on the Normandy, didn't I? Oh dear. This is going to be fun. Maybe not, but still. We'll have to see what comes of this. Maybe he'll come to trust my motives anyway. I hope so. Because then that will be good.

"Right," I say. "Anyhow, I should let you get back to work. I'll see you around Mr. Taylor."

"And I as well," comments Jacob, turning around and turning his attention back to the firearm in question.

Yep... I've definitely made someone suspicious. Nice job breaking it, Art. Ah, well, hopefully Tali will be the only one who knows about who I really am by the time we get to the Collector base...

Wait, what am I saying? These are the same exact things I suspected Kaidan would do, and yet he never did it. Maybe Jacob is just another Kaidan Alenko waiting to happen. Maybe it's that in addition to being named similarly after that one werewolf guy. Ah, well, I'll never figure that out until later down the road...

As I walk through the halls of the Normandy, my mind wanders to Tali. I wonder how she's doing on Haestrom right now. No doubt she's working hard, and always hoping for things to turn out in her favor. I hope she's all right at the moment. I know she'll be fine once the geth start to show up. I wonder what sort of experiments she's doing on the sun over in Haestrom. And why would the Fleet need it, anyway? I'm not sure.

But I hope she's keeping herself safe. I'd really love to see her again, and it would be a shame if she died before her dossier mission. And plus, it would be nice to have another familiar face around the Normandy aside from Garrus and Shepard. Well... visor, but still. I'd really like to talk to her again...

God damn that lack of comm buoys in Haestrom's system! Ah, well... hopefully we'll see her soon, and I'll get to give her a nice, big hug when I run into her. But not too big. After all, people will say we're in love... And we're not... right?

* * *

Speaking of Tali, I think I should get to know the two Cerberus engineers of the Normandy. So I head down to the engineering deck, hoping to see Ken and Gabby in one of their classic vitriolic best buds/possible lovers conversations. Either way, I'll be seeing a lot more of their faces once Tali comes aboard, so I might as well make myself friendly to them. Plus, it'll be a good way to see how badly I fail at Skyllian 5 poker when they start playing it.

I walk over to engineering, and sure enough I see Ken on the right and Gabby on the left. They're both typing away at their little console thing (or whatever), and they both seem fairly engrossed in their work. They actually don't know I'm standing there until Ken turns and raises an eyebrow, prompting Gabby to do the same. Gabby gives a look before mumbling somethign and turning around.

Ken isn't so inclined. "Oh, I don't believe I've seen ya around these parts, sir," he begins.

"Relax, I'm not the commanding officer," I reply, holding my hand up. "The name's Art *********."

At this, Gabby turns her head around violently, her eyes wide. "Wait, *********?" she asks. "Like the composer?"

... Oh, dear, I have fans. Run for the hills!

"Uh... yeah," I reply, bringing a hand up behind my head and ruffling the hair back there a little bit.

Her smile is incredibly broad after this, and then she turns around. "Algorithms can wait," she says, turning to face me. "I'm a huge, huge fan of your _Last Days of the Earth_ score! I have the official soundtrack downloaded to my omni-tool! I even got the score! It's a little nerdy of me, but I like it a lot anyway!"

I cross my arms as I say this. "Really?" I ask. "You bought something you can barely read because you like it so much?" Jeez, she's more like Ken than she's willing to let on!

"Yeah, man," says Ken, gesturing with his hand as he too turns around. "She obsesses over it greatly. It makes me a wee bit afraid for myself sometimes, I should say."

I smile at this. "Well, if you have an old writing implement, I could probably sign the datapad it's on," I say.

She's positively beaming by this point. "You would?" she asks. "Oh, that would be awesome!"

"Great," I say, winking. "We'll see what happens then..."

"Are you sure it's a good idea, Mr. *********?" asks Ken. "This can't lead to good things, I think."

"Oh, hush, Ken," replies Gabby. "It can't be that bad, right?"

Okay, frankly, this is getting a little frightening. Ken was supposed to be the slightly insane one, and Gabby was supposed to be the more sensible one. It's almost like my being here means they've had a complete role reversal. What the hell is this?

"Yeah, there's nothing really bad about that," I comment. Need I bring up Conrad Verner to show a case of why Gabby's fangirlism isn't such a bad thing? "Besides, it is only a score."

"Yeah," she says. "But still, I really like it."

"Thanks," I reply. "So... what do you guys do around here?"

"We're the engineers," says Gabby as she gestures to the console she was working on. "I'm Gabby Daniels, and this is Ken Donnely."

"Pleasure to meet ya, Mr. *********," says Ken.

"Likewise," I reply. "I've got a lot of respect for you guys. My dad was a medical engineer."

Gabby looked at me in surprise. "A medical engineer?" she asked. "And yet you're a musician! What's up with that?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story," I replied. "To make it short, I was a huge Rodgers and Hammerstein fan as a little boy, I played violin when I was seven, and it just kind of took off from there, you know?"

"Rodgers and Hammerstein?" she asks. "Who're they?"

I blink. "You mean you don't know their musicals?" I ask. _"Oklahoma_? _Carousel_? _The King and I_? _The Sound of Music_?"

"I don't think so..." she says.

I facepalm quickly, shaking my head and looking back at her. "For shame!" I reply. "You're missing out, Gabby! Go get a hold of those vids and watch them when you can spare some time!"

She only nods briefly at my impassioned statements before she blinks. "Okay," she says.

"Yes," I reply. "But I always have respect for anyone who makes sure things go according to schedule. I take it you have to put up with a lot of crap."

"Oh, you have no idea," replies the Scottish engineer as he crosses his arms in front fo him. "It's insanity."

"But I'm glad you appreciate our efforts," adds Gabby. "More people need to have that attitude towards us."

I frown slight. "People shout at you?" I ask.

Ken and Gabby spare each other a glance before looking back to me. "In our old postings," replies the female engineer. "This is actually an improvement. The commander is really great."

"I see, I see," I reply.

Ken nods at this. "I get the feelin' you're not here to talk about stuff like that, though," he says, hoping to change the subject. "What brings ya down here?"

I shrug. "Oh, I realized I haven't seen the entire ship yet," I reply, deciding to save the Tali conversation for when she actually shows up here. "So I thought I'd do that while we're heading to this colony. And I'm guessing this is the engineering deck, right?"

"Yep," says Gabby. "We manage the drive core down here. It's really tiring, though, so we never go up to the other decks."

"For shame..." I comment, shaking my head. "It sounds like you guys could use a breather every so often."

"Yeah, mate," agrees Ken. "We've got too much to do down here sometimes. It gets a bit crazy, you know?"

"Ken, I think you're overreacting," replies Gabby, and I can hear the slight disapproval in her voice as she says this. "It's not that complicated."

I shrug at this, knowing it's in Ken's power. Need I remind you of that one conversation you two have when Tali shows up and your Shepard is a girl? "Yeah, that's easy for you to say when I do all the hard stuff," replies Ken as he turns back to the console.

I roll my eyes. "I don't know what the hell makes making sure a drive core functions properly such hard work," I comment.

"It's tough when you don't have any reference," admits Gabby. "The original Normandy was a prototype, as I'm sure you know. This is building off of that even more. And we're struggling to keep up."

"We usually only need two people down here," he says. "But we're fallin' behind. Fast. We're gonna need some more help down here soon, I can feel it."

Well, I hope we pick up Tali soon, then, because that'll come as a major help for both of you. "Well, let's hope we can find you a third engineer," I comment.

"I'm hoping for that too, actually," says Gabby as she turns back to the console. "When should I get you the datapad for you to sign it?"

I shrug as I shift my feet a little. "If I'm not wandering the Normandy, you can find me by Life Support," I say. "Knock on the door, and if I don't answer leave the datapad there."

"All right," she says. "Thank you for the signature in advance!"

"No problem," I say, smiling. "I hope I get to see more of you two in the near future!"

And with this, I leave them to do their engineering work. As I walk back to the elevator, I think a little bit about something. Joker's gonna pass through here when he has to save the Normandy from the Collectors. So how does that one husk end up around here? I don't know, and somehow I don't really think it matters all that much. Poor, poor Joker is going to have to see a psychiatrist once the day is done.

Either way... I wonder what else there is to do around the ship... Maybe I should check in with Joker soon. Yeah, I definitely should check in with Joker. There are jokes to be exchanged and all that jazz.

* * *

I walk over to the pilot's chair, and notice the chair swivel around a little bit. I look down at Joker, and then he nods.

"Hey Art," he says. "How're you doing?"

"I'm fine," I reply.

He nods at this. "You know, you don't really look like the kind who's afraid of heights," he begins.

I freeze up at this, feeling every muscle in my body suddenly go rigid. I look at him, and before long my right eye starts to twitch.

"Et tu, Joker?" I ask.

"Hey, don't look at me," replies the pilot. "I just heard about it from Shepard."

"Indeed, Serviceman *********," adds EDI. "There should be no cause for alarm, if you are thinking that Mr. Massani was the one to blame for this."

I raise one of my eyebrows at EDI. "Right," I reply, crossing my arms. "So how about this? For every time you bring up my fear of heights, that's one extra limb I get to threaten with breaking. With the air."

"Such a venture would prove to be impossible, Mr. *********," replies the ship's AI.

"I know that, EDI," I reply, shaking my head and rolling my eyes. "It's called 'a joke'."

"A bit of a sadistic one, but still a joke," comments Joker as he glances over to EDI's terminal. "Seriously, EDI, you should lighten up a little bit.

"I do not see the point of trying to 'lighten up', as you put it, Mr. Moreau," replies the AI.

I let out a long sigh, my upper body leaning forward slightly. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff," I reply. "Joker, mute button!"

"I would-"

And just like that, EDI is silenced. Joker shakes his head at the EDI port by his chair, crossing his arms as he then beholds me. I myself shake my head before glancing back to Joker. "Seriously, man," I continue. "She's always derailing our conversations one way or another."

"I'm trying to teach her how to make jokes," replies the pilot. "I don't think it's going so well."

"I can tell," I reply. "She lacks the ability to detect jokes right off the bat. This does not bode well for any of us, I tell you."

He shakes his head. "But anyway, I wonder if you had something you wanted to say...?"

Hm... I don't remember what I wanted to say anymore... Yeah, this was a bit of a problem. Uh... what do I...?

Oh, wait... Damn... Well, if that happened, I can drag Joker down with me. So here we go.

"Well, I just lost the game," I reply smugly, crossing my arms as a smirk comes on my face. "So there we go."

He blinks, and from his look of seeming shock I can tell he definitely wasn't expecting it. He scrunches his face slightly, confused about it. And finally, he just shakes his head.

"Damn it," he mutters. "I thought you were done with the game when you introduced it to Wrex on the first Normandy."

"Yeah, well, old habits die hard," I reply, a playful smile tugging at my lips. "I'm surprised that you play the game in the first place."

Joker shrugs at this. "You know how it is," he replies. "It's fun seeing reactions to losing the game. Well, when they're not threatening to break your bones, that is."

I shrug. "Eh, whatever," I reply. "Either way, you have lost the game."

The pilot looks over to me once before glancing to the side. "You're not planning on introducing it to Grunt, are you?" he asks.

My resulting smirk is more evil than it has any right to be. "Yes, yes I am, actually," I reply. "I'm going to wait until he likes me, though. Because right now, he thinks I'm a whelp. My fear of heights doesn't help."

"Yeah, I imagine it wouldn't," he says. "How come it only came out just now?"

I shake my head, my arms still crossed as I lean against the wall by the pilot. "You try walking on a high bridge with winds throwing you about everywhere with no guard rails. That would be any acrophobiac's worst fear."

The pilot nods his agreement. "I see, then," he says. "Well, at least you didn't fall off. It would've been a sad day for all of us. Especially Shepard; it means a lot for her to have people she knows on this ship."

"Yeah, I can imagine," I reply, looking out. "How do you think Kaidan's going to react to all this?"

Joker shrugs where he sits. "Honestly?" He asks. "I wouldn't be surprised if he got pretty pissy. I want to tell Shepard, but I can definitely do with no broken arms right now."

I nod, looking out to the stars. "I know the feeling," I reply. "I just don't want to mention that to her at all. I don't think Kaidan will agree with her." It's all true, too, as I know it's happening. "But... I really wish he could. It would be great for the commander's mind." And bad for my Thane shipping. But that's besides the point. "I just hope he'll at least be willing to consider her side when the going gets tough."

"If he doesn't, I might just have to break him," he says. "Somehow."

I shake my head. "Joker, leave that to me," I reply, gesturing to myself. "I have less of a chance of getting every bone in my body broken."

"Oh, sure, leave it to the Serviceman," says Joker, waving his arms around. "Because Staff Commanders always listen to their grunts!"

"That'll just make the shoutdown more classic," I reply. "Because if you're willing to abandon someone you care for deeply because of Cerberus, it's going to be epic anyway."

"Can't argue with you there," replies Joker. "Just, good luck down there. It might get bad."

I nod in reply to this. "I'll be careful, Joker," I say. "And I'll be back on the Normandy in time for dinner."

"Hah," he says, waving his hand. "If you're not back by lunch I'm making a joke about your fear of heights."

I raise my right eyebrow, clearly not amused. "And if you dare, I'm breaking your arm," I reply. "With EDI. More specifically, that little volume thing that expands when she talks."

And with this, I tilt my head to the side, letting Joker know the conversation is over. With this, he leaves a small 'see ya' before turning the chair back around and hitting the mute button again. I walk away, thinking about Kaidan and his reaction.

It's not going to be good, I know it. But something's bugging me. We never see Kaidan after that one point in Horizon. So... I wonder if we're ever going to bump into him again. If we do, then it might be appropriate to actually give him a shoutdown about why he abandoned her. Especially if he calls Shepard out on moving on. After all, he brought it on himself.

But still... I hope to God it deviates from canon in terms of Kaidan. Because if it doesn't, we'll all be incredibly sad pandas over here. Especially Shepard. And I'm afraid for how she'll really react to Kaidan outright rejecting her.


	8. Chapter 7

_A/N: All right, welcome back. Last time, we had more squad and crew interactions, so fun times were had with the whole lot__._

_But now, it's time to get back into action on Horizon. I think we all know how Kaidan's gonna react, right?_

_So instead, I'm throwing a couple of curveballs there. Remember Jenny McKansa from Chapter 1? Well, she returns to Mass Vexations, and this time she joins as a regular cast member. And then, during this chapter, I have a major surprise lined up in terms of a character that's going to show up for seemingly no reason. His entry will be explained, but... well, I'll leave it to you to figure out._

_So here we are. Let's get started, shall we?_

* * *

Chapter 7: Horizon

My dream woke me up again, and then conveniently it woke me up right before EDI told me to go get my ass down to the shuttle after suiting up. So I suited up, tied the cloth around my arm, and prepared my pistol, my shotgun, and my assault rifle. I don't think I'll go with sniper this time; you never know who's going to end up on the ground team, so I decide I'll play it safe for now.

So I go down to the shuttle, and I see Garrus, Jack, and Thane are all there as well. Huh, I notice Miranda hasn't been on a mission yet. This'll be good for Jack and I, I think. Either way, I figure this'll be a good mission.

And despite that, the ride down is silent. There's some kind of strange tension in the air. We all know Shepard's boyfriend is down there, but Garrus and I are too afraid to talk lest Kaidan come up, and Thane is too busy meditating to mind. I can see it's greatly annoying Jack, though, who's constantly shifting about in her chair. Shepard's in the cockpit again, not minding us as we sit in silence. I take a breath. Jesus Christ... I wonder what else is going to be found here... Well, I know we'll encounter Harbinger and one of those scion things for the first time, but otherwise I'm not really sure. And it's scaring me a bit.

I take a breath, my mind suddenly wandering to Jenny. The poor girl is still here on Horizon. And when we get there, will she already be on the Collector ship? I hope to God she isn't. Because that would be awful. Plus, I did give her a warning. It would be crazy to have given her a warning only for it to not be useful in the end... I hope she's all right.

I see Jack shift around, and she crosses her arms. She looks annoyed, but I can see she likes the silence. She looks like she doesn't want to broach the subject at hand, but at the same time...

I glance around to Garrus and Thane before turning my attention to Jack. "You wanna say something?" I ask.

She frowns, looking over at me. "You all look like you're going to a fucking funeral," she states bluntly. "What the fuck happened?"

"A lot," I reply, shaking my head and looking out to the door. "Trust me, Jack, we're not looking forward to this."

"Human colonists may be abducted today," continues Thane, not moving an inch from his position. "As well, an old friend of theirs is on this colony. Perhaps that is what worries him."

Garrus nods. "And me," he says. "I don't know about you, but I don't like it when good friends of ours are in danger."

"So?" asks Jack, bringing one of her legs close to her. "It's only a fucking mission. We go in, take them all out, everyone is happy, right?"

I breathe in, shaking my head. "I wish it were that simple," I reply. "But what if we don't save everyone? What then?"

"Oh, now you're just bein' a pussy," replies Jack. I frown, bolting up violently as Garrus shifts his posture in curiosity. "You get like this, you get sloppy. It's that damn simple."

... Why did I suddenly think of Murtagh? "We know we can do it," replies Garrus. "We just can't help thinking about it is all."

"I think we'll be fine by the time we touch down," I reply, nodding.

"Good," says the convict as she leans back. "I'd hate to have you dragging us all down."

My frown intensifies as I look at her, but before I can reply Thane is speaking. "I am sure they would not 'drag us down', as you put it," he says. "But I can understand your concern. I would not be concerned about it. We will do our best."

I nod at this. "And whatever happens?" I ask, shrugging. "We'll just roll with the punches."

She simply nods at this. "That's better," she says. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to kick some Collector ass right about now."

I smirk, a silly thought coming to mind. Hell, I'll just say it. "I think you mean 'Collective' ass, yes?" I reply.

Thane simply stares at me as Garrus chortles in reply. Jack and Thane both regard me with nonplussed expressions, but especially Jack, who simply rolls her eyes and shakes her head. I raise my eyebrows in curiosity. What? It wasn't that bad a pun. Right?

"That's gotta be the worst pun I've ever heard in my entire fucking life," replies the convict.

"I must say I agree with that sentiment," adds the assassin.

It's Jack's turn to act surprised as she turns to the assassin. She simply shrugs, however, turning her attention back to me. "See, even lizard man over here agrees," she says.

"Yeah, so?" I ask. "It can't have been that bad!"

"I don't think so either," comments Garrus. "I laughed."

"Whatever," she says, and suddenly we feel a slight gravity shift on the shuttle.

Shepard steps out from behind the cockpit. "We'll have time to wonder about how bad that pun was later," she says. At this, my mouth hangs slightly agape. Really, Shepard? You think it's bad too? "We've got business to attend to."

As the shuttle door opens, she steps out, and we see the Collectors doing stuff. Oh, dear... Yes, we do have our work cut out for us.

I see Garrus draw his assault rifle. I pull out my pistol while seeing Jack grab her shotgun and Thane grab his sniper rifle. Shepard nods to us while drawing her own gun out and stepping out. I follow her and look out to the scene.

... Jesus Christ, the Collectors look even more creepy in real life! And the poor colonists... Shit... Their paralysis doesn't hide their fear. And it's terrifying to see them wanting to scream but unable to as things they don't know drag them away to their doom. And to think they get turned into genetic paste... That thought only makes it more frightening.

I look to each individual face, trying to make sure Jenny is okay as the Collectors drag people. Okay... No red hair, no red hair... Wow, is red hair rare in the future or something? Right... I don't see her. That means they haven't found Jenny yet.

I let out a small sigh of relief. Okay, they haven't gotten all the colonists yet. There's still hope for Jenny, and definitely hope for the others. We just have to move fast.

With this, we rush forward, and with a blue glow Jack sends some of the mooks levitating in the air.

All right, the mission has officialy begun. I cock my shotgun and fire at one of the collectors, very quickly rushing into cover. They're so startled by our arrival that Garrus is able to mow them down with assault rifle fire. As we see this, I can see Shepard quickly flying over to one of them in that biotic punch things she learned how to do over the past few years. I see Thane assume a position farther from the rest of us as he takes aim at one of the collectors Jack sent flying.

The biotic, for her part, is holding back, only popping out of cover when she needs to. I hear the loud report of a sniper rifle shot, and one of the collectors that Jack lifted seems to go limp. I see another one go limp from a distance, and I know that Thane is doing insanely good work. I see Shepard rush back from the biotic punch, firing her gun rapidly at the Collectors as they all scramble to get their stuff together. I come out and shoot at it with my shotgun, taking it out of commission as Garrus mows down a couple of collectors coming in.

This is really the only time we get to do stuff, for then I peer above and see more Collectors flying in. Huh, the start of the firefight must have alerted them to our presence. I see them flying in, but Thane is already on it, and he shoots down one of them. As another takes its place, he seems to quickly divert his attention, and then we see another one fall. Wow, Thane really is a damn good sniper. For the rest of us, though...

Garrus catches on quickly, and shoots another collector out of the air. I don't get to do much before we're peppered with fire, however, so I hide behind cover waiting for a break. When I hear another one, I come out and shoot one that's just about to land with the shotgun. It goes down pretty quickly, but my shields take a couple of hits, so I'm forced to retreat behind cover. However, I can see Jack is clearly having fun with this, as she's constantly coming out of cover and shooting stuff. I also see her toss the Collectors that are still in the air about like rag dolls, and one time I come out of cover and shoot a Collector from that. They all look appropriately dazed, thank God.

And while Garrus and Thane are taking them down from the air, Shepard is advancing slowly, seemingly checking around the colony to see how many colonists are gone. She fires shots into the Collectors eventually, and she helps take them down, gesturing us to follow.

Yeah, I take it Collectors are going to keep on rushing us now that real life has no spawn points. So we follow Shepard. Jack, naturally, is first; and while she's at it, she tosses a singlularity to throw a few collectors into the air. I follow after a short period of time, shooting one of the Collectors sent up by the singularity. Garrus follows, still keeping his sights set on the Collectors flying in, and then Thane follows behind very closely, keeping his distance to make his sniper rifle more effective as he too shoots Collectors out of the air.

Shepard and the four of us work our way through the squad in a similar manner. And as we go about shooting the Collectors, I notice how integrated we've become. There's a strange dance in how Shepard and Jack function with biotics. Garrus and Thane also both seem to be eerily aware of each other as they take care of the airborne reinforcements. I notice myself how well I'm coordinating myself with Jack's biotics, and how she always seems to move on to another enemy when she's thrown or lifted it, almost as if she's letting me take care of it...

It's kind of funny how much like a team we've become. Never mind the loyalty outfits for a second; those are the least of the reasons we'll be unified later. For now, we're just going about our rounds, doing things.

And we eventually get to a point where the Collectors are starting to come in a little less frequently. Garrus has now turned his attention back to the ground units, and Thane is still picking off the airborne reinforcements, though I think they've caught on and are now using ground reinforcements more as Thane has proven to be quite the crack shot. Fun times are had, I can tell you that much. Shepard's biotics are wearing out seemingly, and Jack's singularities are still only more effective.

I come out of cover again to take down a Collector rushing to Shepard. As this one goes down, another one gets mowed down by Garrus' assault rifle. Thane shoots another one out of the sky, and Shepard is all too happy to send a warp flying into a particularly tough-looking Collector. Yeah, we got this. Jack shoots it with her shotgun. I come out and fire another blast into it, and it goes down quickly.

Okay, only a few more Collectors. Shepard comes out of cover and shoots at the Collector, taking its health down visibly. Okay, just this and a few more. We've got it covered. And once we get this wave out of the way we can go rescue the colonists and-

"**_Assuming direct control._**"

...

_Son of a bitch!_

The only one whose head doesn't turn at this is Jack, who just popped the head of another Collector off. But even then she stares at the Collector as it gets taken over by a strange yellow kind of energy. It looks at us with renewed strength.

Oh, crap. Now we have to go through shields and armor... And we have to kill the others to make sure that Harbinger can't possess the rest... Shit...

The worst part is there's no way to mention any of that to Shepard without revealing myself... Fuck...

Damn you, Harbinger! I guess there's only one thing to do now...

I come out of cover and shoot a different Collector. It goes down rather quickly, dying as the Harbinger Collector rushes about and tries to get Garrus. The turian stays behind cover and comes out briefly, but his assault rifle fire doesn't seem to do a whole lot. The Collector simply glares at Garrus before pulling out a weapon and... Oh crap.

A laser beam shoots out then, and then it burns quickly through Garrus' shields. He cries out in pain before ducking back into cover, gripping his arm as I see the faintest trace of blue blood come out. I take in a deep breath. Yeah, I do not want to get hit by one of those lasers. Watching your health whittle away in the game was bad enough, but it's probably worse here. Thank God for medigel.

I see Jack attempt to lift it with biotics, but it doesn't seem to work. Crap, biotics don't work on these things... Damn it... This doesn't even make any sense! Biotics worked on Harbinger in the game, so why not here? She simply fires her shotgun before the Collector turns its head on her, the laser flying in a wide arc. Apparently, seeing what it did to Garrus has the same effect, as she then ducks behind cover as the beam dies out.

Right... I come out of cover at the same time Shepard does, and we both fire shots into the Harbinger. My shotgun doesn't seem to do much, but it's working... Right until I see him fling a biotic singularity at me.

Shit! I drop down behind cover, my feet sticking out as the singularity narrowly flies over my head. It flies off before colliding against a wall of a building within the colony, harmlessly impacting. Thane gives a worried glance from where he is, however, and now that I know where he is...

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, that was close," I say, quickly huddling back into cover as Shepard ducks to narrowly dodge a warp. Jeez, should've seen this coming. Right... if I have to deal with more than one of these things it'll be a pain. I look to Jack who's close by and nod.

"You think we should take out the others first?" I ask.

"Don't see why the fuck not," she says, her hand glowing biotically. "Let's see these babies dance!"

And with this, she flings out a singularity to the rest of the Collectors, who are then flying in the air. I cock my shotgun from behind cover and fire at all of them. Thane is quick to act on this, and then one by one we manage to pick off the remaining Collectors. Shepard is left to deal with the Harbinger, which is really going wild with it firing its laser gun at her and everything. I remember the others, and thus take them down quickly.

I then turn my attention back to the Harbinger Collector as Garrus is still nursing his wound (although it looks like he's applied medigel by now). Right, I think it's time to do stuff. I come out of cover and shoot at it with my shotgun. Well... It doesn't look like its being deflected, which means that at least its shields are down. Okay... This shouldn't take so long. I cock my shotgun again and fire at it, and I can see some of the glow fading away. Okay, a few more shots should do the-

I don't see the singularity-type thing rushing at me until it hits. I stagger back then, coming away from my cover. Fuck! I should've seen it coming! Jack sees this and fires a shot at it, but it doesn't stop it from aiming its gun at me...

...But right before he can pull the trigger, the yellow light finally dies, and then I see that the Harbinger Collector has gone down. I feel just the slightest bit strange from the biotic attack, and blink tentatively as a brief feeling of disorientation comes over me. Oh, no... Just stand in place and it'll be all right... I bite my lower lip as I ride it out, and after a few seconds I feel normal again. I look around to see the Harbinger Collector dead on the ground, along with every other Collector in that wave. Okay, good, no more Harbinger units coming out to attack us. That would be a really bad thing if there was more.

I let out a sigh of relief, my shoulders drooping slightly as I do this. I see Shepard rushing over to Garrus, with Thane following suit. I decide this is probably best, and Jack follows along shortly after as we all kneel around him.

"Are you all right, Garrus?" I ask.

"I'll live," he says. "But spirits does it hurt. You don't want to get hit by one of those things."

"Yeah, that was one nasty motherfucker," comments Jack, looking back out to where the corpse of the Harbinger Collector laid. "What the hell was that shit all about?"

"I don't know," says Shepard. "But whatever it is, those things always spell trouble. And I have the feeling that if there's another Collector, it'll probably have the same thing happen if that one thing goes down."

I glance at it. Huh, that's one less explanation I have to give. "This will be a difficult mission," says Thane.

"Thank god for Mordin's counter-measure, then," I reply. "We have enough problems with the Collectors and now those posessed Collector things. I'd hate to see what would happen if we had to deal with a seeker swarm as well."

"Right," says Shepard, looking out over cover. "We don't have much time. We still haven't killed all of the Collectors, and we still haven't found Kaidan. Let's get moving and see what we can do to get the Collectors out of here."

And with this, she stands up. Garrus does so, and we can see the medigel doing its work on his arm. Thane, Jack, and I follow wordlessly after, but our weapons are still drawn as we move quickly about the colony.

* * *

After a little bit, we come across a garage. We enter, and things go dark. Hey, isn't this where we come across that one guy? Yes, it is, isn't it? I hope he's here, he gives a lot of really nice info... And no sooner do I think this when I hear the click of someone inserting a heat sink into a gun.

The five of us turn to each other, and look towards the source. We advance forward, and then we see someone slam the hand down.

"Jenny, are you crazy? Those things will hear us!" I hear someone whisper loudly.

Wait, Jenny... "Shut up, Wilbur!" comes the quiet retort. Wait... Light Irish accent...

Could it be...?

I step forward, letting my foot echo in the small space of the garage. "Jenny?" I ask. "Is that you?"

There is dead silence in the garage as only the sound of hard breathing is heard. "Art?" she asks. "Am I...?"

I look around the room, not seeing any sign of them except for stuff. Looks like they were in here when the Collectors attacked. "You're safe, Jenny," I reply. "We're here to help!"

Then, from a console immediately in front of us, I can hear the shuffling of something, and then I see a handgun fall out of the wall. Soon after, an older man comes crawling out, with a bit of a scuffle behind him. As he crawls out of the way, we see a woman come out, and as she rises and dusts her clothes off, we see that it clearly is Jenny McKansa. She offers me a weak smile as she beholds us, and then nods briefly to Garrus.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Oh, thank God she's all right. "You're okay," I say, looking at her.

"It's good to see your lot again too," says the former airship pilot. "We don't know what's goin' on, except that the colony's under attack."

The commander shifts slightly, looking over us as we all put our weapons away. "Well, at least you haven't been taken away yet." mentions Shepard. "Are you two all right?"

"Yeah, we're fine," says the man as he stands up slowly. "We were working in here on some aircraft when we heard the screaming. We didn't take any chances; we jumped into this hiding place that we made for occasions like these."

"You weren't doing a very good job of keepin' quiet, though," comments Jenny as she crosses her arms. "You would've given us away had it been anyone else!"

He shudders slightly. "You know what those slavers can do to you?" he asks the Irish woman. "They can do so many bad things!"

Wait, what? Shepard and the rest of the us exchange glances, and then we turn back to the two colonists. "You are a little presumptuous, I'm afraid," comments Thane.

"They weren't slavers," replies Shepard. "They were the Collectors."

At this, Jenny and the other colonist both give us confused looks. "The who?" asks the Irishwoman.

"The Collectors," I repeat. "They're this race of insectoid things. They've been attacking human colonies, and taking everybody there. They're the ones behind the attack on Freedom's Progress, and we got intel that they were attacking this place next."

"What?" asks Jenny. "You mean... that's why they had the laser tower set up?"

At this, the commander frowns. "What laser tower?"

"The Alliance was beginning to fortify their colonies with laser towers," replies the male colonist. "They had some Alliance person down here to make the final touches, some Kaidan Alenko or someone like that. Either way, these things started attacking before he could get stuff done."

"Kaidan?" asks Shepard. "Do you know where he is?"

Jenny shakes her head. "No idea," she replies, shaking her head. "He was outside when they started attacking. What's going on out there?"

Shepard is quick to reply. "Trust me, Jenny, it's bad," she says. "Have you seen any small insects here?"

"No," says the Irishwoman. "Why?"

I sigh in relief. "Good," I reply. "They're taking out these swarms of tiny insects to sting everyone. If you get stung, you get paralyzed. And then they take you away. Trust me, it's not pretty, and it's good to see there are some places that haven't been touched yet." I nod, shifting a little where I stand, placing my hands on my hips. "I'm surprised the bugs haven't gotten in. They're not stopping until every man, woman, and child is in their custody, and they'll do a sweep of the whole colony. Worst of all, we're the only ones that can do anything about it."

"And we're wasting our fucking time here," says Jack. "We need to get moving, like, now."

Jenny blinks at this, and then I see a look of abject horror on her face. "Oh no!" she says. "Gregor and the old man're still back home! I've gotta go find them!"

She bolts for an entrance, but the male colonist is quick to grab her. "Jenny, are you mad?" she asks. "You heard what they did!"

"You wanna get yourself killed, be my fucking guest," comments the convict, earning a glare of disapproval from Garrus.

"But I have to make sure Gregor and Sturge are all right!"

Well, I mean, she's just going off to make sure-

...

Wait...

Did I hear that right?

"Who?" I ask.

Jenny takes a few breaths in and out as she turns to look at me. "My brother's back home!" she says. "And we're takin' care of this old man... He's from Earth... His name's Michael, but we all call 'im Sturge because his last name is some complicated Polish thing, and we have to find 'em! We have to get 'em out of here!"

... What? No... There's no way in... Sturge is here? As in, Wagner fanbo... er... fanman Sturge? Jesus Christ on a pikestaff... This isn't possible! How did he get here? I thought he was in... No! This can't be right! But that means... What if it's not the same Sturge? This is... No... This is incredible!

"Sturge?" I ask, making my surprise apparent. "What the hell is he doing here?"

All eyes glance at me suddenly, and then Jenny arches one of her eyebrows. "What do you mean?" she asks.

I take in a deep breath. "If we're talking about the same 'Sturge', then he's an old friend of mine from Earth!" I reply. "Shit, this is bad... We've gotta help them!"

"What, you're bein' a pussy over all that?" asks Jack, a frown on her face.

I turn my head on her and frown. "You don't get it!" I reply. "I owe my career to that son of a bitch! I wouldn't have become a musician if I had never met him! And I'd be miserable in some office job on earth instead of doing what I love! I... We need to stop the Collectors from getting him!"

"They might get in the way, Art," says Garrus. "We have to drive the Collectors off of this colony."

I frown at Garrus, crossing my arms. "You think I don't know that, Garrus?" I ask. "But what if he gets taken away? What're they going to do to him?" If this is the Sturge I'm thinking of, there's no way in hell I'm letting him become liquified genetic paste. No-sir-ree.

Shepard takes a moment to look at Garrus and I, considering our two sides. She looks at my worried face, and I swear she can see sincerity there. She glances back at Garrus, seeming to take his words into consideration as she scratches her chin. And finally, she nods, shifting on her feet slightly.

"Garrus is right, but we can't just leave innocents out there," she says. "And I'm not about to let Art lose a friend. Do you know where they are, Jenny?"

Jenny takes in a deep breath. "Last I checked they were back at my house," she replies. "It's protected with a security system my brother invented, but what if they bypassed it?"

"We'll take care of it," says Shepard. "What about the turrets?"

"The turrets?" asks the male colonist. "They were just at the verge of being online. There's a laser tower in the starport that you can activate. If you activate the lasers, we might be able to save the colony. You have to be careful, though. They might take a while to boot up."

Shepard nods. "All right, here's what we'll do," she says. "Thane and Garrus, you two will be coming with me to reactivate the laser tower. Art, you'll take Jack and Jenny down there and see if you can't save any survivors. Save whoever you can, preferably these two, and head to the Starport once you're done. And be careful of the seeker swarms. They may be a problem."

Oh... Oh, okay, it looks like I'll get to see if this is the same Sturge we're talking about.

"So you're letting him go rescue his friend?" asks Jack. "What the fuck, Shepard?"

"The colony's our top priority, but if we can save even a few innocents it'll be better," she says. Best not bring up the fact that only 1/3rd of the colony gets taken away then. "We should get going."

I nod, pulling out my shotgun. "That we should," I reply, looking to Jenny. She nods, and then I unholster my handgun. "Here," I say to her. "You should probably use it this time."

She nods, taking the gun and checking it. I see Jack coming over from her side and frowning at her. "I don't think you've ever used that before," says the convict.

The colonist frowns in return as Shepard takes Garrus and Thane away. "You'd be surprised how attentive colonies are at trainin' their colonists these days, girl," replies Jenny. "Batarians are mean sons of bitches."

"Right," I say. I turn to the male colonist, who is still standing there as the other half of the team passes by him. "You should hide."

"Yeah, I should," he agrees, and then crawls back under the console, taking the handgun with him.

"And keep it quiet this time!" adds Jenny as he comes under it. "You may not be so lucky next time!"

He doesn't say anything as once again we're the only ones in the building, as Shepard, Garrus, and Thane leave the building. "So, how far away is your house?"

"It's not too far," says Jenny. "It's close to the center of the colony. I can lead you there."

I nod at this, then turn to Jack. "Right, you heard the lady," I tell the biotic. "Let's see where we have to go, and let's get our asses moving."

She cocks her shotgun as I pull out my own shotgun, and then smiles wickedly. "Right behind ya, kid," she says. "Just don't fuck up."

I shake my head. "Don't worry, Jack, I'm not gonna fuck up," I reply. "Now let's go!"

And with this, the three of us leave the garage, and Jenny takes her handgun in her hand as we advance into the colony. We run up to the same piece of cover, and Jenny takes her place next to me as Jack holds her shotgun against her. The colonist pokes her head out of cover, taking note of where she is before going back into cover and nodding.

"Okay, if we keep going this way we should be fine," says Jenny.

"Right," I say. Okay, I hope EDI overheard that, because if she did that'll be easier for all of us. I bring my hand up to my ear, the comm link to the Normandy opening. "EDI, give us a visual of the area."

There is a pause of a few seconds as EDI undoubtedly. "There are very few hostiles ahead," she says. "There are no seekers in the area, as there has been a sweep. I advise caution with Subject Zero and Ms. McKansa, however."

I nod at this. "Right," I say. "Okay, the coast is clear for now. We might find a few Collectors, so when you see them, gun 'em down."

And with this, the three of us set out, with Jenny unofficially leading us. I hang close to her as Jack maintains her distance. I don't want any stray seekers stinging her and making her dead weight, because that would be bad.

Right. We move along, and sure enough we see a Collector come out. Jenny dives behind cover just before bullets spray at her, and she stays down for the duration of the fire. Jack glows biotically blue for a second, lifting the Collector up into the air. As it flails about futiley, I cock my shotgun and shoot at it, and Jenny comes out of her cover and fires her gun. She doesn't stop firing until it's gone, and then it falls to the floor lifelessly.

I look to Jenny as she comes out of cover and rushes back to Jack and I. "You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says, glancing at what she just shot. We continue on, and her glance lingers on it as then we see two more come up. Jack and I fall behind cover, Jenny being quick to act on that as well as she comes next to me, Jack just behind us as she tosses a warp at one of the Collectors. "But those things are creepy!"

"Can't say I blame you there!" I reply as I come out of cover and fire my shotgun at the advancing Collectors. "These things have laser cannons, too."

"Really?" asks Jenny, her voice tinged in shock as one of the collectors drops dead from Jack's little warp. She comes out of cover briefly and fires at the other Collector, which goes down shortly after. "That doesn't sound good at all."

As we both peek out of cover and see that there are no more advancing Collectors, the three of us all come out of cover and continue on our way. "Trust me, it's as bad as it sounds, lady," replies Jack. "Damn things nearly burned Garrus' arm off."

"Yeah, that would've been extremely sad," I comment as we move along. "Let's hope the Collectors haven't gotten to your friends yet.

And we continued on, trading occasional banter as we came into cover the few times that we ran into the Collectors. Jenny is being overly careful, but she's doing her best in that situation. Thank goodness, because I don't want Jenny dying on us. We move quickly, the colonist clutching her pistol as we move about the colony...

...Which is actually pretty unremarkable. It's almost reminding me of a trailer park somewhere in the old US. An old trailer park that isn't there anymore, alas, but there it is. It just looks so dull, really, and I wonder why anybody would come here. At least with Eden Prime, there was the whole 'it's ridiculously fertile land' bit, but here there's really not a whole lot. But, then again, that's just me. Either way, it's pretty unremarkable.

So when Jenny rushes ahead to a trailer-looking thing, I look at Jack. We simply shrug to each other before running off to join Jenny. She stands at the door, looking at the doorway.

"Okay, we're here," she says, and her hands open up an interface on the door as she begins working. "They haven't breached the security yet, thank God."

Jack crosses her arms. "I wonder why..." she says. "This entire thing is too fucking easy."

I glance at her, crossing my arms and nodding my agreement. "I can't say I don't agree with you," I comment. "But we'll see..."

And right after I say this, the door lock goes green. At this, Jenny jumps up, and from that moment I know we're in trouble. She looks back to us with a look of horror on her face, and then she quickly taps the door open. Yep, this was too easy after all. Jack and I cock our shotguns and enter the house after the female colonist.

Sure enough, there are a group of about ten Collectors on the other side of the house, entering from another door. We come across a kitchen, and then we see a few of them enter. Ah, crap, they were waiting for us to take down the protocol! Damn it!

I take cover behind a kitchen counter, and look around. Jack rushes out behind a table. Thinking quickly, she turns it over, all manner of ceramics and silverware crashing onto the ground as she cocks her shotgun again. The first shots from the Collectors impact the table and the counter, and the sound of stuff shattering is mixed in with the gunfire.

Oh, goody. A shootout in the kitchen. If I had a tommy gun, I'd be back in the 30's, I'm sure. This is going to be quite strange. I cock my shotgun and shoot at a Collector, but I quickly notice that there are too many of them for me to be safe. So I fall back into cover, looking to Jenny who's resumed that position and isn't daring to come out due to lack of shields. I nod to her, taking a deep breath.

"Jeez, this is not gonna be pretty," I say, switching out my shotgun for my assault rifle. "Jenny, stay down. Let Jack and I handle this!"

She looks around the room quickly. Her eyes set on an area just behind the kitchen counter. "Don't worry too much," she says. "I can probably get the security protocols back running soon." Jack comes out of cover and fires her shotgun at one of the Collectors, before glowing biotically blue and ducking back behind cover. "Cover me!"

And with this, she rushes to an area just behind where I am. She goes down into a crouch, and then I see her go by what looks like a terminal. Oh, dear, we've gotta let her work. Well, hopefully she'll be fast about it. That'll always be a god-send for all of us.

Right. I come out of cover and fire my assault rifle into the crowd. Jack is already freeloading into it, and as Jenny works at getting the security system back online, the biotic tosses a warp in there. The warp affects the Collector it hits greatly, so I take it out with assault rifle fire as I feel my shields deplete. I come down behind cover and reload as Jack cocks her shotgun and fires.

As I look at the counter, I see there are all manner of things there. Hm... Maybe this would be a good time for improvised weaponry. Yes? Maybe? Okay, I'll take it as a yes. I see a steel coffee mug close to where I am, and quickly grab it as I come out of cover.

I start by throwing it at a Collector I only then notice has a laser gun. As Jack throws a different Collector to the wall, I lob the coffee mug at it... and I miss. But it's distracted enough by the display that its aim is ofthrown for a bit. With this, I pull the trigger on my assault rifle and refuse to let go. The Collector looks at us a little perplexedly, and as I finish my clip Jack fires a shotgun into it and it goes down.

I duck down behind cover. Okay... Of the group of ten, there were only five left, and two more have joined the fray. This must have been a trap. But no, Jenny wouldn't work for the Collectors like this. Besides, the only one that could possibly prove to be a problem in terms of loyalties to the Collectors is Cerberus, given what happens on that derelict Reaper and such.

I come out of cover again and fire my assault rifle at one of the Collectors. I hear Jenny silently say something, and then I feel her eyes at the back of my head.

"Okay, the security systems should be back online in about two minutes," she shouts over the incessant noise. "Keep covering me."

"Will do!" I reply without missing a beat.

I see Jack use a singularity on every Collector in the room then, all of them flying up in the air and around the kitchen. Damn... This feels like a movie. But no matter. I shoot my assault rifle at one Collector, taking it down as Jack concentrates her fire on another. We work by folding into the group, hoping the singularity won't die on us too soon. We work our way in, and four Collectors are down by the time we're finished.

When they get back up, we waste no time putting them all up to snuff. Jack and I concentrate on one of the remaining Collectors, and we take it down quickly before moving on. We see a Collector aiming for Jenny, but we do our best to distract it with our own fire. We quickly whittle away at it, the fire permeating stuff. Okay, just a little more, and...

"**_Assuming direct control._**"

... Oh, for the love of-

"Oh, fuck a duck!" I scream out, ducking behind cover.

But then, a ping sounds from where Jenny is, and all of a sudden these miniature turrets come out from all over the kitchen. One in the counter, one in the walls, one from the ceiling... I open my eyes wide at this.

"The security protocol is up!" she says. "Bye bye, Collectors..."

And with this, the turrets go mad with shooting at the Harbinger and the normal Collector. The normal one goes down first, not having very much health to begin with. When this is over, they fire on the Harbinger with everything they have. The Harbinger, to his credit, can figure stuff out, but he's getting his shields and armor depleted faster than you can say 'Jesus Christ'. I come out of cover, keeping in mind where the turrets are as I add my own assault rifle fire to this. Jack comes out and offers a shotgun blast as well, and then without so much as a thought, the Harbinger goes down. The turrets stop firing immediately, and there is a near deafening silence after everything.

I look around to see that the doors have locked again, and that I'm breathing harder than I have any actual right to. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, and then look to Jenny.

"God damn, that was close," I reply. "You think it'll affect everything else with leaving?"

"I hope it doesn't," says Jack. "I didn't come all this way to get my face blown off by Collectors."

"I hope they're all right..." comments Jenny. "If they're not-"

And as if on cue, a door very close to where Jack is standing opens up.

...

Holy shit. It's an old man standing there, now in colonist uniform not unlike Jenny's. He's a little flabby, he looks old, he's got a bald spot in his head, he's of medium build... But he's got that same face... That same face I remember from when I'd stop by his classroom during lunch every single day of the week when we started talking about Wagner and Mahler and Schoenberg and all those people...

We really were talking about the same Sturge...

I blink, my breath quickening as he looks over at all of us. I see his eyes bulge wide in shock as I see this... Holy shit...

"S... Sturge?" I ask, stumbling on my wording.

"Art?" he asks, clearly as shocked as I am. "What the hell are you doing here...?"

"It's... a bit of a long story," I reply, my hand settling behind my head. "Actually, make that a really long story."

He's silent as he looks around, shock evident on his face. Before he can comment much more, however, Jenny lets out a sigh of relief. "Sturge, you're all right!" she says.

He glances to her, blinking briefly. "Yeah, I'm fine," he says. "What the hell were those things?"

"They're the Collectors," I reply. "Long story, and we don't quite have that much time to talk about it. Where's Gregor?"

Sturge looked outside briefly. "He went out," replies the old man. "He told me to stay here as he went to go check what was going on. I had to activate the security protocol without him. I don't know if he's still out there..."

Jenny's eyes widened at this, and then she hugged herself. "No..." she muttered, horrified. "Do you think...?"

Shit... What if... No, don't think about that. We don't know if the Collectors have taken him, so he's probably not on track to become genetic paste... "We can't check that now," I say. "We've got more important things to worry about. If we find him, great, if not, we'll have to hope he's one of the colonists that isn't taken away." I turn to Jack and Jenny. "Would you mind giving Sturge and I a minute?"

Jack frowns, but before she can speak Jenny talks. "Sure," she says. "You can use that room."

And with this, I nod to Jenny. "Thanks," I say, walking towards the old man. He enters the room first, and then I follow shortly after. The door closes shut behind us, and then I look at him. Yes... He's really here, wrinkles and all.

No sooner do I do this than I pull the old man into a hug, my face resting lightly against his shoulder as the two of us stood there. I smell the familiar scent of... whatever the hell that is, it smells like onions and a hint of tobacco and all that other stuff. Yes, this is really Sturge.

Man... I never thought I'd see anyone from my home universe again. This just feels so incredibly good it's ridiculous. Sturge is here... And now I have one more person I can trust with myself right now.

"You're here..." I say softly. "I never thought..."

"You're here, too..." he says.

"Yeah," I reply. "I didn't think I'd ever see anyone from back home again. I spent over two years sitting in this universe, wondering what happened to everyone back home. You don't know how glad I am to see you again..."

He's quiet at this for a bit, not sure how to reply. But he still holds me there, and it feels like I've been transported to that incident towards the end of senior year where I got into the fight just outside of his room. At least this time we have the benefit of two years having gone by instead of a beatdown having just occurred.

"I'm confused as hell," he admits. "I never thought I'd run into an old student of mine here in this place. What's going on?"

The two of us part, and then I look at him. "It's a ridiculously long story," I reply, looking back at the door. "Do you remember what happened before you wound up here?"

"Yes," he says. "I was driving over to Tampa to do something over there. They were performing the Mahler 7th over there, and then I got into this freak car accident. I wake up, and the next thing I know I'm on this colony of Horizon and I don't know where I am or what year it is. The McKansas took me in, thank God, but they've been having a hell of a time trying to explain stuff."

"I can't say I blame you," I reply, shaking my head. "Mine was even crazier. I was trying to play a Satie piece when I had this acid trip that makes that one educational video with the talking hot dog look like it was sane. Only thing I had going for me was that I didn't need to have anything explained to me at all. Question. Did Natan ever get an XBox 360 or a gaming PC?"

Sturge shakes his head at this. "No," he says. "I don't think he even had interest in those kinds of things when I died. Why?"

I groan and shake my head. "Oh, dear, this is going to be a much longer explanation then," I say. "Long story short, a video game was released in 2007 called _Mass Effect_ which is exactly all this. In 2010, a sequel came out. We're in the sequel right now, and we're in the middle of the game."

"Yes, but what is it?" he asks.

"It's space opera," I reply with a hand gesture. "Trust me, I would know, I played the damn games."

"Wait, you played video games?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yep," I replied. "I guess you weren't expecting it. But then again, I didn't think you were into the original _Wolfenstein _all that much, so I guess we're about even now." I nod at this. I can see him open his mouth to reply, but I'm faster. "We're getting sidetracked. Think _Star Trek_, only with a sentient machine race that's going to commit galaxy-wide genocide if we don't do stuff well and alien races that for the most part don't look human at all. And a whole lot of other things. It's a hell of a universe; I'll have to explain a huge portion of it to you when we have time. But anyways, I'm with Commander Shepard, we've got a ship called the Normandy, and we're trying to stop the Collectors from doing stuff. And I think you should come along."

He nods. "Yes, that would be good," he says. "I don't want to amble along confused about where I am for too much longer. But is it...?"

"Uh... I can probably get you on the crew," I reply. "I've been here for two years, and I'm an old friend of the Commander. I'm sure we could get you on the ship."

With this, the old Polish man crosses his arms, and he nods his agreement. "Okay," he says. "I'll go with that."

I nod. "All right," I say. "And when I introduce you to the Commander, don't say _anything_ about where you're from. Let me handle it."

Sturge frowns slightly, blinking as he does so. "Why?" he asks.

"I already have a fake backstory," I reply. "They think I'm from Earth, and that you're an old friend of mine. So play long with me as best you can."

He nods at this. "All right," he says. "Though I'll admit it's not much of a stretch from what we were."

"Yeah, but some of the details will have to change," I point out. "Some composers don't exist here. All the major ones are here, but the rest of them... eh, not really."

"I see..." he says. "In that case, lead the way."

With this, I head towards the door. But before I open it, I look to the old man and nod.

"You know, it's nice to see someone from back in Miami again," I mention. "Makes me feel... happy, somehow."

Sturge can only chuckle at this. "You don't have any idea how refreshing it is to see you in all this," he replies, smiling. "I'm looking forward to seeing the state of music here."

I nod. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised," I comment.

And with this, I open the door. He catches on that our minute is over, and then I look over to see Jenny and Jack both standing there in silence. Jack is checking her shotgun, and Jenny is busy calibrating my pistol. They look as we enter, and then I look to them and nod. I bring my head up to my ear and open a comm link to Shepard.

"********* to Shepard, we've got one of the colonists," I say. "The other one is missing."

There is a brief silence before the reply. "Copy that, Serviceman," she says. "You should try to head to the laser towers. We're being swarmed here, and I have a feeling it's about to get a lot worse."

I nod at this. "Got it, Shepard. We'll be there as soon as we can," I say, bringing my hand off and looking to Jenny. "Jenny, what's the fastest route from here to the laser towers?"

The colonist looks out the window. "If we go where those Collectors came from, we should only be two minutes," she says. "Only problem is, it looks like there are all those bug things you warned us about."

I look outside, and indeed I see quite a few seekers swarming about. They're tiny little buggers; much smaller than they were in the game, but I can still see them the way I can see a mosquito on a hot summer day in Florida. Yep, this is not a good thing."Oh, dear, we've got seekers..." I reply, shaking my head.

"So?" asks Jack. "We just go right through 'em, and that's the end of that."

I shake my head against this. "Sturge and Jenny don't have Mordin's counter-measure," I reply, glancing outside. "With the amount of seekers there are here, it's only a matter of time before they become dead weight. And if that happens..."

I don't finish that sentence, but in a way, I don't need to. The gears inside my mind are working, but... Wait, it's not all that bad. Isn't there that one bit in the Collector base where you need the biotic to travel through? Yes... Yes, you do. If it worked with a greater number of seekers, then could it theoretically work there...? Yes... Yes it could.

"Jack," I say, turning to her. "Can you erect a biotic barrier that can go over all of us?"

She glances at me with a hard edge. "Yeah," she says. "Doesn't mean I'll do it."

I frown at her. "Jack, either we can all head into the action, or we can risk the Collectors running into the colonists," I point out. "And that's not a risk I'm willing to take."

She frowns at me, crossing her arms. "And why the fuck should I do it?"

"Because I'll show you how 'ballsy' this 'pussy' can be if you don't," I point out, causing Sturge and Jenny to glance at each other with confusion apparent in their eyes.

Jack blinks at this before shaking her head. "Fine, I'll do it," she says. "But only because I won't have to deal with bad jokes if I do."

Huh... Well, that's an interesting way of putting it. That's not actually what I meant by that, but hey, whatever works.

With this, we crowd towards the door, and I pull out my shotgun. After looking at Sturge, I nod to him.

"You ever handled a shotgun before?" I asked.

He frowns before shaking his head. "No," he replies. "Why?"

I nod at this. "Right, I'll give you a crash course then so you can defend yourself," I say, handing him the shotgun and a few thermal clips. "Okay, these are thermal clips. They go here," I say, pointing at the area where the thermal clips would go. "I'm sure you've seen how to shoot these things in older movies. Anyhow, when you think of the recoil, think of it going up like this-" I lift the barrel up at an angle where he's holding it against his arm "-, not like this," and I shove the shotgun back. "Got that?"

"I hope so," he replies candidly.

I nod at this. "Right," I say, pulling out my assault rifle as Jenny takes a hold of my pistol. "Jack, I'm opening this door. Let's synchronize it so the biotic barrier will go up the instant we're outside."

The biotic simply nods, and she glows blue a second. Jenny and Sturge crowd close to the door, and I'm in last. All right... "On the count of three..." I say. God, this is clichéd...

"One... Two... Three!"

With this, the door opens, and the four of us bolt outside quickly. Sturge and Jenny are out first, followed by Jack Sturge and Jenny stumble a little bit, but before the seekers can latch onto them Jack's biotic barrier is already up. I join them under the barrier, and then see the seeker swarms begin to attempt to rush us. But the seekers aren't penetrating the biotic barrier, so there's that at least.

"Right," I say. "Now let's hope there aren't any hostiles on our way to Shepard."

With this, the four of us advance forward, getting to the laser towers as quickly as we can.

We do run into hostiles occasionally, but it seems their main forces are concentrated around either collecting colonists or assaulting the laser tower where Shepard, Garrus, and Thane are. The few hostiles we run into, however, are a little tough to kill. But Sturge and Jenny are good about staying behind cover. Sturge is stumbling with thermal clips until Jenny ends up having to help him out, but even then she does it in good spirits. One of them had that strange laser gun that gave Jack a major run for her money with the biotic barrier, but it still holds as progressively less and less seekers assault us.

It's good practice for the Collector base, at any rate. She's doing an outstanding job of keeping the barrier up through everything, and she's good about keeping Sturge and Jenny close to her. Well, at least with this my worries that the biotic will be game for the barrier are not unfounded. She keeps going as we move through, taking down the Collectors quickly as we see them.

And it's surprisingly fast, as we eventually come out to where we see the last of a Collector horde coming out. We see fire being thrown at the Collectors, and then a biotic lift confirms that it's Shepard's squad over there. We see that the seekers have all but vanished by this point, but we know we might be in bad hands, so we quickly run across, taking down whatever Collectors and dodging whatever bullets we can as we rush right to Shepard's position. As soon as we get there, Jack lets her biotic barrier down, and then Sturge and Jenny are rushing in behind cover. The old man gives very shocked and confused glances at Garrus and Thane before I rush forward and come back behind cover.

"Okay, we're in good hands," I say, nodding to Shepard as Garrus guns down the last of them. "We don't know where Gregor is, but we found the old man. And he's the same Sturge, by the way."

Shepard turns to him in the silence and gives him a silent nod. "I see," she says. "I guess you want to bring him along?"

Oh. Well, that was easier than I expected. "Yeah," I reply. "You could probably make him assistant mess sergeant to help Gardner out or something. He's a damn good cook, or so I hear."

Shepard nods. "All right then," she says. "You're on."

The old man shoots a confused glance at Shepard. "Just like that?" asks Sturge.

"You're a friend of a friend," says the woman as she smiles softly. "Any friend of Art's is a friend of mine. I think you'll be more comfortable with him than on this colony that's been recently attacked, I can tell you that much."

He frowns slightly as he slowly hands my shotgun back to me. I nod and take the shotgun back, putting it away. "All right then," he says, finally smiling in acknowledgement. "I'm looking forward to seeing this ship."

The commander nods, and then I smile. All right, Sturge is comin' onto the Normandy as a crew...

Wait! Shit, what about when the Collectors attack the Normandy? Fuck... I should've thought of that! No... Shepard will probably get everybody's loyalty missions out of the way before we get that IFF. So we can head to the relay right away. But still, it scares me a little. He narrowly survives getting taken here, only to be taken at a later date... Well, fortunately for me, I can spill all of the beans about the game's plot to him without seeming wierd as hell, so I won't have to break my cover. Besides, I need to explain the basics of the ME universe, like all the races and all the science and all that extra fun stuff. So I'll just handle the plot then. Right.

"Shepard!" says Garrus as he sights his assault rifle again. "You may want to see this..."

With this, we all turn around from where we stand behind cover.

... Shit, I should've remembered this! There's that Praetorian! It flies towards us, and as we see it I suddenly get a very familiar sense of foreboding. Shit... The Praetorian is more intimidating than I had hoped! Shit, this is not going to end well for any of us...

"What the hell is that?" asks Jack.

I blink. "I don't know, but it doesn't look friendly," I comment. Sturge shoots me a glare, but I elbow him in the side to bring him back in line. Stay in character, damn it!

Thane lifts his sniper rifle, hoping to get a better look at the Praetorian. "It looks as if it consists of several husks fused together..." he replies. "This will be a difficult battle."

Understatement of the century, Thane. "Indeed," she says. "Thane, take Sturge and Jenny behind. You should probably stay behind for this."

The drell nodds, and then turns to Sturge and Jenny. I look to him and nod. "It's all right," I comment. "He's good at what he does."

He nods simply, and then the colonist and my science teacher both come out behind Thane and head to cover.

And right when they do this, I see the Praetorian hover over us slowly, seeming to float in the air as it comes over us. Shepard squints at this, looking around. "Art, Garrus, Jack, flank this thing," she says. "It will try to move around."

We nod, and we do as she says right as the Praetorian starts to fly about the battlefield. I rush behind cover, but very quickly I hear a high-pitched wine behind me. Jesus Christ, you son of a bitch, wait until I'm in cover or something! I rush into cover, my assault rifle out as I peer out of my cover. The laser stops soon enough, and then I look out. Jeez, that was close. I can see Garrus rush around the other side of the field, taking cover behind a pile of tires as Jack fires her shotgun at it. The Praetorian hovers there a little bit, and Jack takes the opportunity to throw a warp at it. This hits, and we're greeted with some kind of strange squealing that would sound right in place in the first scene of _Moses und Aaron_. Or something.

I come out of cover as the Praetorian shoots its laser beam at the biotic. She runs into cover, and it burns into the crate to the point of nearly burning a hole in it. Shit, those lasers are more powerful than I thought they'd be. Best be careful, then.

I fire at the Praetorian with my assault rifle as we all pepper it with bullets. It glows blue for a second, and that's all the indication I get that this thing has erected that fucking biotic barrier. Jeez, thanks for making this fight painfully long, Praetorian. I fire at it, and we all whittle away. I rush out behind cover as I suddenly see Shepard running around with a laser following her. She's peppering it with pistol fire, and she quickly tosses a warp at the thing before diving behind a tall platform as the laser beam expires. I fire at it with my assault rifle, replacing the heat sink as I run before slamming my back against a crate.

I breathe in and out, and when I look out I see the Praetorian is floating close to Shepard. I see the thing stand there, and then, it slams itself on the ground.

Oh, shit... "Shepard, look out!" I warn.

Not a moment too soon, for then the sound of wailing comes out... and it's the most ear-grating sound I've ever heard in my life. With this, it then slams into the ground, and I can see Shepard scrambling away just as she gets pelted by another laser. Fortunately, she gets behind cover just before her shields can give out, and I can see her breathing hard at this.

Garrus notices this and only increases the rate he's firing at the bloody thing. With a bullet coming from where Thane is, we can all tell that the barrier is down.

And so, we come out of cover and maintain fire on it. I have to duck back when a laser beam goes straight for me, and I can hear the crate seemingly melt as it contacts. Yeah, that definitely wasn't covered in the game, but then again what is?"

I come out of cover to fire at it... Okay, it hasn't erected its biotic barrier again... yet. I fire at it, but then see it slam onto the ground. Shit! I feel myself get knocked out of cover, and then look up as it wails.

Fuck! I promptly sprint in the opposite direction, holding on to my assault rifle as the chorus comes to an end. I feel blue flashes just behind me, and I feel myself get thrown off the ground. I fly right over a crate before falling down, and when I hit the ground I let out a few breaths. Okay... I'm still alive. I slowly sidle up to cover, catching my breath.

"I'm fine!" I shout out as I sidle up to cover. "I'm jostled, but I'm fine!"

I don't get a reply as firing resumes on the Praetorian. I peer out of cover to see it turning to others. Apparently, it can't hear all that well.

No sooner do I notice this when the laser turrets all around us begin firing. I blink and look over, seeing the Collector ship in all it's might. Wow... The damn thing is huge. No wonder this thing destroyed the Normandy. I'd be afraid of it if I were anyone in the original Normandy when it blew up. Poor Pressley; I hardly knew ye.

I come out of cover again to see the armor on the Praetorian is failing it. However, its biotic barrier is up, and I see Jack and Shepard toss another warp at the damn thing. It slowly eats away at the barrier, and I come out and pepper it with bullets again. I see it firing a laser beam at Garrus (really? It took you this long to notice the turian?), and the turian bolts across. Jack comes out and fires her shotgun at the thing, running across the battlefield as the barrier dies on us.

Right... I reload my assault rifle briefly, and then I hear the sound of a whine. Jesus Christ, this think knows I'm alive. Ah, well, you can't get everything. As soon as the sound dies away, I grab my shotgun. Okay, you give me no choice, motherfucker!

I come out of cover and run away, firing my assault rifle. As soon as I run out of ammo from the clip, I switch out to my shotgun, and the fire begins to pepper it. I see it prepare to slam the ground, and with this, I bolt away. I only feel a light thud as it crashes against the ground, and when I turn around the blue is still there.

I holster my shotgun quickly and reload my assault rifle as I come running right next to Shepard. All five of us are peppering it with fire, and the bullets rain down and down on it as its armor goes. Okay, I think we've got this, as it's not moving around all that much. I chew a little on my lower lip, and then look at it as I pull the trigger.

"Smile, you son of a bitch!" I shout.

And no sooner do I say this then the Praetorian hovers in the air, opening out to us. It dissolves into blue nothingness, and it seems to go phase out of existence as the last of its armor gives way to our bullets. It just vanishes into the air... kind of like Saren. Fun times are had with that, I tell you.

I look to the rest of the team breifly; Jack and Shepard both look very battered from stuff, and I see that a piece of Shepard's armor is a little burned. Garrus comes up shortly after, mostly unharmed as we all look to each other. We take a glance back at Thane's position, and then we see the sniper standing up with Sturge and Jenny still there. Huh, for the Praetorian being a tough battle, this actually wasn't that hard to take down in real life. It was a pain in the ass in the game, but hey, what can you do? I shrug, and look to the others as Sturge, Jenny, and Thane all break cover, the assassin storing his sniper rifle on his back.

No sooner do we see this than we hear something loud a very short distance away. Flames suddenly seem to burst at us from around the colony, and the light is so bright we have to cover our eyes. When we uncover them, we see the Collector ship take off, and all is fine as we stand there. We look up to see it as Shepard runs a check.

"No point in pursuing them," says Shepard. "I'm sure they haven't nabbed all the colonists."

"Yeah," I comment. 2/3rds of the colony is still all right, if I remember correctly. "Let's see where the hell Kaidan is and get the hell out."

With this, we walk away from the laser towers, looking around the colony as we look for traces of Alenko. Thane, Jenny, and Sturge join up with us as we leave the towers, and all of us together walk through the colony of Horizon, watching as a few confused colonists step out, wondering what the hell just happened.

* * *

We go wandering about for a minute or two before we see a colonist. He seems to have a limp, and it's definitely not the one we encountered earlier.

"Alliance!" he shouts. "Where the hell were you?"

I look to Shepard briefly. Oh, dear, if this is going where I think it is... "We're not Alliance," she says. "Not exactly."

"You still took your damn sweet time to save us!" replies the man, his anger apparent.

"There was nothing we could do," replies Shepard.

"Half the colony's in there!" shouts the man frantically. "They took Lilith, and Egert, and Salmon, and the older McKansa sibling, and-"

Jenny suddenly comes around. "What?" she asks. "They've got Gregor?"

"Yeah!" shouted the colonist. "I saw it, too!"

"Shit..." muttered Jenny, her expression frantic. "No... That's not..."

She stands over behind me, her head shaking in disbelief as she thinks about it. Sturge simply moves over and gives her a small hug, to which she hyperventhilates into. I try not to dwell on it too long, as then the colonist turns to us. "You see?" he asks, angrily.

"I didn't want it to end this way," replies Shepard.

"There is no point dwelling on it, Shepard," comments Thane. "We did what we could to save this colony."

"Wait, Shepard...?" asks the colonist. "I've heard that name. You're some kind of bigshot Alliance hero."

"Commander Shepard." Ah, there we are, Carth Onasi. And right on cue, Kaidan Alenko steps out, his breathing slightly labored from no doubt having had to deal with the seeker venom. We all look at the... Staff Commander now, was it? "Captain of the Normandy, the first human Spectre, savior of the Citadel..." He turns to the colonist. "You're in the presence of a legend, Delan." He turns back to Shepard. "And a ghost."

The colonist crosses his arms. "Figures," he says bitterly. "All the good people get taken away, and you are left behind. Screw this." He waves his arm dismissively. "I'm done with you Alliance types."

As the colonist walks away, Kaidan comes forward, he and Shepard locking eyes. We're all looking at the two of them, and I imagine Sturge is confused as hell. Yeah, I'll have to explain how I played matchmaker two years ago for these two... I get the feeling I'll have to do it again for Thane in a few minutes.

The two of them stand directly in front of each other, not saying a word. The silence goes on for about a minute, and then Kaidan comes forward. Shepard obliges, and then the two of them pull each other into a hug. Shepard's face nestles into Kaidan's shoulder, and we can feel for the first time that she's all right. Kaidan lets out a sigh as his arms come around Shepard.

"I thought you were dead, Jocelyn," he says as he holds her in his arms. "We all did..."

It's silent after that for about a minute, and then the two of them pull away. I can see Shepard's jaw working slightly, but she can't seem to come up with a suitable reply. But finally, she nods at Kaidan.

"It's been too long, Kaidan," she says. "I... I don't know where I should begin... It's..." She pauses, her glance cast down at the ground. I can sense her trepidation with continuing. "There's just too much to say."

Kaidan nods. Well, at least the conversation is going well enough so far. "I understand," he says. "I think I'd be lost for words, too. Just... I thought we had something, Shepard..." Hey... That line is still said but... is it more... mournful? "Thinking you were dead for two years tore me apart... Why didn't you let me know that you were alive?"

Huh. This is different. He's not angry the way he used to be in the game. He's more... mournful. And I don't think he even noticed that Garrus and I are standing right there. Shepard seems just as sad at the whole thing.

"I'm sorry," she says, biting her lower lip. "I was clinically dead. It took two years to bring me back. How am I supposed to tell you that? You had moved on, and yet I..." She pauses, and I can see a strange sense of trepidation that I had never seen in her before. "I didn't want to reopen old wounds."

Kaidan looks down. "I did move on," he says softly, almost tenderly, really. "At least, I thought I did... But... Now I'm confused. We're getting reports about you and... and Cerberus."

Oh, dear. "Reports?" asks Jack. "So you knew about this whole fucking thing already?"

"Alliance intel thought Cerberus might be behind the missing human colonies," replies the staff commander. "I got a tip that this colony might be the next one to get hit. Anderson stonewalled me, but there were rumors that you weren't dead. That you were working for the enemy."

I can't control the chill that runs down my spine upon hearing Kaidan say this. Shit... I can sense a small glare at him as Shepard straightens up.

"Cerberus and I want the same thing," she says. "To save our colonies. It doesn't mean I answer to them." I can see Jack smirk as she crosses her arms.

The Alliance member frowns, approaching Shepard. "Do you really believe that?" he asks, his voice taking on a hint of hostility. "Or is that just what Cerberus wants you to think?"

"I really believe that, Kaidan," replies Shepard, taking a step back. "I-"

"I wanted to believe you were back," says Kaidan, interrupting the Commander. "But I never expected anything like this!" The venom in his voice is now coming out, and it's not pretty. He then turns to me and Garrus. "And you two! You even joined her!"

I frown. "Look, Cerberus is not the enemy here," I comment. "So kindly-"

"Cerberus is not the enemy?" he repeats, effectively shutting me up. "You know she's with Cerberus, and that's all you have to say about it?" He shakes his head and turns back to Shepard. "You betrayed everything you believed in. You betrayed everything you fought for. You... You betrayed me."

Shepard shifts slightly, but I can see her breathing is a little faster. "Kaidan, you know me," she says. "I wouldn't be doing this unless I had a damn good reason to." She gestures to the colony. "You saw it yourself. The Collectors are kidnapping human colonies, and they're working with the Reapers."

Kaidan's expression remains steeley. "I want to believe you Shepard," he replies. "I really do. But I don't trust Cerberus. They could be using the threat of a Reaper to manipulate you. What if they're behind it? What if they're working with the Collectors?"

"It seems he is too worried about Cerberus," comments Thane. "He does not recognize the true threat."

"Kaidan, please..." says Shepard. "You think I don't think about that every day? You're letting Cerberus' history get in the way of the facts."

"Maybe," says the Alliance marine. "Or maybe you feel you owe Cerberus because they saved you."

Shepard jolts in surprise. Wait, what? "Kaidan, what the hell are you-?"

"Maybe _you're_ the one who's not thinking straight," he says, the frown on his face apparent. "I know where my loyalties lie. I'm an Alliance soldier, not a Cerberus lackey." He turns around. "I'm going back to the Citadel. I'll let them decide whether or not to believe your story."

... That's _twice_ that he's interrupted Shepard! This is _worse_ than the game! What the fuck is this? Damn it... I sure as hell hope I get to punch Kaidan later.

"Kaidan... please..." says Shepard. "Just, listen to me!"

He steels his eyes. "I may," he says. "But I'll never work for Cerberus. Goodbye, Shepard."

And with this, Kaidan continues walking away from us, his feet plodding softly in the ground.

Jesus Christ... The nerve of the son of a bitch! You know, Kaidan, there's a very special place reserved for people who whine and bitch and moan about shit like this without really knowing their shit, and it's the same hell Fred Phelps went to all those years ago. I can't believe this! If I ever see you again... I'm giving you a big, big piece of my mind, Alenko. And I am not sparing one. Single. Detail. At all. So fuck you, and I hope I see you again!

Shepard, to her credit, is able to stay stoic, but I can see when she turns to us that she's on the verge of crying. She's doing a damn good job of holding it in, but really, I still worry about her.

She shakes her head as she looks at us. "Come on," she says. "I've had enough of this colony."

"I..." says Jenny finally. She takes a breath as she breaks away from Sturge. "I want to come with you."

She blurts this out, and then all eyes fall on the colonist of Irish descent. We all glance at her, and she stands there as Shepard's glance turns into a glare.

"Why?" asks Shepard, clipping her reply darkly.

"I want to find out what happened to Gregor..." she says. "He's... I care about 'im a lot. And if you need credentials, I can pilot vehicles, I can shoot a gun, and I can calibrate, just please, let me come with ya! I don't think I'll sleep until I know what happened to my brother!"

Shepard looks a little annoyed, but I can see that upon looking at Jenny, her expression softens a little. The pain in the colonist's eyes is quite apparent, and I can see Shepard relaxing a little. She looks to Jenny, understanding, and then nods.

"All right," she says. "You can come along."

Jenny blinks briefly before letting out a sigh of relief and bowing her head. "Thank ya, Shepard," she says. "I'll... I'll try to be..."

She promptly stops speaking as Shepard looks at us. The rest of us follow, and the trip back is silent. What the hell are we supposed to say? Shepard got rejected by Kaidan Alenko. I don't know what the hell happened, but...

Damn it, I shouldn't have played matchmaker. It... it would've made our lives so much fucking easier. And now... Shepard has to deal with the pain... And the pain will be really bad for her... And... Well...

Fuck... Damn you Kaidan! I hope you go to hell!

I shake my head and simply continue to the shuttle. When we get there, the ride back to the Normandy is bathed in silence, with Jocelyn Shepard sitting in the corner holding back tears.


	9. Chapter 8

_A/N: And we're back._

_So last time, Jenny came back. So hopefully I won't have to do disclaimers again as you all hopefully remember that she belongs to judodave, right? Yes? No? Maybe? Right._

_And... Sturge. Yes, I own him, because I know him IRL. He'll be kind of like Alfred Pennyworth, and won't fight too much._

_But yeah... This has really taken over my life. Why? Well, there's a series of events coming up that will shake a few things up in terms of Art's place in the ME universe. You'll see..._

_So yeah, fun times shall be had. I'll just get going now, so enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 8: Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Geselle

I'm sitting back in my room, composing a short little message. Jeez... This whole thing with Horizon was messed up.

The thing is... I'm just wondering why I played matchmaker for Kaidan and Shepard. Now it's lead to heartbreak, and it's probably going to lead to even more of it if Shepard gets together with Thane... Shit, I should've thought about it better. I don't know what I was thinking back then... I mean, for crying out loud, Kaidan interrupted her _twice_! That didn't even happen in the game! I mean, what the hell?

I'm actually half surprised that Garrus' presence there didn't immediately tip Kaidan off that something was wrong with the picture. I mean, I thought Cerberus had a reputation to keep as a mostly xenophobic group. So if Garrus was there, then why the hell didn't that tell Kaidan that maybe he should have listened to us? I don't get it. Thane's presence should've tipped him off too, but the drell didn't know Kaidan as well as I did, so yeah...

Jeez... This is so ridiculous it's kind of crazy. And so I go about writing my poem about being abandoned by a loved one. Or something. Because this is really the best way for me to cope with it. Other than composing. But I don't feel like writing about songs of innocence when I have this to worry about. So yeah.

Sturge... didn't get a warm welcome from Miranda, and neither did Jenny. But Miranda and cold welcomes to people not on dossiers is kind of expected by this point. Gardner was thrilled, though; apparently, he could've used the help in whatever else it is he does when he's not cooking. Jenny was warmly welcomed onto the Normandy by the crew, too. I'm extremely glad they're being welcomed nicely. In fact, I'm supposed to be checking in with Sturge in two hours to bring him up to date on what the hell is going on, as he's still reeling from the other races here. It's kind of a shame he's only seen a turian, a drell, a salarian, and a krogan so far. I have no point of reference for any of the other races, although that'll change pretty soon for the asari if I remember correctly. I mean, it's after Horizon; if things go well, we'll be off to get Samara pretty soon. It'll also change for the quarians, but I have an easier point of reference for that than Tali, so yeah.

Speaking of Tali... I look over my message again.

_To: Tali'Zorah vas Neema, Migrant Fleet _

_From: Art*** *********, Normandy SR-2_

_Tali,_

_I know you're busy, and I wish we could talk so I could hear your voice. But something big just came up, and I don't think I can wait for too long to tell you this; this is incredible, and I'm still having a tough time believing what happened!_

_I found an old friend from Earth. __We were gallivanting about in a human colony that was attacked by the Collectors when his name came up from a colonist we saved. And... well, it's the same guy I knew who taught me Earth Science and Physics in high school. His name is some complex Polish thing, but we all call him 'Sturge' for short, and he came from where I come from. I'm sure you'll know what that means, and if not I can always clarify when we meet up. I need to introduce you two when you get on the Normandy, it's that big._

_Oh, and Kaidan dumped Shepard. It was brutal, and I don't know why the hell I didn't just punch the stubborn son of a bitch in the face. Too much emphasis on the fact that we were working for Cerberus, I think it was. Either way, it wasn't fun._

_Looking forward to when I can hear your voice again,_

_-Art_

I glance at the message one last time, and quickly I hit send. The message is then sent all the way to Haestrom, where hopefully Tali will be able to get it. Hopefully, it won't tip the Geth off to their presence. Things will be quite good, I think. Or something. I just have to hope that Shepard will get over what happened with that asshole Kaidan and we'll see what happens next.

I hear my door open, and when I look to the side, I see Thane enter the room. Oh.

"Oh, hi Thane," I say, turning to the drell. "What's up?"

He raises one of his eyebrow ridges tentatively. "The ceiling is up," he comments nonchalantly. "I do not understand why you would ask about such a thing."

I frown at this. Oh, dear... I shake my head, giving a hand gesture. "Not exactly what I meant," I reply. "'What's up' is a human idiom. It's a slang term for 'how are you today'."

Thane gives a slightly imperceptible nod. "Ah," he says. "I am afraid I am unfamiliar with human slang."

I shrug. "It's no problem," I comment. "I'd feel the same way about a lot of other things, methinks. So how are you?"

"I will not lie," comments the drell as he looks out to the drive core. "I worry about the commander..."

I nod at this, beginning to feel the inklings of something... else going on here. "Yeah, so do I," I comment. "I still can't believe she's been blocking access to the captain's quarters and holing herself up in there. That can't be good for her..."

Thane nods his agreement. "I worry about her..." he says. "And I was hoping you would be able to enlighten me on why you think it is she is reacting this way to what happened on Horizon."

I nod grimly, thinking about this as I stand up from the chair. I look to the older drell, and then close my eyes. "I think it was that Alliance fellow," I begin. "His name was Kaidan Alenko."

"They seemed... close..." comments Thane. "I likely have no right to pry, but was the Commander involved with him?"

"She was," I reply. "He was a lieutenant on the original Normandy, directly under Shepard's command. All that jazz. You know how it is. The woman shows herself as a woman of character who makes all the tough decisions nobody else can, and the Lieutenant falls for her. And at the same time, the man serves as someone Shepard can confide her darkest secrets with, and tells him about how she feels about certain things. Before long, they were in love. The fact that I kind of played matchmaker certainly helped with that, I think." I bite my lower lip. "Kaidan wasn't kidding about Shepard's... eh... first death tearing him apart. He really was aimless after that. I didn't think he'd get so caught up about the whole Cerberus bit, though..."

Thane nods at this. "I see..." he says. "I agree that it was a rash thing to say."

"I know," I reply. "I mean, seriously. Yes, I would've been mad, but I would've tried to listen to her. Especially since I had feelings for her before..."

"I wonder..." comments Thane. "If he reacted the way he did..."

I shrug. "I still think the feelings are there," I say. "But it's too late for him. If I were able to talk to him, I would've said 'forget about the boy'. Because seriously, if you're getting that worked up over who your former lover is working with, then you don't deserve her attention."

"I would not think of it as such," the assasin replies. "Such strong terms are not warranted. And perhaps there is some deeper level in terms of his rage. Maybe he is angry because he loves her."

"Yeah, but you know how it is," I comment as I look out at the drive core. "I think it was a big dick move on Kaidan's part. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't just punch the son of a bitch right then and there. I helped bring Kaidan and Shepard together, you know. I should've done more..."

"Perhaps, perhaps not," says the drell. "You do not know what would have happened."

"True," I say. "I just think I would've been a hell of a lot more satisfied if I had punched him. I mean... Shepard still had feelings for him. I'm sure... I just hope she's not up there too long..." I mean, she can move on, so yeah.

"I pray that Arashu will guide her," says Thane.

Ah, first mention of the drell gods I've gotten. Gotta keep in character. I turn my head to the drell. "Arashu?" I ask. "Who's that?"

"Ah, I see you are unfamiliar with my gods," he comments. "I hope you have time..."

"I should have some," I say, glancing back to the poem and saving my progress. Maybe finding out about the extra gods of the drellish pantheon will help a little bit.

Thane nods at this, standing erect. "Very well," he says. "I guess I should start with the gods I pray most often to..."

And with this, he starts off with Amonkira, lord of hunters.

* * *

A little later, I'm wandering around on the Normandy. That was certainly an enlightening conversation. It was especially strange hearing about the drell god of music. He sounds a lot like Apollo to me... Minus the whole prophetic thing, of course. Music apparently relates to drell much in the way the stars do, and so he's also the god of the heavens. Huh, who would've thought? It's kind of like the goddess of the underworld being the goddess of the sea as well. I guess evolving sentience on different planets does that to your species. It's been fun making all these mental comparisons in my mind.

But right now... I'm trying to get a hold of Sturge. The poor guy's probably still reeling now that he's not the only one here. Honestly... it's a bit of a godsend that I found him here. Because I don't have to wait for Tali anymore to be able to say stuff to someone. That, and I can hopefully find out what the hell happened to my body over on Earth. It's a slim hope, given that Sturge never followed the news all that much, but at this stage it's much better than nothing. Explaining all the races will be really, really fun, though, so I hope he's ready...

And sure enough, I see him walk down the hall, now having changed into a spare Cerberus uniform handed to him from Gardner. It's a bit fitting, but not in the good way, given that he's not exactly the slimmest guy on the planet. It's better than most, but still, he says he does have to watch his weight. I nod to him, smiling.

"Hey, Sturge," I say.

"Hello, old timer," he says, feeling a little more cheerful. "You know, I still can't believe there's this much space travel here. Especially faster than light travel."

"I know," I comment. "They discovered a strange property of physics around 35 years ago called 'mass effect' where we can travel at about... Hm... 10 times the speed of light."

His eyes bulge wide at this. "Ten times?" he says. "My God, I don't think we even had that back then!"

I nod. "I know, it's kind of crazy," I say. "We should take this somewhere private. You never know if EDI is listening in."

The old man nods his agreement, and then we go off to find somewhere private. Eventually, we settle ourselves into a small little corner where an EDI terminal is far away from us, and that is kind of out of the way of everybody else. They'll see we're talking, and hopefully they won't ask what it's about. It's suspiciously close to Miranda's office, though...

I lean against a wall, Sturge standing still as he looks down the hall and then back at me. "So..." he begins. "I've noticed there are four alien races on this ship. I didn't think there would be so many races."

I snort and shake my head. "That's only a handful of them," I comment. "You still haven't seen any of the quarians, asari, volus, elcor, batarians, and hanar yet!"

"That many?" he asks, blinking. "Damn, I'd be afraid for what would happen if there were that many races on Earth right now."

I shrug. "Well, you know how it is," I comment. "Now that we have other things to hate, we stopped getting racists and started getting a hell of a lot of xenophobes. Especially as far as the turians go."

Sturge nodded. "Yeah, Garrus mentioned something about me not holding a grudge against turians when I chatted with him while cleaning the gunnery bay," said Sturge. "Is it typical for turians and humans to hate each other?"

"It's a long story, but kind of," I comment. "See, the turians were the first alien species humanity ever encountered. Only problem... there was a war. An insanely bloody one."

Sturge blinks at this, and crosses his arms. "God damn it, people never learn," he says. "You know Colombus was exactly this way when he touched down in America."

"Yeah, but in this case it hasn't resulted in enslavement of an entire sentient species," I comment. "See, the turians are part of the Galactic Council, which governs all affairs in the galaxy. The asari and salarian seats weren't too happy with this little war, so they intervened and brokered peace. As things stand now, the wounds are healing slowly. Hell, humanity even has a Council seat now, and that's an accomplishment considering it's usually taken other races at least 100 years to get a Council seat."

"At least it ended well," says the old man as he crosses his arms. "There's... a lot I need to know about, apparently."

"Yeah, I don't think we'll get through it all in one sitting," I comment. "So I'll just go through the alien races. The turians, I trust you've talked to Garrus about that. Any other of the alien crew members you've talked to?"

"I had a brief conversation with that one doctor in the tech lab," says Sturge. "Mordin, right?"

"Yep," I reply with a nod. "So you know a bit about the salarians."

"Mostly that they think fast, make great scientists, and live extremely short lives," comments the old man. "After a while, it sort of degenerated into a talk about Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. I didn't know there was a reworked version of Pirates of Penzance! I don't think I would like what would happen if they gave that treatment of _Modern Major General_ to _Iolanthe_... It could be clever, but it just sounds like it's pandering to a different crowd."

I snort at this, rolling my eyes. Oh, dear, here we go with his musical conservativism. "Why am I not surprised?" I ask.

"I don't know," he says. "It's like the way people used to be with cutting operas. I think I told you about that one cut from Siegfried they always made as a standard cut. All that beautiful music, and they just cut it out! It's unbelievable, and I see I'm still running into problems."

Ah, yes, an irate Polish liberal's worst enemy; cuts in Wagner. And anything, really. Also, updated productions, but that isn't too bad around here, so I won't be hearing it too much. "Yeah, they've been getting better about cuts," I comment. "But yeah, with that you know all you need to know about salarians. I don't think you've talked to Grunt and Thane yet, so... I'll start with those two."

"Right," says Sturge. "So what are Grunt and Thane?"

"Grunt is what they'd call a krogan," I comment. "They're this proud warrior race that are being affected by a genetic disease given to them by the turians that drastically lowers their birth rates. Long story, involving lots of bloodshed and salarian genetics and stuff. They just love to fight, though, so I think their habits are more destructive than the Bush administration could ever hope to be..."

Sturge frowns at this. "I'd be afraid to see them in a fight, then," says the old man. "Grunt looks too big to be healthy. Frankly, I'm a bit afraid to see what would happen if I let one of him run America. I'm telling you, it would be really bad for all of us!"

"You're telling me?" I ask, raising one of my eyebrows. "Krogan can live for 1000 years, mostly because they have doubles of every organ in their body. Secondary lungs, secondary testicles, secondary stomach... You name it, they've got it. Except for eyes. They don't have four eyes."

He blinks tentatively at this, biting his lower lip slightly. "That... is a bit of a biological nightmare, I think," he says. "How does their body know when to shut down one set of organs and start with the other? I'd think it would warrant study."

"You can find it on our version of the internet," I comment. "But that's a story for another day. The drell... all you need to know about them are that they are an uncommon species of lizard men who had to flee their home planet because it was overcrowded. Oh, and they also periodically suffer a humidity related disease that kills them slowly. Thane has it, if you're wondering."

The old man nods. "There's another reason to stay away from Miami for them," he says.

I snort at this. "Oh, are you kidding me?" I ask, laughing softly.

"I don't think I am," he says. "The humidity down there will kill them faster than I probably could. And that's saying something, given that I'm just an old fart."

"Yeah, well, don't say that around here," I comment. "65 is actually relatively young in this day where medical advancements are all over the place."

"Really?" he asks. "How old can I expect to live here?"

"150," I comment.

The old man balks at this, letting his shock be known. "150?" he asks in disbelief. "Good God, I don't think I could even have _dreamed_ of living that long! I... I don't even know what to say to that! That's just insane!"

"And keep in mind, that's just the _average_ age," I point out. "You're certainly no old fart now."

"I don't think so either..." he comments, glancing to the side. "This is going to feel wierd... it's like I'm 40 all over again. And that kind of scares me a little. That, and my birthday not being on Wagner's birthday anymore..." He takes a breath as he looks to me before continuing. "You know, that stupid opera company over in Miami was still doing the same old shit when I got into that accident."

I raise my eyebrows at this. "Really?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "I think they were doing... some stupid Rossini cycle, starting with Barber of Seville again. I'm telling you, Art, it's like they did the same five or six operas again and again. I swore never to go to them again. I'm guessing this will make it easier." At this, I chuckle, nodding in agreement. "I really hope people don't have such awful taste in music here in this year, because really, there's no economic slump that I can see around here."

I shake my head. "We've had 173 years to get better about that," I comment. "And we've gotten much better; I actually got to do _Elektra_ with an opera orchestra shortly before I came on board."

"Ah," he says, nodding. "Have you heard any word of whether or not they're doing any complete Ring cycles soon?"

"I don't know about that," I say with a shrug. "But I have a feeling they were gearing up to it recently. So you never know. But we have this to deal with, so we'll have to hope things go well... Anyway, we're getting off topic."

"Ah, yes, that we are," he says. "So... you mentioned quarians, asari, volus, elcor, batarians, and hanar. What are they?"

"Well, I'll start with the asari, as they're a Council race, so I better start with them," I say. "Well... they're a monogendered race of women that can have babies with any species."

He frowns at this, and as he makes a comment we continue our chat. And as we go about, I'm reminded of our many phone conversations that we would have late at night where we just caught up with each other. This is no different, except that I'm the one rambling on and on instead of him. And honestly, it's kind of refreshing to feel myself talking to someone from my home time period. It... it kind of feels grand.

So I continue to introduce the other races to my old friend, and many laughs and smiles are exchanged.

* * *

Ah, it was good catching up with Sturge, even if it was only for a little bit. Always good times with him, I think.

I really do owe a lot to him. He was my best friend during high school, after all. And now that he's here, it's left up to me to make him more comfortable in this strange place. And I'll do that as well as I damn well can...

Speaking of which... He really is a damn good cook. He took over cooking duty for Gardner today while he took care of cleaning bathrooms, and god damn does it make a difference. Yep, this food is definitely a hell of a lot more edible than anything Gardner could ever cook up. Well, that, and it's actually quite tasty for being mess food. And that is always a good thing; if we have this to look forward to I'm going to be a happy man.

And I think it shows in everyone too. I was one of the first ones in the mess hall, but there was already a line forming by then. So I got to hear Miranda mention in passing that perhaps letting Sturge onto the ship wasn't such a bad idea after all. See, cheerleader? I told you! A second mess sergeant is always good, I think. Especially one that can actually cook something.

I smile as I continue munching down on the chicken I've got. It's chicken alfredo again, and once again I think about Ash. She would've been the same on Horizon, I think. After all, she did react the same if you saved her instead of Kaidan. It's a shame she had to die, though. I still think about her sometimes, and about her sisters and all that.

But I've gotten over her death. It wasn't totally my fault, after all, as I imagine those geth are as much to blame as I. I can't stay mad at them forever, either, given that we're going to come across Legion towards the end of our adventure. But still, my memories are rather fond of Ash right now. It's tough to forget that militaristic way of thinking coupled with the Romantic poetry. I bought the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem her daddy loved so much, but I haven't brought myself to read it yet. But I'll definitely get to it soon.

I eat the pasta portion of it slowly when I see someone coming down to sit across from me. I look up, and there I see Shepard. She looks... better, I think. It looks like she was crying, but she's got it all off her chest now... I raise my eyebrows, not needing to ask about Kaidan as she sets her tray down. She looks at me, taking a breath before taking a small sip of the glass of water.

"Hey, Shepard," I greet. "Feeling better from what happened on Horizon?"

She sets the glass down and nods. "Yeah, I'll be fine," she says. "I... I just can't believe Kaidan would dump me over something like this. He knows I wouldn't do this for any other reason, so why...?"

I shrug. "Honestly, I don't know," I say. "Your death really did tear him apart, Shepard." I bit down onto a small piece of chicken that I had gotten onto my fork, and chewed on it.

"I think it would've torn a lot of people apart," she says. "You included."

I nod. "Yeah, I won't lie there," I comment after swallowing the bite. "What do you plan on doing about Kaidan?"

Shepard shakes her head. "He had moved on," she says. "And I think it's best if I let him go. I mean... he's changed so much, and I haven't changed at all." Her expression is somber as she sticks some food on her fork. "I hope you're not angry. Kaidan told me about what you said to him on the night Ilos."

I nod at this. Well, great! This'll be awesome for Thane! "Well, Commander, to be perfectly honest?" I say. "I don't think he deserves you if he's not willing to listen to you when you're trying to explain yourself, you know?"

She chuckles softly. "I hear you," she says. She takes another bite of food before nodding. "Thane wanted to enter the captain's quarters today."

Oh? This is new. I raise my eyebrow up in curiosity. "Really?" I ask. "What did he want to talk about?"

"He wanted to know if I was all right after what happened on Horizon..." she says. "I'm touched that he cares as much as you and Garrus do. So I went down to life support and spoke with him."

Ah. Well, it looks like she and Thane are on the fast track to falling in love right now. Hm... Well, out with the old, in with the new, as I say. Plus, I doubt Thane is as likely to ditch Shepard over what amounts to a paycheck than Kaidan. Plus, he's more awesome. "I see," I comment. "You know, I did speak with him about Kaidan earlier."

"He mentioned that," she says. "I elaborated a bit..." Her fond smile darkens a little as she moves her fork through her food. "Apparently, Thane knows what it is to lose someone you love, too. He mentioned that he has a dead wife."

Ah, Irikah. "Oh?" I ask. "He never mentioned anything like that to me."

"I wouldn't be surprised," comments the commander. "He doesn't like to mention it much. But he has some inkling of how I feel, so... I'm just glad I have someone else I feel I can trust on this ship with how I really feel about everything that's going on. No offense, because you and Garrus are still great friends, but I like that I can trust some of the Cerberus-gathered crew."

Oh, trust me, I think you'll come to trust him with a lot more than just how you feel about stuff, Shepard. I can just smell the potential romance in the air, especially after you help him stop that hit on Kolyat. Depending on when it comes, of course... "Nah, it's cool," I comment with a smile. "It's always nice to be able to trust new people with stuff. It looks like you're quite happy to do so."

"I'll admit..." she says uncertainly. "There's something I find so... I don't know how to describe it." Oh... I think it's happening! "I can't really explain it. But I think I'm beginning to like Thane a lot from the few conversations we've had. He's insightful, and he's wonderfully intelligent. It's always enlightening to have a conversation with him. I... I like his company, even if he is a dying man..."

"I see..." I say, my smile turning into a smirk. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were falling for him."

She instantly frowns, freezing in place as a piece of pasta hangs from her mouth. Her eyes widen in some disbelief, and then I just start laughing quietly. I don't know why, but there's something just so amusingly hilarious about the way the Commander looks right now! Maybe it's that we never saw her like this in the games. At all... Yes, that has to be it. She's falling in love with a wonderful boy!

She finally slurps the final two inches of her pasta strand, still looking at me in disbelief. She swallows, and then she frowns even more intensely.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she denies.

"Oh, come on, Commander," I say with a small smile. "I'm just saying. Talk with him a little more, and we'll see where it goes." I imagine it will go to here: Thane and Shepard, sitting in a tree, _kiiisiiing!_

"Well..." says Shepard. "I don't know, but we'll see what happens."

"Indeed we shall," I say with a soft smile. "Either way, it's good to see you're not moping all that much after what Kaidan did."

"I think I'll be fine," she says. "Speaking of old crew members..."

She leans in close, looking at me with a bit of worry on her eyes. I lean closer, wondering what she's got to say. No doubt it's important. "I don't trust Miranda," she says. "She was one of Cerberus' top operatives, and I'm expecting her to do something. I don't know what, but I'm afraid she might pull a stunt that could get us all under Cerberus' wing without our consent."

"So you want someone to stand in as acting Commander in case something happens to you?" I ask. "Okay. Do you need help with selections?"

Her look intensifies, and it seems to bore straight into my soul. Wait... "Actually..." she says. "I was wondering if you would be up to being the acting Commander in that case."

I jump back at this. Are you serious, Commander? But I'm not even a military... But you... I... I don't...

I lean back towards Shepard, keeping my voice just above a whisper. "Shepard, are you crazy?" I ask. "I'm not even a properly trained soldier! I could make bad decisions in the heat of the moment, god damn it! Why don't you ask Garrus to do it? He led an entire freaking squad of people into battle!"

"That was different," she says. "He had plenty of time to plan his attacks out. I need someone with more... spontaneity in their thinking. I figured you'd be good, since you saved most of the salarians back on Virmire and managed to get Sturge and Jenny away from the seekers despite them not having Mordin's countermeasure."

"Yeah, but that was only two times!" I say. Jeez, what is she thinking? "Shepard, are you sure it's a good idea to ask _me_, of all people?"

"I have a feeling you'll have a clearer head than Garrus," says Shepard. "Remember his squad dissipated thanks to factors outside of his control. Besides, I need someone I can trust. And you went out of your way to come onto this mission. I don't know anybody else I can trust more with commanding people."

Ah, that is true. Should I mention that it almost died too thanks to said factors? And should I mention I've never told you I knew you were going to die? I'm not too sure this is the best idea. But... I can see where she's coming from, partly. I just question her wisdom on asking _me_, as I don't think I can do it. But... If she really wants it...

"Well..." I say. "I don't trust this decision entirely, but if you feel it's for the best, I'll do it."

She smiles. "Thanks," she says. "I'll forward stuff to your terminal. Strategy treatises. I hope you can fill in my shoes when I'm not in the best position to be commanding."

"I'll do my best," I reassure her. And myself.

She nods, and then we continue eating our meal in silence. Wow... I'm kind of like the XO now. I don't know whether I should be scared out of my mind or ridiculously happy that this happened... I mean, on the one hand, I don't really know all that much about leading people. I have instincts, sure, but I don't know if those will work. And plus, there are two points where I have to do stuff in the Collector base. Fuck up at one point and either Tali or Legion could die. Fuck up at the other, and I could die. I really hope she chooses Garrus to lead the fire teams. Because I don't know if I'm ready for that.

But in the meantime, I'll help her out however I can. And if this is how it goes, then so be it.

* * *

Some time later, I walked over to my cabin. I've been making my usual rounds around the Normandy doing stuff. And now that we're going to be heading to the Citadel, I'll be back in familiar territory. I wonder if Thane's loyalty mission will be tackled here now that we don't have to deal with the Collector ship for him to activate it. Or something. Or... Shepard did tell me something about Kasumi. So she was recruitable after all. It's really too bad I missed that bit of DLC. I can't wait to meet her now... I wonder what her loyalty mission is going to be like. It'll probably be really awesome, if I can't keep trach of the changes...

Hm... Speaking of changes... I do have a question about Sturge that I can't ask him at all since he knows as much about it as I do. So... who better to ask than our resident creep, Orange?

I sit down on the bed in my quarters, and glance at EDI. Well... I can just keep the conversation in my head, right? I guess I can do that...

I pull out the orange paperweight and sit there, feeling the link come alive in my mind. Okay... So, Orange...

"It is good to see you again, keeper," says the oracle. "Does something trouble you today?"

Depends on how you look at it. On the one hand, it's something that's confused the hell out of me, and on the other hand, it's something that I kind of really like.

"I see..." she says. "What, precisely, does this entail?"

Well, see, I bumped into an old friend from my universe on Horizon. It's great and all, but I'm just really confused about why he's here and what role he's playing. Not like it matters, because he was my best friend from high school and the guy who helped me see myself as a musician, so it's all good, but still.

"Ah... So you have encountered your confirmer."

I frown. Wait, confirmer? What the hell?

"It is a piece of the prophecy that has not warranted mentioning until now," replies Orange. "Every chosen one not of this universe will have a companion that follows them to this universe through factors not of their choosing. The presence of the companion here will... confirm that they are a chosen one, so to speak."

Oh. Oh... I get it. So it's kind of like follow the leader.

"If you choose to call it such, yes," replies the oracle. "You would have a difficult time of finding this out, but the fates have decreed that you will be able to tell when a companion is around to play for a chosen one."

Oh, yay, I get to play a guessing game! Well, at least I got an answer. I guess they can't die too...

"Their return to the Fade is of no consequence to events," she says. "In fact, there may be one companion that you will have to help defeat to ensure that the confirmer's chosen will be present for the Reaper war."

Oh. Huh... I wonder why that would be. So I'm guessing Sturge is my confirmer then.

"Yes," she replies.

I see... Well, I'm glad he's my confirmer. I could use a really good friend from my universe around here, you know. And you said something about chosens not of this universe...

"A majority of them will be from other realms," says the oracle. "Only one shall come from this universe."

Ah, I see... That... makes things a bit complicated. But if that's true... then I don't think it should be too hard. Well... That was certainly less confusing than you normally get.

"Your confusion in this case warrants an explanation," she says. "After all, it is not often that one meets their confirmer on such terms. I trust he is all right?"

Oh yeah, he's fine. And he remembers everything, too. He never actually played this game, though, but I can bring him up to speed on stuff. Plus, it's a friend who I never thought I'd ever get to see again, so it's far more than welcome for him to be here.

"Then he shall have no trouble fitting in,_"_ replies the oracle. "I shall leave you be, then. Good day, keeper."

And with this, I tuck the paperweight into my pocket.

Well... That was decidedly less confusing than Orange normally is. I have a feeling that's a luxury I won't have for the next few days. After all, I still don't know squat about the whole door business, or even how it relates to anything.

But I'm just glad she's given me some explanation for why Sturge is here that sheds light on the other chosens. So there are four of them... I'm one of them, two will be from somewhere else, and only one will be from the ME universe.

... I'll bet the chosen one from here is Shepard. It's gotta be Shepard. Very few people can do the things she's done, and she has that uncanny ability to lead people into the face of the impossible and come out alive at the very end. Plus, she was the player character in the original games, so that would make sense from that standpoint to. So it's gotta be Shepard. There's nobody else it could be, after all.

As for the others... I wonder... Will they all be from games or movies? I dunno... It seems quite likely... But then, the question is, who shows up here? And are they already here? I just hope they aren't too out of their element, although I wouldn't be totally surprised if they were out of their element. But still, it would be nice to have to give less exposition than some.

I wonder...

Well, I guess I'll leave that speculation for another time. Because for now, there are quite a few other things that need to be attended to. Like, catching up to Jenny McKansa and how she's faring after the attack on Horizon. Last I checked, she was in the hangar, repairing the Kodiak and running a few tests on it.

So I stand up from my bed and walk out of my room in life support, resolving to see what's going on with Jenny.

* * *

When I go to find her, I see that there's a ladder hanging from where the Kodiak is situated. Huh, it must mean someone's up there. I see makeshift scaffolding there, kind of like what people use to wash windows on really tall buildings. But not exactly, as there's no one there. Hm... She must be inside... I climb up the ladder, wondering what I can find in there.

I find her within the Kodiak, calibrating a few panels and stuff. She's hunched over, and I get a gratuitous view of her ass I probably could've lived my life without seeing. Yeah, gratuitous ass views are never fun.

I shift slightly inside the shuttle, clearing my throat. She turns to me then, raising her eyebrows as she looks at me. She's got rubber gloves on, probably for dealing with all the electrical stuff involved with this. She stands up, frowning as she turns.

"Were ya lookin' at my ass?" she asks.

Oh, yeah, she's got a hard time with perverts I see. "To be fair, I kind of didn't have a choice in the matter," I comment. "It's a little difficult to have a choice when your ass is visible to the only way in."

She nods. "True," she comments. "Well, at least you weren't enjoyin' it."

"Yep," I comment with a shrug. "I think any gratuitous looks at other women's asses are a little something that people should be slapped about." Although, when every shot of Miranda's ass is gratuitous... Men can be pigs. I hate my own gender sometimes...

"I hear ya there," replies Jenny with a smile.

"Some people are idiots," I comment. Especially if they work in target and flame people on the internet to bring attention to their pretentious stories. "So... How are you holding up? After Gregor's disappearance and all that?"

Jenny sighs at this, crossing her arms. "I'm worried," she says. "I'm not gonna lie. Gregor and I... We were really close siblings."

I nod at this. "So you're worried about him," I reply.

"Well, yes," says the colonist. "But more than you'd think. My mother died when she gave birth to me, and my father died when I was only seven. It was up to Gregor to take care of the both of us."

"Oh?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. "So... he's the only family you have left."

"Pretty much," she comments, looking out the window of the Kodiak. I come up behind her, and she shakes her head. "He always had a tough time of it, but he did his best," she says. "And that best came out pretty well. He told me the day I began working as a mechanic around the colony was one of the best days of his life. I figured it was strange back then, but the more I think about it the more I realize that it was his way of knowing he did a good job..."

She shakes her head. "I have ta know what happened," she says. "You'd know what it's like if ya had siblings..."

I glance to the side. "I... I do have siblings," I say. "But I don't know what it's like. My brother was disabled, and my sister and I were distant. And I was the one who left my family; my parents didn't leave me. So no, I don't know what it's like."

She turns to face me. "I don't think you really believe that," she says. "You're here, and your family's all the way on Earth. That's gotta feel real lonely."

I nod. "That it does," I comment. Seriously, girl, you have no idea. "But it's not quite the same. No matter what, though, I can understand why you're so worried about him..." I'm afraid for what'll happen if we arrive at the Collector base and he's already been turned into genetic paste. If that happens... Let the tears flow...

"I'm glad ya do," she says. "I... It gives me some comfort, you know." A short silence stretches between us as she finishes this thought, and then she looks up at me. "How in the bloody world did ya know ta warn me?"

I raise my eyebrows. "Well, you never know what can happen on colonies," I comment. "But... I had a feeling it would devolve into something like this. Call it a gut instinct, if you will." It's much more than that, but if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. So yeah.

"I don't buy that all that much, to be honest," she says. "You're a very odd character, ya know."

I glance to the side before shrugging. "Wasn't that already kind of obvious?" I ask. "I'm a soldier turned musician turned soldier again."

"True," she says. "And ya want to screw that quarian girl ya know so well, so there's that, too."

W-what? N... Didn't I...? "No!" I shout, closing my eyes. "I do _not_ want to 'screw' Tali! Why the fuck would I want to 'screw' a good friend of mine? No! Just no!"

"You're blushin', mate," she taunts.

"_I don't want to fucking screw her!_" I say. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, woman, get that through your head!"

She shakes her head, smiling. "You're only sayin' that 'cause ya know I'm right," she says playfully.

I shake my head. "No," I say. "I don't feel anything for her!"

"Deny it all ya want, but I can see it in your eyes, mate," she says, wagging her gloved hand at me. "But seriously, you were talkin' about her back on Omega like she was more than a friend."

Hm... Well... I look up at the ceiling of the Kodiak and place my hands on my hips. "In a way, we are," I comment. "I trust her with everything about me. Hell, there are some things she knows about me that nobody else knows. I feel like we can trust each other with... with anything." Except loyalty missions.

"She's more than just a friend, then," comments Jenny. "How much farther than a friend, though...?"

I blink, pausing as she gives me a very serious facial expression, tilting her head to the side and letting her hair fall towards her shoulders. I... I'm sure we're just friends, right... I mean... We never touched... And what would that be, anyhow...? No, she can't possibly be more... I don't think so... I trust her with everything, but she's not like my sister or my mother or anything... She's something else...

... What is that something else...?

"I..." I begin, hesitating slightly as I don't know where to begin. I leave my mouth hanging open as I gesture with my arms, but she nods.

"Think about it, mate," she says. "And when ya find out, don't wait. Ya don't have all the time in the galaxy, ya know."

With this, she returns back to work, leaving me to ponder on where I stand with Tali. Eventually, I frown and climb down the latter out of the shuttle.

Tali... I don't think of her as anything more than a friend, do I? I don't think so... And... I don't... Wait...

If you play the game using a male Shepard... She develops a crush on Shepard. But only if that's the case; I don't really see that much les yay between Tali and a female Shepard. And depending on what happens after, the crush is either left to rot because of Miranda, Jack, or staying loyal to Ash or Liara, or...

Jesus Christ, that's right... What if... What if she had a crush on me on the first Normandy? I remember Mangdalar made some mention about that after I saw Tali off after the film premiere... About how she...

Shit... She sees me as more than just a friend, I'm sure of it now... But why didn't she say anything? She's had tons of opportunities to do so. When I first opened up to her about my origins after Virmire... when we had just woken up on the couch after watching _The Sound of Music_... at Shepard's funeral... at the film premiere... during the numerous comm chats we had in between the two years between the two games...

Why hasn't she said anything?

I... And only now... Yeah, I definitely see her as more than a friend too. It's just... I... I don't know if I should act on these feelings. What if Kal is already making moves on her, just like what has been the case with basically every girl I've ever had a crush on? What if it doesn't work? And how the hell am I going to break it to her that we'll be taking a live geth onto this ship? I just... I don't know...

It is only a simple crush, after all. Right? Maybe...?

Ah, damn it all to hell. I don't know...

All this thinking is bad for my health.

I'm gonna go chat with Garrus. It'll take my mind off of this, anyhow.

* * *

I arrive at the gunnery bay slowly, and I-

"Oh, Mr. *********! How are you doing?"

Oh... Uh... Huh... I was definitely not expecting that, but it's welcome.

"Hi, Sturge," I say, waving to the old man as he and Garrus both turn around to get a good look at me. "I didn't expect you'd be here..."

The old man shrugged. "Nobody needs food at the moment, and Gardner's done with his duties, so I thought I'd stop by here," he says, gesturing to the turian.

"That's twice you've spoken to him recently," I comment, looking over to the turian.

Garrus simply shrugs as he turns from his console. "Really, it's not that big of a deal," he says. "I must say, though, I see you were attracting odd people even before I met you."

I snort and roll my eyes at this. "Are you really that surprised?" I ask.

"Not at all," says the former vigilante as he shifts where he stands. "I wouldn't have it any other way, actually. And plus, Sturge is pretty cool if you get where he's coming from."

"And if you can get your head out of those calibrations," comments my old friend as he crosses his arms. "I swear, you're spending more time on that console than is safe for your health. It's kind of like how my mother got about this purse she had one time!"

Garrus simply glanced over at Sturge. "It's important," counters the turian. "If we get attacked by another ship you wouldn't want the guns to be slightly off, would you?"

"Maybe, but it looks like you could use a break sometimes," replies the former science teacher. "You're in here all day doing nothing but calibrations. You need to find a way to relax every once in a while."

"Maybe, but not now," replies the turian.

Sturge shrugs at this. "Have it your way," he says. "Those equations are very interesting..."

Oh, dear. How did I know Sturge would start geeking out over the math. "Well... if you feel like helping me out sometimes, by all means go ahead," says Garrus. "But you should learn the equations first..."

"I'll... have to get back to you on that," says the assistant mess sergeant. "I should probably get back to the kitchen, see what Gardner wants. I'll see you two later."

With this, the old man leaves the gunnery bay, leaving Garrus and I in there as he walks out of the bay. The doors close behind him, and then I turn to Garrus with a shrug.

"Sturge is... a character," he says. "I can see how you two became such fast friends."

I nod, smiling at this. "Oh, yeah," I comment. "We were the best of friends back in high school. Still are, if this is anything to go by."

"Yeah," I say as I step into the room. "I owe a lot to him. So, Garrus... How are you feeling about going onto the Citadel to find Sidonis?"

The turian's hands come together at this. "Honestly?" he asks. "I'm feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing. What if the mercs have found him? What if he and the others he was with are already gone...? I'm just worried."

"I think I'd be too, if I was concerned about the fate of my squad," I comment. "It'll be all right, Garrus. We'll find 'em, this side or the other." It would've been the other had things been different, after all...

"I know," he says, his shoulders drooping. "I... I just can't help but think something might've happened to them..."

I shrug. "We'll just have to see," I say. "I'm looking forward to meeting them, actually." Especially if that asari is with Sidonis; I'd really like to know who she is for future reference.

"I think you'll like them," says Garrus, leaving a smirk on his mandibles. "They're strange."

I snort at this. "And kind of insane, I'm guessing," I comment.

"Not so much," he replies. "But they're damn brilliant. Especially the Journalist. I can't wait to hold her head in my arms again."

"I'll bet you can't," I say with a shrug. "I'm looking forward to meeting her."

Garrus nods simply, and then he goes back to doing his calibrations. I sit there, and converse with him a little longer about some of the jobs he had to do. Killing a couple of big crime bosses on Omega, a few bits on how he met Sidonis and his XO, and how he thinks the squad members he's sure already escaped are doing. It's a rather nice thing to think about...

Although something tells me it's not going to be that simple. We'll just have to see what happens, and roll with the punches from there.


	10. Chapter 9

_A/N: And we're back._

_All right, so last time we had some characters developed, we looked at Sturge and Jenny a bit more, and we established that Art is now Shepard's unofficial second in command._

_Right. Now... for a little PSA:_

_The next two chapters will have a series of reveals that may or may not shock you. As such, it is advised that you keep your heart rate low when the next two chapters are released, because we are ready to blow your mind with the revelations..._

_Oh, yeah, and more squad members get mentioned. So for future reference: Kat and Viran are both owned by Ryan Priessman._

_So yeah, that's all from here. I'll get to the chapter now, and I'll see you guys on the other side!_

* * *

Chapter 9: Loyalty: Black Night

I'm suiting up as the Normandy docks at the Citadel. Well... it's the moment of truth. I find out what happened to Sidonis, and all is good. I wonder who that asari he's with is... I know she changed everything, but I can't help but feel that other forces are at work here. I guess I'll find out what those other forces are sooner or later. I just hope we can save Sidonis; if not, I get the feeling we'll lose Garrus' loyalty, like the way we lose Thane's if we don't stop the assassination...

I strap my assault rifle and shotgun to my back, cracking my knuckles as I do so. I leave my room and walk over to the air lock briskly as I wonder about Garrus. I wonder if that Journalist chick is there... Who is she? Will she be cool? How will she take to going onto a suicide mission? Either way, it'll be fun to meet her, I'm sure.

I just hope we can do this. I can't rely on canon anymore to help me with this; if Fade still exists (which he does, given that Harkin still resigned from C-Sec), and if he still helped Sidonis, I've got a feeling that now we won't have to fight through an army of mechs and Blue Suns to get to him. If anything, we might have to get that done on the way to Sidonis, or to defend Harkin. Either way, things are going to be very different now. Just rely on your instincts, not on canon...

Garrus is there when I show up at the airlock, along with Thane and Zaeed. I look to Zaeed and Garrus and nod as Thane seems lost in his own world.

"Hello, guys," I say.

"Art," says Zaeed. "Let's hope we don't run into any high buildin's today, yeah?"

I frown at Zaeed as I hear this. "Zaeed!" I say. "Come on!"

"I do not think that will be necessary, Mr. Massani," replies Thane. "The Zakera ward is not so high that it will tap into his fears."

"Thank you Thane," I say, crossing my arms as I look to Garrus. "So... what's the story?"

"Well... I know that Sidonis and the gang were going to go to some guy called Fade," says Garrus. "He apparently makes people disappear. They were supposed to meet with him when they got to the Citadel from what Sidonis told me. Maybe Fade could tell us where we'd find Sidonis, or even if he's still on the Citadel."

"Fair enough," I say with a nod. "Do you think they'll be gone by now?

"I don't think so," says the turian. "Sidonis hadn't finished his arrangements with Fade when we left Omega. He needed to take some time to finish up their cover stories, so they're likely still here. I'm just hoping the Blue Suns haven't caught on yet..."

"I don't think they will," replies Zaeed. "They're not bad with information, but the damn idiots don't have enough of it. They won't get in on this unless they're fast."

"Sidonis answered directly to them when he contemplated turning, though..." says Garrus. "I think they might have caught on somehow. We have to find Sidonis and the people that were with him before then."

"I hear C-Sec might be able to help ya with that," replies Zaeed. "If this 'Fade' guy is the one I'm thinkin' about, they've been lookin' for that crafty son of a bitch for some time."

"That should make it easier, then," says Garrus. "It'll be strange entering my old work place again, but there isn't really a whole lot I can do about that... I just hope my old co-workers won't be too hostile."

I nod at this. "And then there's the Journalist," I comment. "How do you propose we ask her to join the crew of the ship?"

Garrus shrugs. "How do you think?" he asks.

I blink before nodding. That is true... "Yeah, you do have a point there," I say. "But isn't there something else we needed to do...?"

"Shepard has to find Kasumi Goto," says Thane.

It's at this point that we hear footsteps approach the airlock, and then we all see Shepard there. "I'll take care of that," she says. "Thane, you're with me. Art, Garrus, Zaeed, you three will be handling whatever you need to for this Sidonis guy. I'll join up with you when I have Kasumi in our team."

Thane acknowledge Shepard with a simple nod and... was that a slight raise in his shoulders I saw? Thane and Shepard, sitting in a tree, _kiiisiiing_... I turn to Zaeed and Garrus as we watch this. Zaeed frowns, but Garrus simply shrugs at this. The two of them exit into the airlock, and as their decontamination cycle starts for them we turn to each other.

"Well... I think the Commander might be attracted to him," says Garrus, crossing his arms.

"I know," I say, looking over there. "Isn't it cute?"

"Cute?" asks Zaeed. "I don't know what ya find cute, but I don't think boning a dying assassin is what I would consider 'cute'."

I frown as I look at the mercenary. "They're not boning," I comment. "Not yet, anyhow."

Garrus chortles at this. "That's true," replies the former Blue Suns leader with a nod. "I'll bet ya four thousand credits they bone by the time this mission ends."

I groan as I shake my head. "Oh, great, we're making bets on the commander's love life?" I ask. "I thought we were done with that!"

"Some things never change..." comments the turian as he gives a bemused smile. With this, Thane and Shepard's decontamination cycle ends, and then the door opens. We step inside, and as the door closes behind us the turian changes the subject. "But that's not important right now. We should concentrate on finding this Fade guy, and fast."

"Right behind ya on that one," says Zaeed as he crosses his arms. "You just let me know if ya wanna take it hard on this guy."

"I doubt we'll need that," I say as the airlock opens.. "So... To C-Sec, and we'll work it out from there?"

Garrus nods at this. "To C-Sec."

And with this, we exit the Normandy's airlock, and step out onto the Zakera ward.

* * *

We eventually find the C-Sec offices down in the Zakera ward. It's taken a bit of talking to C-Sec officers and getting them to realize they're talking to a former C-Sec officer, but we're finally here. And now, Garrus just has to talk to the officers, and we'll be good for talking to Bailey.

So he's taking care of that, and I'm left to wonder as Zaeed and I stand a short distance away from the turian. Wow... C-Sec really has changed a lot over two years. It's so hard to notice what with not having lived in the Zakera ward, but it's become a lot less populated by turians. Now there are quite a few humans in C-Sec, and I guess that's always a good thing as far as some people are concerned... But they're looking at Zaeed all funny. He's not taking it too kindly, but there's really nothing he can do about that. Either because he got shot in the head, or because he knows better than to mess with C-Sec, he's stayed quiet, and all I have to do is give anyone a glare and they're off.

It sure is strange seeing ourselves here at Bailey's office... But hey, that's life for you. We see Garrus chat it up, and then after a little while, we see Garrus head towards us with a spring in his step. He nods to us, and then gestures to the doors.

"All right, we're clear," he says. "We're gonna get to talk to Captain Bailey."

"Good," I say, smiling.

"Now let's just hope this guy has what ya need," says Zaeed. "I don't think any of us are wantin' to look all over the Citadel for someone."

"I hear ya there, Zaeed," I comment. "Let's go."

With this, we step through the doors and into the scanner. We walk into the office with a certain air after that, and then to our right, we see Captain Armando Bailey. Oh, hai there. I hope you're up to playing twenty questions with us.

We turn to him as he works at his console. Upon seeing Garrus, however, his face lightens up.

"Well, if it isn't Officer Garrus Vakarian," says the captain. "I'm Captain Bailey. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same here," says Garrus as he and the human shake hands.

"And I see you even have that soldier turned composer right now," says the captain as his attention goes to me. "A pleasure, Mr. *********."

I smile and shake his hand. "The pleasure's all mine, captain," I say. "And this is Zaeed Massani."

I gesture to the merc as he nods. "Hallo," he says.

He nods at this, and then looks to us. "I take it the lady at the desk told you what we need?" I ask.

"Yep," replies the captain. "I really can't tell you where he is, though. If I could, he'd be in a cell. But we've got all other kinds of information, and a possible trail."

Garrus' eyes take on a tone of concern as he hears this, but I simply smile and cross my arms in front of me. "Okay, that's good," I say. "Better than nothing at any rate. What've you got?"

"I'll start with information about Fade himself," says Bailey. "We don't know who he is, but we know that he's helped a lot of people disappear. Our sources say that's about it, but one of our more reliable ones has something interesting to say about Fade..."

The former C-Sec officer crosses his arms. "Really?" he asks. "Like what?"

"He used to work with the Blue Suns," says Bailey. Oh, yeah, that's right... Garrus stiffens up at this, realizing what has happened. "But... a funny thing happened about two months ago. Fade and the Blue Suns had a bit of a falling out of sorts; he no longer works for them." All the tension that was in Garrus' shoulders instantly evaporates, much to our general relief.

But Zaeed is not as convinced. "That could be a problem," he comments. "The Suns don't like it when they lose employees. About the best I'd expect is to see an army of Blue Suns swarming' him. At worst, he's already dead..."

I look to Zaeed. Oh, dear, this isn't looking good. I glance briefly to Garrus as his eyes alight in concern again. We all turn back to the C-Sec captain as he nods. "I guess so," says Bailey. "Fortunately for you, Fade is extremely good at not staying in one place for too long. So he's still alive. You've got time to find him and get what you need. In the meantime... we have something of a trail. All of his contacts work out of the same warehouse here on the wards. You could get started there, as they'd be the only people who know."

"We'll have to do it gently," says Zaeed. "The Blue Suns don't like to take prisoners when they're mad at someone. If they're not gettin' what they want, they'll likely kill ya. We need to move fast."

"You sure do seem to know a lot about the Blue Suns," comments Bailey.

"Bah, I used to be involved with 'em once," says the old mercenary. "I liked it quite a bit, right up until they left me for dead."

Ah, yes, Vido Santiago. That will have to be helped sometime. "I see," says the captain. "Well, I hope that's all you need."

"Trust me, I think it's good enough," I say. "It's a place to start, and that's better than nothing. Thanks!"

"Hey, anytime," he says. Yeah, good to know I can come to you when we're in trouble. That'll come in handy when it's Thane's turn to stop by the C-Sec office down here.

The three of us walk a short distance away to converse amongst ourselves. I can see Garrus is incredibly worried, but he's holding in as best he can. Zaeed is impassive about the whole thing. Me? I'm just worried we won't get to Sidonis in time if Harkin is running from the Blue Suns the way he is now...

"Right," I comment, looking to Garrus and Zaeed. "We should get moving, then. If the Blue Suns are hot on Fade's trail, then they're probably also pretty close to finding Sidonis and the gang."

"Yeah," says Garrus. "Let's move!"

And with this, the three of us leave the C-Sec offices, hoping to find Fade before it's too late.

* * *

We come across the warehouse Bailey pointed us to. We look at it as I raise my eyebrows. Huh, Citadel warehouses are always far too plain for my liking. Why couldn't they be more like that warehouse where my grandfather used to store the sailboat? Now that was a nice-looking warehouse. Shame concrete is probably expensive as the devil up here, especially in this day and age where it's harder to find the minerals needed.

Well, on the plus side, we don't have to worry about oil anymore. Now we just have to worry about Element Zero shortages. That's always a good thing, I think. Plus, I won't have to worry about the price of oil. Although, I never owned a car, so that was a moot point anyway. Still, it's nice to think that oil shortages won't be the biggest thing on the news today. God, it was annoying when they began talking about all those hiking prices. I'll bet there was an oil spill that was just about to happen that I missed. Take that, time!

Right. Back to the subject at hand.

"Well, here we are," I mention. "We're finding some contact here or another."

"Keep the pressure light," says Zaeed. "I'm not doin' this like a Blue Sun."

I nod. "Gotcha," I say.

And we move around... Well, I already kind of know where to go, but they don't need to know that. So I just walk around seemingly aimlessly while looking for someone. Okay... Volus and two krogan... Volus and two krogan... Where the hell are they? Oh, calm down Art, you'll find them eventually.

Eventually, I see the volus in question standing there with the two krogan bodyguards. Ah, this is the first time I've ever had to talk with a non-merchant volus. The little guy just stands there in his pressure suit, and I can hear the light hiss of him taking a breath. Wow, the pressure of their home planet must be really great if that's just a regular breath. And the two krogan bodyguards... they're just as timid as they are in the game, I see. It seems so jarring to see that for some reason. I see the volus stand there waiting on something.

I look back to my two friends and nod, and the three of us round the corner towards the volus. As Garrus, Zaeed, and I come into view, he tenses up slightly. I approach as the krogan guards raise their weapons at me.

Huh. Well, fortunately for me, there's no Renegade interrupt here, which Shepard will not be taking because she's busy with Kasumi. I'll bet she'll also be busy with the Council, though I don't tell Garrus and Zaeed that. They can find out on their own anyway.

"I know what you've *gasp* done to the others! *gasp*" says the volus. Oh, Christ. "If you think *gasp* you can get Fade's location from me, *gasp* then you better run away *gasp* before I-"

"Look, don't die of a heart attack on us here," I reply. "Yes, we're looking for Fade, but isn't it obvious that we're not Blue Suns?"

This causes the volus to pause mid-sentence, and then he regards me. I can't see anything about his expression there, so he simply stands there.

"I see *gasp* your point, Earth-clan," says the tiny guy. "But I'm still not telling you *gasp* where he is."

I frown, crossing my arms as I look at the two krogan. Their weapons are trained on us, and they look determined. Bah, your facade doesn't fool me. If we just draw our weapons, then we can be all right.

With this realization, I draw my pistol and point it at one of the krogan. Garrus, taking my hint, pulls out his assault rifle and aims it at the other krogan. Zaeed is quick to pull out his flamethrower, and as we watch the krogan guards, their eyes bulge. Ha, up thine, you cowardly bitches! As soon as they see this, the krogan guards start bolting in the other direction. The volus turns around, extremely confused as I smirk. When the guards are out of sight, I holster my pistol and place my hands on my hips.

"Uh... yeah..." I observe, looking at the air where the krogan used to stand. "Urdnot Wrex would not be proud."

I can hear Garrus chortle behind me as I turn to the volus. "Listen," I say. "We're not going to hurt you. We just need some information so we can get additional information from Fade. It's vitally important that we get this information, so please, cooperate."

The volus can't make quick head movements, but I can see the slight nod. "Good," I say. "Now, where's Fade?"

"He's at a Factory District *gasp*," says the volus. "He's laying low in some warehouse right now *gasp*. Hopefully, the Blue Suns *gasp* can't get to him. But I know where he is *gasp*..."

His hand lights up, and his fingers dance over an omni-tool. My omni-tool pings, and then I open it up to see the place he's talking about. Ah, that's the place. I could've just headed there, but I don't want to break cover. Besides, I can't exactly rely on canon anymore to make my decisions for me, so now that that's failed me I'm doing stuff on my own. Besides... I think this place was different from where we encountered Harkin originally. So yeah.

I nod at this as I close my omni-tool. "Thanks," I say. "You take care of yourself."

With this, the three of us walk away, leaving the volus standing there. We walk briskly back to the thing we took to get here, and I look over where it is.

"Okay, so we know where Fade is," says Garrus. "I'm just worried... What if the Blue Suns have already found him."

"They'll kill 'im if he doesn't comply with 'em," says Zaeed. "I'd say Sidonis is already compromised. And if he's not, it'll be a damn miracle."

"That's not very comforting," says the turian. "I just... was this such a good idea, trying to find them through Fade?"

I raise my eyebrows and turn to him. "What, you'd rather stumble blindly around in the Citadel?" I ask. "I didn't think that's a chance you'd be willing to take."

"But here it just looks like I'm pulling them into danger again," says the turian, looking down at the ground. "I don't want to do that. I already endangered them by becoming infamous on Omega... I just don't want it to happen again... I just want something to go right... And I don't know if we'll get it right with these Blue Suns."

We stand there in silence. Just once, right? Aw, Garrus. I wanna stroke your mandible right now. It's just...

I turn to him. "Garrus," I reply. "We just have to be faster than the Blue Suns. That's really all it is." He looks up at me, and I give him a small smile. "Don't worry, Garrus. We'll make sure your squad is safe. One way or another."

The turian nods at this. "Maybe," he says. "I just want something to go right now..."

"It will," I say. "I'll make sure of it." I'll gun down every last one of those Blue Suns if I have to.

He nods at this, and then looks to me and Zaeed. "Yeah, you're right," he says. "We just have to be faster than the Blue Suns and we'll keep them safe. Let's go find this Fade before the Blue Suns can..."

With this, the three of us rush to the cruiser, Garrus finding a new spring in his step. I smile inwardly at this. We can do it. We can save Sidonis. Just like Shepard could in the game. We can do this.

And as we climb into the cruiser, I feel a new determination fill my being as I sit and watch the buildings of the Citadel go by quickly.

* * *

Zaeed, Garrus, and I land the cruiser a short distance away from where Fade is supposed to be. We step out of it, keeping our wits about us as we move through the Factory district. Okay... I keep the map on my omni-tool open, and we follow it as best we can. I just hope Fade is there, because if he's not, there shall be hell to pay.

Right... Turn left here... turn right... walk down this street...

Why am I half expecting a late 20th Century bus to come rolling by? I guess this reminds me of some of the location hunting I had to do over in the city of Boston. Those were always good times, but it was a pain during summer. Fucking global warming and its insanity. I really hope they did something about that back home. They needed too, anyway; it's not just heating up the world, but making it more toxic too. Hopefully I won't have to go there and wear a mask.

Speaking of pollution... I wonder how bad the other species got with it. I mean, everything looks a little too immaculate here. There's gotta be some form of grime somewhere in this fucking galaxy, right? I mean... maybe the salarian homeworld got polluted. Or something! I don't know, whatever works!

Eh, I'm probably thinking too far into it. We're almost at Fade anyway, so we might as well make this quick.

I close the map on my omni-tool, grabbing out my pistol just in case I need it. I don't think we'll get the merc army, but he could still sic the mechs on us. So hopefully, we won't need to fire this after all. I step up to the door and look back to Garrus and Zaeed. They both have weapons out, and they both look ready to kick ass if need be. With this, I nod, and then I move to open the door. My hand hovers over the controls, and then the door opens.

And sure enough, there's Harkin, seemingly just having walked around when the door opened. He looks over and swings his arm out.

And almost immediately, I sense I jumped the gun a bit. There's no mech army here. That's... a little strange. I was expecting maybe even a couple of LOKI mechs there. But no, it's just Harkin standing there, pacing about restlessly as he works at his omni-tool. He pauses as he looks at us, and then we step in side. I can see his posture relax slightly when he sees we don't have Blue Suns armor on, but he's still concerned as we go through.

"Harkin," says Garrus.

Okay, time to act. I turn to Garrus with a confused expression on my face. Zaeed still keeps his weapon trained. "Garrus, you know this guy?" I ask.

"Know him?" replies the turian. "I had the displeasure of working with him. His name's Harkin."

Ah, yes. Got to remember that Harkin dude. Apparently, it was a big deal when he got fired... "Harkin, eh?" I ask, turning to him and crossing my arms. "I think they made a big deal about you. You got fired from C-Sec after the humans really started their joining drive. So I guess this is how you make a living now..."

"I don't know what you think I'm doing here!" says Harkin, and almost immediately I can tell that the human is afraid for his life. "Don't arrest me!"

"Relax, I don't work for C-Sec anymore," replies Garrus as he holsters his weapon and crosses his arms. "I'm not gonna turn you in, although I might give them a tip if you don't tell me where someone is."

I see some sweat pour down Harkin's face. "B... but what about the Blue Suns?" he asks. "They might get me any second now... And you being here is only making things worse! And what if they find me when you tip the police!"

Zaeed shakes his head. "Relax," says the former merc. "You're takin' it a bit too hard. They've got good information, but if you're careful ya can't get caught."

"I've been very careful," says Harkin. "But I'm afraid they'll get me soon anyway..."

I nod at this, holstering my pistol as I nod to the former C-Sec agent. "Then I think you'll be in good hands to tell us what we need to know," I say. "We're looking for a Lantar Sidonis. According to our sources, he has a group of people with him as well. He's trying to make all of them disappear, including himself."

Harkin's eyebrows raise at this. "Yeah, I've worked with him a little," he says. "But I'm not telling you where he is. It's bad for business... provided I still have it when the Blue Suns are done with me."

Garrus shakes his head and walks forward, moving much closer to Harkin than before. "They're not after you," says Garrus. "They're after Sidonis and everyone who's with him. You're in the middle. So either you tell us and we leave you alone, or you tell them and get riddled with bullets."

I tilt my head. "Yeah, Sidonis pissed off the Blue Suns worse than you did," I comment. "So if anything, they'll leave you out to do whatever with a missing foot or something."

"Missing foot?" says Zaeed. "I..." I glare at him. Stay in character, god damn it! "I... Yes, that is something I've seen them all do." Ah, that's better, Zaeed. Thanks.

Harkin jumps slightly upon hearing the slight hiss in Garrus' voice. "W-what?" he asks. "B... but I swear they weren't too happy with me when I left!"

"Oh really?" I ask, leaning on one foot. "Why's that?"

"It's their leader," says Harkin. "Vido Santiago. He's a real crooked son of a bitch, I can tell you. He wanted me to hand over some of my profits to him, and then to send some of the people to their death... I couldn't do it after a while. So that's why I called it quits. But Vido's gonna have my head, either on a silver platter or in some C-Sec prison. I can't have that!"

"Vido Santiago, you said?" asks Zaeed, coming forward with a frown on his face.

"Y-yes..." says Harkin. Oh, boy, he's afraid. Good thing we don't have that army of mechs out to kill us or anything. Because that would just plain suck.

Zaeed's mouth curls into a snarl. "Ya know, I used to know that son of a bitch," he says. "We founded the Blue Suns together. But he betrayed me, left me for dead."

I raise my eyebrows at this to keep in character as Harkin gives him a confused glance. "You... what?" he asks. "But... all the Blue Suns records don't make any mention of that!"

"Because he wiped me out of all of 'em," says Zaeed, rage apparent in his one good eye. "Son of a bitch stole our company from under our feet, turned it into a terrorist organization. I've been hunting him for twenty years to give him his due. Twenty years of seein' his face every time ya close your eyes isn't the best way to go about your life. So I have more than one reason to put a bullet through the guy's head, ya hear me?"

The forger nods at this, and then looks at all of us. "I... I can lead you to where he is right now," replies Harkin. "I also know where Sidonis and his friends are, but if the Blue Suns have gotten to any of my previous computers they'll know where they're meeting up. I'll tell you what: I can arrange a meeting that will take place I can give you that if you take care of Vido for me."

"And why would you want ta go after 'im, too?" asks Zaeed. Yeah, I'd be suspicious too.

"Because this is also a bit personal for Vido," he says. "I almost arrested him once just before I got fired. Needless to say, he didn't take too well to that. So if he finds me, I'm either dead, or I get turned in to C-Sec."

I look to Garrus and Zaeed with this. Garrus' eyes are pleading with me to say yes to this deal, and Zaeed... wait, wasn't Zaeed supposed to have this information already? That's... a little odd, I should think... Maybe he hadn't taken that job to liberate the factory... Or something.

Me? This'll work perfectly. We don't have to deal with a mech army, we find out where Vido is, we make plans to head there, we find Sidonis, I finally find out what the hell happened that he betrayed the mercs back, bada bim bada boom, Garrus is loyal. Yeah, this will be a good deal, I hope.

"All right," I say. "I can't say I'll like being your lap dog, but we'll agree to it." I cross my arms as Harkin nods. "So where's Vido?"

Harkin gives us all a wary look, but concentrates it on Zaeed. "Last I heard, he was heading up an operation on Zorya," he replies. "He was taking over some factory there. Vido should be there."

"And Sidonis?" asks Garrus.

Fade's omnitool lights up, and then he keys a few things in there. This takes a few seconds, and then he looks to us. "I'm going to set up a meeting at the Dark Star Lounge," he says. Ah, that place. Mangdalar and Yelena were both frequent customers over there, so I know where it is. Yeah, this isn't going to be too hard. "I'll set it up for forty-five minutes from now. Who should I tell them to look out for?"

Hm... Well, we can't send Garrus in... and Zaeed will likely just get shot down on the spot... I could go in, but I want to watch the proceedings... Hm...

Right at this moment, I feel something buzz to life in my ear.

"_Shepard to Art, do you copy?_"

Oh. Well, that changes a few things. I hold a finger up to Harkin, and then look around. I place my hand up to my ear and look at the wall. "Yeah, I copy," I say, looking over. "Have you met up with Kasumi yet?"

"_Yep, we have,_" says Shepard. "_She's currently on the Normandy sorting herself out. Thane and I are free to help._"

I nod. "Hang on a second," I say. "I just need to finish something up, and I'll get back to you."

I then turn to Harkin, and then tilt my head forward. "Tell them they're looking for a human woman in a kind of purplish armor with red hair," I reply to the forger. Best not to mention she's got an N7 insigna on her arm.

He nods and types a few more things on his omni-tool. He nods at us, and then does something. "Done," he says. "You might want to be fast. And take this." He types a few more things on his omni-tool, and then I hear my own omni-tool ping. I bring it up and look at the information sent to me. Oh... Well... this one is a profile... male turian... office grunt... good at combat... security...

"These are their new identities..." I comment, looking through the profile slowly..

He nods. "Figure they might be of more use to you than to me," he comments. "They're supposed to take passage to Invictus, where they'll all pose as happy people that are going to new places for the adventure. Hand them their new identities, get them to the next shuttle to leave for there, and we should be good."

Garrus comes extremely close to Harkin. "You better have been straight up with us," says the turian. "Or we'll be back, and I will _not_ be in as merciful a mood."

Huh, no knee shooting. That's always a relief. The forger simply nods at this, and then I nod as I uncross my arms. The three of us walk outside of the factory, and then the doors close without any event.

Well, that certainly went a hell of a lot better than it did in canon. It didn't end in a Paragon interrupt, that's for sure. And it didn't end with a random fem!Shepard comment about how she wouldn't have shot him in the knee. And that's always a good thing... Plus, his squad isn't dead, so that's always another good thing. I just don't know what happened is all...

So 45 minutes. That'll be how long it'll take me to find out who Sidonis fell in love with. Just 45 more minutes...

We walk outside, and then I bring my hand back up to my ear. "Okay, Shepard," I say. "We're heading to the Dark Star Lounge. We'll be meeting up with Sidonis there. You'll be the one that he and whoever he's with will be meeting up with, and the rest of us will hide out in case the Blue Suns try anything."

"_Got it,_" says the commander. "_I'll be there in fifteen minutes._"

I nod with this, and then look over to Garrus and Zaeed. "Okay, so the Dark Star Lounge..."

"Ya know anythin' about this place?" asks Zaeed.

I nod. "Yeah," I reply as we approach the cruiser. "It's a lounge where people chill, have a few drinks... The Blue Suns wouldn't want to make a scene there, I think. I went there a couple times with the people I stayed with during the past two years." I gesture with my shoulder as we approach the cruiser. "There are a few maintenance shafts above the lounge area. Very good hiding spots, too; you can't actually see snipers from the lounge, but the snipers have a great view of you. Garrus, Thane, and I can easily hide up there and position ourselves to look over the scene with our sniper rifles to make sure everything goes smoothly. We'll take them to the docks, make sure they get on a shuttle to Invictus, and life is good."

"All right," says Garrus as we all clamber into the cruiser. "And if the Blue Suns find us?"

I shrug, flashing him a goofy smile as we set off towards the lounge. "Then we'll just have to fight fire with fire."

With this, we decide we've spoken enough, and so we fly off towards Dark Star, making our trip there as quick as we can.

* * *

We arrive at Dark Star pretty quickly, and we meet up with Thane and Shepard and bring them up to speed. They say my plan is as good as any. Zaeed agrees to stand outside the door to the lounge as inconspicuously as we can, and ten minutes before the meeting we're all set up.

I place my sniper rifle on the railway of the maintenance shaft, taking a couple deep breaths. Okay, this is the moment of truth. This is when we find out who exactly Sidonis fell in love with. I can't help but think he fell in love with Morinth right now. That would just be awkward; Samara would lose her trail of Morinth and it would be our fault. Thus, no loyalty, Samara dies, end of story. But I know that's implausible. She's not the sweet person Garrus describes sometimes, and Sidonis would be dead by now if that were the case. So it's not Morinth. Who, then...?

And why do I get the strange feeling I'm going to know exactly who she is?

I peer through the scope, seeing the tenants of the lounge as they go about their business. They don't seem to catch on that there are three snipers in the maintenance shafts, but that's the idea. Plus, it's not like we're out to kill innocent people anyway.

Heh, not out to kill innocents. This is reminding me of that one time when I was at school and we had a sniper warning for someone two blocks away. It wasn't even a proper sniper; just some guy arguing with his wife and shooting cop cars. I never got the full story. Either way, I don't think I would've liked the full story, as we ended up wasting ten minutes sitting inside when they didn't even hit anybody.

Fortunately, shots will hopefully not be fired today. If they are, I will be very afraid for my sanity. And life will not be fun afterwards.

I bring my hand up to my earpiece. "Okay, I've just set up my rifle," I say into the comm link. "Garrus, Thane, you two set?"

"Yeah, I'm set," says Garrus on one end of the walkway. I look over and see the distinctive blue glow of his eyepiece.

"I am set as well," says the drell, and I look over to see him holding the rifle just behind where things are.

"Right," I say. "No pulling of the trigger here, remember. We're here to observe. We're only firing if the going gets really bad."

"Got it," says Garrus. "You know, this reminds me of a job I had to do once."

"What did it entail?" asks Thane from the comm link.

"We were taking down this drug dealer," says the turian. "He was some batarian who was illegally handing out red sand. It was me, Sam, and Kat standing up here. I had my sniper rifle prepared, and we had the Journalist down there pretending to be an addict."

Oh, dear... "I can see where this is going..." I say. "Lemme guess. It went to hell..."

"Not really," says Garrus. "I was just making sure she was all right. She ended up buying the red sand, and then applying it all to his eyes."

I bite my lower lip at this, looking out onto the lounge. "That can't have been healthy," I comment.

"It was not," replies the turian with slight mirth in his voice. "The guy died of a red sand overdose. I wished I could've gotten him with the sniper rifle, but she did the job really well. That was one of the few jobs that didn't involve everyone." I can feel the happiness. "I can't wait to see her again..."

"I hope you will meet again," comments the drell assassin. "She sounds precious to you."

"More than you could hope to think about, Thane," says Garrus. "I hope she's here..."

... Somehow, I think they've just jinxed it. Oh, well, not a whole lot I can do about that, now, is there?

I shrug and look through...

Wait... that suit... blue with a bit of red... and he is barefaced... He's kind of sitting off to the side, looking around. Isn't that the suit Sidonis was wearing? I... I think so... Yeah, there are those white lines

"Uh... I think I've got a visual on a turian," I say. "Barefaced, with a garish suit..."

There's a brief silence as we concentrate. Finally, I hear Garrus' voice over the intercom. "It's Sidonis," says the former C-Sec officer. Ah, I knew it! "He's alone right now..."

"Does this concern you?" asks Thane.

I can feel the shake of Garrus' head. "No," he replies simply. "Sidonis knows how to keep people off of him. He probably had everyone stay in separate places until they got their opportunity. Looks like they won't have to wait too much longer."

I nod at this, looking down at the suit. "You know..." I say. "I don't understand why he'd wear such a terrible suit."

"You're not being serious, are you?" Garrus asks.

"I'm being completely serious," I say. "If not for the fact that you actually make good choices in blues, I'd say you guys have terrible, terrible fashion. I mean, really. Those colors don't work like that at all!"

I can hear Garrus chuckle. "You only say that because you don't paint your faces," he replies.

I blink and glance over to where Garrus is. "Really, Garrus?" I ask. "You're pulling that card now? I'll have you know that the Native Americans of my country used to do all sorts of painting with their faces. It just wasn't present with the side of Earth that eventually forced all those poor guys out of their land."

"Art, I really don't think this is the time for a lesson on Earth history." Oh, wow, that's Shepard. She was listening in on us...? Damn... "Keep your eyes peeled..."

I shake my head, biting my lower lip as I reposition my sniper rifle. I shrug, but before I can move, I hear a shift of clothes from Thane.

"You said one of his companions was a male quarian," says the assassin.

I blink, looking over to where Thane is. I peer back into my scope, and then see a male quarian meeting up with Sidonis. He's got a brown envirosuit with a black veil on, and he seems pretty cheery as he greets Sidonis. The quarian sits down, and then the turian is left standing around. I see a small hand gesture from the quarian as he leans back, and Sidonis seems to laugh about something the quarian male has said...

"Yep, that's Nogond, all right," says Garrus. "Good. At least I know everyone else is likely safe."

Wait... I frown. "Wait, Nogond was one of them?" I ask. "Why didn't you say anything to Jenny?"

"I..." Garrus stops mid-sentence. That's what I thought, you son of a bitch. First you left me at that apartment without even hinting at it, and then you're pulling this shit on us. Hm... I guess I've got no right to complain, given the massive cover-up I'm performing on everyone involving my past, but that's different. I have to do it, or else everyone will think I'm insane. Garrus did actually have a choice in both matters that I remember...

Fortunately for him, Shepard speaks up. "I'll call her down when we book passage to Invictus for them," she says.

I nod. "Thanks, Shepard," I say. "I think Jenny'll appreciate being able to say goodbye to Nogond."

We remain silent after this, and then I close my eyes. So we only have the Journalist and that asari left... I'm getting so close to the truth now that it kind of hurts... But I have to know this. I have to know what changed... And if it's just this universe fucking with me or if I really did change events to my liking without even knowing it... I don't know. I really don't. I shift where I kneel, blinking away uncertainty as my heart begins to beat very fast.

Thane is the first to speak. "I have a visual on an asari," he says. "He is heading towards Nogond and Sidonis..."

I know I should probably turn to look... but a part of me is too terrified to. So I keep my sights trained on Sidonis and Nogond, watching them both look in a certain direction. It's the same direction I'm facing... I probably didn't see her because my eye that's not through the scope is squeezed as tight as can be. My hands grip the weapon tighter, and I bring my right hand a little farther from the trigger. Shit... the moment of truth is upon us...

And finally, I blink once, and when I open my eyes to...

...

_What the... What the flying fuck?_

No... There's no way...

"Yep, there she is," says Garrus.

"Lireya Nuriat. Just as I remember her."

... Holy shit... It's that ardat-yakshi I talked to after the film premiere! She's got that emerald face paint that I saw a few years back, her skin is that shade of blue, her eyes...

Shit... It is Lireya!

My gaze comes up from the scope to look at Sidonis and his friends as they stand there... Oh my God... My eyes aren't deceiving me. It really is her! This can't be... No... This has gotta be a dream...

"Garrus...?" I ask. "Pop quiz. What was her favorite show?"

I can feel the turian's confusion. "Art?" he asks. "Why are you-?"

"Just answer the freaking question," I say.

He sighs at this. "It was this old human show..." he says. "It was apparently from the days when they still called holos TV's. It was about these two people... and one of them could bring dead people back to life. She really loved it, and she'd watch episodes all the time with Sidonis. I think it was called _Pushing Daisies... _and she mentioned she learned about it from a stranger who's always in her thoughts... A stranger who helped her..."

...

Oh my God.

_I'm_ ultimately the reason the squad survived... Lireya needed someone to talk to... And that someone was me... And since I wasn't there in the game, she killed herself. No Lireya, no Sidonis falling in love. No Sidonis falling in love, no squad saved...

And no me, no Lireya...

Jesus... And it was probably a really deep love too... I can see Lireya leave a light kiss against Sidonis' nose. No wonder... Sidonis must've seen past the 'your lover can kill you' bit, and now... That love must be deep... Jesus Christ... This is... I...

I quickly sidle up against the wall of the shaft, leaning against it and taking in a few breaths. I hold my sniper rifle close to me, and I bite my lower lip.

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff..." I say, audible enough to be heard over the comm unit. "Garrus?"

"Yes...?" he asks.

"Uh... Well... I think... _I _was that stranger..." I trail off.

I can hear the soft clatter of a sniper rifle hitting something. Oh, dear, Garrus lost his balance. "You're _what?_" he asks.

"I think I was that stranger..." I say. "It's a long story. I think it's best if you hear it from her, though, because it involves a major secret about her past... It's a secret I'm sure Sidonis knows by now, and I think it's better if you hear it from her mouth..."

The turian is silent for a bit. "All right then," says Garrus. "I'll ask when we're on our way to the docks."

I nod, but before I can come back around, the comm unit cackles to life again. "Garrus, I think we have a problem," says Shepard.

"What is it?" asks Garrus.

"You said there were four people we were waiting on, right?" she asks.

Oh no... I think I know what's going on here. "Yeah..." says Garrus. "Don't tell me it's time..."

"It's worse," says Shepard. "I've been checking off the new identities Art loaded into my omni-tool... but the human girl isn't here..."

"What?" he asks. "How is that...?"

"I don't know," says Shepard with a bit of trepidation in her voice. "We only have three identities."

"No..." says Garrus. "Oh spirits no..."

"I don't know what this is, but I don't like it one bit," says the commander. "Either way... we're on the dot at the time we're supposed to meet. I don't know where this person is, but... I'll be speaking to Sidonis now. I'll keep this line open, and hopefully you'll be able to hear Sidonis."

I pop out behind the wall just long enough to see Sidonis, Nogond, and Lireya all walking towards Shepard. The woman composes herself, and then looks over to the three people we're trying to save. Damn it, no freaking Journalist! Damn it damn it damn it!

We see the turian approach Shepard, and then my breathing begins to get a little on the irregular side as I hold my rifle idle. I don't look through the scope just yet; I think it's better if I wait on that count, seeing as how it might work to our advantage more if I keep my eyes peeled for the rest of the lounge... Damn it, no freaking out here, Art... You've already had enough with finding out that the girl who fell in love with Sidonis turned out to be that ardat-yakshi you saved back when you still lived here for 24 hours... God... I just...

Okay, stay calm. Just stay calm, and it'll be all right.

"Lantar Sidonis?" asks Shepard.

"That would be me," says the turian. "Fade sent you?"

"I believe he did," she says.

I glance over to where Garrus is, nodding to him with a smile. I look back around as I see Sidonis looking around.

"I get the feeling we're being watched..." comments Nogond next to the turian. "I get the feeling we're being watched by someone else."

"Blue Suns?" asks Lireya. Yes... that's her voice... I don't know why I'm still doubting it, but apparently I am.

Shepard shakes her head. "If you feel like you're being watched from above, I have three guys above the club," she says. "They're with me, and they're making sure this all goes smoothly."

"Oh," says Sidonis, and I see him frown as he looks over to where Thane is. "I thought we were targeted for a second there..."

"Trust me, you're in good hands," says Shepard. "I believe one of them is actually an old friend of yours from your days on Omega..."

All three of them show quite a large amount of surprise. "G... Garrus is here?" asks Nogond. "He's alive...?"

"Yes," says Shepard. "He's watching over you three as we speak from the maintenance shaft."

"He..." says a shocked Lireya. "We heard he was dead!"

Shepard shrugs. "Collapsed warehouses can make anyone seem dead," she says, crossing her arms. "How'd you hear about it...?"

"We programmed our omni-tools to send out a message if we died," says Nogond. "We got Garrus' message about a day after we came here. I..."

"He probably didn't have time to update it," says Shepard with a shrug. "At any rate, he's with me, and I'm here to make sure you three get off the Citadel safely."

Sidonis blinks at this, his mandibles out in shock. "I..." says the barefaced turian. "When can we talk to him?"

"We'll be taking you to the docks," says Shepard. "Once we get there, you can talk to him."

"Good..." says the former point man. "I need to talk to him. It's about the Journalist..."

My glance wanders away from them. Oh, dear... I imagine that it won't be anything good. I can sense Garrus' agitated breathing from the other side of the comm line, and it doesn't sound good. "Can't we get it out of the way now?" asks Garrus with a small amount of trepidation.

My gaze travels from Shepard over to where Garrus is posted as Shepard-

_Wait._

What the...?

I bring my eye up to the scope, seeing two men standing there in the shadows. I bring my sniper scope up just in time to see the two men push off a wall. I hear the conversation continue, but I'm not paying attention to it anymore. Now it's just me and the beating of my heart as I look at the two suspicious looking men that are looking at Shepard and the others. I pay careful attention to them, and as I do I see them walk out one of the entrances.

When I see them move through the light of the doorway, I see they're in blue and white armor... And then they vanish from sight.

... Shit! Suns!

I bring my fingers up quickly. "Uh, Shepard, you might want to put some andale into this," I say. "I just spotted a couple of Blue Suns walking out of the lounge. I think they're after Sidonis!"

Shepard blinks at this, and then looks to where they left. She looks around, a little afraid. "Yeah, the kid's right," comments Zaeed. "I just saw a couple of Blue Suns walk out of the lounge. We better get 'em outa here now."

The human woman nods at this, turning to Sidonis. She glances around and then looks around. "Is something wrong?" asks Sidonis.

"One of my guys thinks he might have spotted a merc," says Shepard.

Nogond simply shrugs. "We're used to that," he says. "We've had to keep our meetings very secret around here. But we can take them down if worse comes to worse."

"Still, I don't think it wise to keep the fight in a civilian area," says Lireya. She turns to the commander. "Where to, miss... uh...?"

"Commander Shepard," says the woman. "We have a cruiser. I can take you straight to the docks with everyone else."

With this, I stow away my sniper rifle, and am already making my way back out of the maintenance shaft. Oh, dear... I can smell a firefight coming up on the docks... And why do I get the feeling it'll result in a James Bond moment when we get there? It'll be awesome, but still... I run up and bump into Garrus as Thane comes in behind me, and I quickly run a hand through my hair. Garrus looks over to me with a slight tilt of his head as we move.

"So you knew Lireya," he says.

"Yeah," I reply. "She was about to kill herself when I met her. If I hadn't talked to her, she probably wouldn't have joined your squad."

"I see..." says the turian. "This... will be a little awkward."

I roll my eyes as we work our way down to ground level from the maintenance shafts. "You're telling me Garrus?" I ask. "I don't know how the hell I'm even supposed to reintroduce myself to her..."

"We'll figure it out," says Garrus. "Now come on. We've gotta meet up with Shepard and get to the docks."

And with this, we move quickly, keeping an eye out for any Blue Suns mercs that might be in the area as we move away from the Dark Star Lounge. My hand is thumbing my shotgun, and I bite my lower lip as I feel my heart rate climb ever so slowly. Eventually, we bump into Shepard and Zaeed, and then subsequently into Sidonis, Lireya, and Nogond. I look at all of them as we approach the cruiser, and see the various expressions on their face as Garrus looks over to them.

I think the ardat yakshi notices me first, and her eyes widen in shock. I hold my finger up, though, gesturing to Garrus and Sidonis as the two of them seem to look at each other. Garrus seems relieved, as his posture gives away. And Sidonis is shocked, but I can tell he's relieved too.

I look over to the barefaced turian as he regards the former C-Sec officer in shock. "Garrus!" says the turian.

"Sidonis, you're all right!" says the Vakarian as they both rush forward and pull each other into a brotherly hug.

"We thought you were dead!" says Sidonis. "We all did, I think. Including her..."

"Where is she?" asks Garrus. "Why isn't she here on the Citadel?"

Sidonis shakes his head, his mandibles clicking against his teeth in distaste. "She returned to Omega shortly after we got the pre-written from your omni-tool."

I raise my eyebrow. Oh, dear, she went right back in there? "She what?" asks Garrus.

"I don't know what made her do it," says Nogond, coming forward. "But I think it was your death. I caught her at the docks while going out to get some nutrient paste. She said she was going off to get revenge or something like that... I tried to stop her, but she got on before I could do anything. I told Sidonis the first chance I got. I... I wish we could've done something more to make her stay..."

"Damn it, I knew I should've reprogrammed that message sooner..." says the painted turian as he shakes his head.

"We did attempt to convince her to stay here," says Lireya. "I am afraid we were unsuccessful on this count."

Garrus shakes his head, crossing his arms. "I told her to stay on the Citadel..." he says. "It's just... I... Why would she do something like this?"

"The news of your death really hit her hard, Garrus," says Sidonis. "If she's back on Omega, she's probably not up to that much good. You need to go find her..."

Garrus nods, looking to Shepard. "I plan to," comments the turian. "And hopefully, I'll be able to do it right away. Right, Shepard?"

She nods at this. "Yeah, we can do it," she says. "If you don't mind, Art..."

"That can be arranged," I say, walking over to Lireya. "In the mean time..." I pause in front of the asari and give a tilt of my head. "Don't I know you, madam?"

"I believe you do, Art," she says with a nod. "I... I never would've thought I would see you again..."

"It's good to see you're still alive," I comment with a smile as Sidonis gives me a very confused glance. "So I see you watched that show I told you about when I talked you out of the suicide attempt."

I briefly glance to Sidonis, and I can see the shock written all over his face. Can't say I blame him, really; that was my exact reaction to finding out about all this. Especially since this wasn't really what I was expecting from the game. I glance back to Lireya as she nods.

"I have," she says. "But we shouldn't talk about it here. Let's get to the docks. I think we will have plenty of time then to catch up then..."

I nod at this, and then look to Shepard, who also looks a little confused. I gesture to the cruiser with a tilt of my head. "Well, you heard the lady," I say. "Let's get out of here!"

With this, all of us pile into the cruiser, the small vehicle becoming hella crowded as we all try our best to fit inside the damn thing. I feel a little crushed here. Yeah, never get two turians, an asari, a quarian, a drell, and three humans into a cruiser. Because I can feel my ribs slowly breaking... I just hope Shepard isn't driving, because if the Mako was any indication, then this cruiser won't be any better on her count...

* * *

The docks are private right now. It's only the Normandy here at the moment, and some merchant ship. It's that and a hell of a lot of cover. We're taking Sidonis, Lireya, and Nogond through there to try to throw the Blue Suns off.

So when the Blue Suns showed up out of nowhere, we were all very surprised.

"Oh, dear..." I say. "A hundred credits says Fade sold us out."

"Two hundred credits says they killed Fade and found out all about us," replies Zaeed. "That's much more within the Blue Suns repertory at this point."

Sidonis glances outside the cruiser as it lands, breathing in with slight trepidation. "What do we do?" he asks.

I glance at my pistol, sighing softly as I unholster it as best I can in the cramped space.

"The only think we can do," I say. "We fight our way to the public dock, and hope all goes well..."

"Is this really the wisest course of action?" asks Thane.

I raise my eyebrow at him. "Thane, I don't see anybody else here coming up with any ideas," I comment.

"Art's got a point, anyhow," says Shepard. "There really isn't a way we can sneak past them at this stage. We'll just have to fight them."

As the cruiser door opens, we all clamber out quickly, ducking into cover. Lireya and I sneak in behind cover, and then I hand her my pistol. Garrus hands Sidonis his assault rifle, and Shepard offers Nogond her pistol (which he politely declines). I see the inside of Nogond's suit flare up a little bit in blue biotic energy as he comes in behind Lireya and I. I pull out my shotgun, and then peer out of cover at the numerous Blue Suns mercs that are in the area. Jeez... there are a lot of them. Garrus and Sidonis both rush in behind a piece of cover, with Zaeed and Shepard taking point and Thane lingering out in the back...

I nod to Lireya and Nogond, smiling.

"Right," I say. "I think it's time we got to see what you guys are capable of."

I see the inside of Nogond's suit flare up with biotic energy. "Same here," he says. "Let the games begin?"

"Let 'em begin," I reply.

With this, I lean past the crate my back is to, and then I see Nogond pop out. His suit seems to be backlit for a second before I turn back and see a Blue Suns merc go flying back. I see him fly over a railway and down into an area where we won't be able to deal with him.

I make my move then. I see a merc close to where I'm situated, and so I pull my shotgun at him and see it penetrate his armor very easily. Okay, the grunts don't exactly have shields or armor. Right. I fire my shotgun again, and then the merc goes down without ceremony. Lireya pops out and fires her gun at a merc that's rushing to where Garrus and Sidonis are situated, but the barefaced turian is able to catch on, and he guns the man down quickly. Garrus peeks out with his sniper rifle, and I see a man fall very quickly from behind. Another ping stands in for Thane, of course, and my attention turns to Shepard as she rushes out of cover with that biotic punch.

Seeing a break, I rush over to where Zaeed is kneeling and plugging some assault rifle fire into the oncoming crowd. I cock my shotgun once as I see Sidonis rushing towards another piece of cover, Nogond following him quickly as the Blue Suns mercs come forward. I come out and manage to plug a batarian with a shotgun blast, but...

Huh, must be one of those Legionnaires. Right... Fortunately, I see his shields fail soon after from a sniper shot from either Garrus or Thane, and then Zaeed finishes him off. As I reload, I glance up at another merc rushing for us. I come out of cover and fire my shotgun. It's a direct headshot, and the guy goes flying as Zaeed bolts from cover, Lireya following close behind as she biotically lifts another merc.

I decide I should rush forward as well, and then I see Nogond quickly toss a singularity at a bunch of Blue Suns. They start floating off the ground as I raise my eyebrows at him. Huh, a quarian launching a singularity at people... I never thought I'd see the day. No really. I come out and shoot one of the guys with my shotgun as he goes floating around, and I smile as my shotgun hits home and takes care of him. I fire again at a batarian, only able to take down a shield. But Sidonis is quick, and he comes out with assault rifle fire to finish the guy off. I can see Shepard shoot at it with her submachine gun, and I come out and finish that merc off for her.

The rest of us take care of the mercs, and it's all bloody as hell. Mercs keep dropping left and right, and it's bloody. I can see why Garrus really had a great team; Lireya and Sidonis are both really good shots, and Nogond is a hell of a biotic. Combine that with Zaeed, Garrus, and Thane, and I'm beginning to think that the Illusive Man should've included dossiers for the rest of ARchangel's squad.

Actually... With all the carnage we're wreaking on this place, I'm half wondering why nobody's called C-Sec on either of us. I mean, it's mayhem, you know?

It's then I notice that none of the yard workers are in the house at the moment...

Wait... I come out of cover and take down one of the last remaining mercs with my shotgun. I cock it as I dive underneath, then frown as I bring my hand up to my comm unit.

"Guys, hold on, I think there's something underfoot here," I comment as the final bullets go racing over my head as I sit there. "I don't see any dock workers..."

Silence greets me as the bullets stop flying over me with their little zings and whatever. Eventually, Shepard speaks up.

"He's right," she says...

Zaeed groans over the comm link. "Oh, no..." he says. "If they're doin' what I think they're doin'..."

I peer out from behind a crate.

And sure enough, we see a bunch of mercs come out with guns. They've got the dock workers in their arms, with guns pointed at their heads. Oh, dear...

"Yep, a hostage situation," says Sidonis, shaking his head. "Fade must have sold us all out."

"Or he may have been coerced," says Shepard, holding her pistol. "I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now."

"Plus, that's a lot more likely right now given what 'e told us when we ran into him," comments Zaeed.

I bite my lower lip at this as I come out and piont my weapon at the mercs. Shit... how do you not hit a hostage with a shotgun...? I don't really know. Either way, this is not good. A single batarian comes out then, and as the others slowly come out with guns brandished he nods to us.

"So, here you are," he says. "Lantar Sidonis... We've been hunting you for a while, you know. Taking our money and then turning your back on us. You should've betrayed your squad. You don't know how much I want to see a bullet in your head."

"So why don't you just shoot him?" I ask, frowning as the others all glare at me. What? It's a valid point!

"I'm not going to shoot him," says the batarian. "Not yet; should he refuse to comply, I will shoot him. But not until he agrees to turn himself in and his squad, just as you agreed to back on Omega."

The barefaced turian starts to scowl at this. I turn to look at him slowly, and I see his mandibles are flared out. "Damn you..." says the turian. "You can take your blood money and forget about it for all I care."

"So you still refuse the money you could've gotten... and your life?" asks the batarian.

"What life?" asks Sidonis. "I don't think I could've lived with myself! Not after leading to the death of the people I care about most. I still won't betray them, and that is final!"

"Pity we killed Fade, then..."

With this, one of the mercs came forward with... holy shit it's Harkin! And... his eyes are blank. And stuff. And he's moving very limply... or wait...

No, he's not moving at all! This only gets confirmed when the merc simply lets go of the former C-Sec officer. The man unceremoniously falls to the floor, completely still and not moving an inch. Oh, dear... they really did kill him after all. That's one less reason to go after Vido now. But, Zaeed's overblown grudge will give us another reason to go after him, so it's all good. But still... this is bad. It's probably not as bad as Garrus shooting him in the knee, but still...

"God damn..." I whisper under my breath.

The batarian gestures to the hostages. "Nobody else needs to die," he says. "Turn yourself and your squad mates in and I'll make sure they live..."

Sidonis shakes his head. "I've studied the Blue Suns on Omega long enough to know how you work," he says. "As soon as I turn myself in, you'll kill the hostages anyway. And you'll still have what you want. I don't need to listen to you!"

Wait... how come he hasn't made a single mention of Archangel? I mean... surely they would've mentioned the man in blue armor by now, right? Maybe? Yes? No?

I glance around me briefly, seeing Shepard, Nogond, Lireya, and Zaeed standing close to Sidonis. I'm pretty close myself, so it's all of us... Except...

Wait. Thane and Garrus aren't with us. Oh my God, they're not with us... Of course! They're hiding somewhere and setting up a sniper position. Huh. So somebody does get sniped at the end of the day after all. It's just not Sidonis. Thank fucking heaven.

I look to the batarian, smirking as he pulls up his pistol.

"Then I guess I have no-"

Boom. Headshot.

The batarian falls to the ground dead shortly afterwards. Yeah, that bullet went right into one of his eyes. With nobody to give the order, and nobody apparently having shot their weapons on our side, the mercs that have the hostages shake in fear, a few of them dropping their hostage and raising their hands up. All right, looks like this could be resolved peacefully. I smirk as Shepard steps forward.

"If you want to live, then listen closely," says the woman. "Release your hostages, and I will forget who you are unless you decide to chase after Sidonis. You will leave them alone, and you will not report anything you see to your higher ups. If I hear that you're hunting down Sidonis again, I will tear the galaxy apart looking for each and every one of you. And trust me, you do not want to double cross a former Spectre. Understood?"

They all more or less drop their weapons in unison as they flee the area. They drop the hostages before running off and vanishing from sight. Zaeed simply chuckles at this, shaking his head.

"Figures," he says. "You pick off the leader and the whole lot of 'em run off like scared varren. The Blue Suns on the Citadel are real pussies..."

"You're telling me," I say as the hostages stand up. I holster my shotgun on my back as I approach the hostages. They're all very disoriented, and then I see Garrus and Thane drop down from one of the control towers, approaching Sidonis, Lireya, and Nogond as Shepard, Zaeed, and I check on the hostages. I come up to a male turian hostage, and nod to him.

"You all right there?" I ask.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine," he says, slowly standing fully erect. "I thought we were all dead for a second there..."

"Well... you're fine now," I say. "If you're wondering what the hell that was all about... it's a bit of a long story."

"Yeah, I can't say I blame you," he says. "History with a merc group can never be too short. C-Sec will probably be here shortly."

I nod at this, crossing my arms. "Hopefully, they'll have all sorts of evidence to prove that the Blue Suns were behind this whole thing a hundred percent..."

"Don't worry, you should be fine," says the turian in reply. "After all, you did defuse a hostage situation with no fatalities."

I nod. "We'll just have to see what happens."

And with this, we all end up waiting for C-Sec to arrive on the scene...

* * *

About two hours later, the furore has finally died down enough for us to get our bearings. C-Sec came and went, and we fortunately weren't charged with anything due to how well we dealt with the hostage situation that resulted from the Blue Suns. They decided it would be best if they kept everything strictly off the record. That is always a good thing, I should think. After all, we wouldn't want to get arrested.

It was kind of tough to keep everything off the record given that it stalled traffic for the better part of an hour, though. So then Emily Wong was on the scene, doing stuff. Fortunately, she only went after me and Shepard; when the camera was off, I made a request to not look after Sidonis and Lireya, and she backed off respectfully. Fortunately, the furore all died down eventually, and it spread the fact that Shepard wasn't dead anymore. So we got that out of the water, and now all that's left is to deal with whatever happens afterwards. Hopefully someone won't spill about our Cerberus connections, because that would be atrociously bad.

It was actually through Emily that we found out that Shepard was doing more than just taking care of Kasumi's recruitment; apparently she had been in the Presidium. I guess she was talking to Mr. Anderson about stuff... She mentioned something about how the Council unofficially reinstated her Spectre status on the urging of Mr. Anderson and all that stuff. That was interesting to hear about, and when Shepard brought it up to us... I was quite pleased. Zaeed not so much, but hey, that's what it is.

So then we ended up calling her out for not telling us, but she took it in stride. Besides, she had a certain drell assassin to help her defend her actions... God freaking damn it, she and Thane are getting very close very fast. It's almost ludicrous, really.

But, that was resolved peacefully, and then we went over to the public dock to buy passage to Invictus. We got lucky; there was a shuttle set to leave half an hour afterwards. We handed them their fake identities, and then we called Jenny down so she could say goodbye to Nogond.

She responded to this ecstatically; she was still a little grimy when she showed up to the spaceport to see Nogond off. And Nogond didn't seem to mind either when they pulled each other into a familial hug.

And that leaves us to now. Jenny and Nogond are sitting with Thane and Shepard on a table on one side of the spaceport, talking about various things pertaining to them. I see Shepard reply happily to a lot of the things Jenny says, and the four of them seem to be quite pleased with the company. And Jenny seems happy that she's able to talk to Nogond again. She got his new identity, so thankfully they will still be able to keep in contact.

Zaeed already left. He's had too much of the sentimental stuff, I can imagine. Can't say I blame him; things are going to get rough pretty soon.

As for me? I'm sitting off to an out of the way table with Sidonis, Garrus, and Lireya all around me. I asked for an out of the way table, given that Garrus will probably find out the truth about Lireya in about ten minutes.

"So..." I begin, looking to the asari. "I know you went to Omega, but I didn't think..."

"I went there because there were no laws," says the ardat-yakshi. "But when I got there, I was shocked by how dirty it was. There were people dying in a lot of places, either to illness or to mistreatment or because they got robbed by a Blood Pack merc in the middle of the night. When I found out there were people that were trying to make a difference and save lives... I couldn't refuse. I wanted to atone for my sins... and if I could save and improve other people's lives to do it, then I realised that this would be a good way to do it. I joined Garrus as soon as I could find a way to prove myself."

"And then you fell in love with someone," I say, smiling.

Lantar nods at this, his mandibles flaring out in a smile. "It was... slow, at first," he says. "It was more like respect somehow. I was drawn to her, and she found herself drawn to me. Kat would make fun of us so much in that, always talking about how she would pay to see me get her off the hook with some dead grandmother that didn't exist..."

Wait, hold on. "She referenced _Ferris Bueller's Day Off _when talking about you two?" I ask, rearing back. "Damn..."

"At least you got the reference," says Lireya. "We were both at a loss until we saw it a few days later. But we fell in love."

"I actually couldn't have done any of our work without Lireya," comments the former point man. "I almost did betray the squad. But I talked to Lireya about it one night. She knew something was troubling me... So she made me talk about it. I had already learned about her secret by then, so... we talked. And then she began suggesting ideas to help the squad survive. We found one that would work best, and we sort of made things up from there."

"I booked the transportation for everyone, and he set the encoded messages," says Lireya. "Sam was the only other one that was in the know about all this, so he helped us out. And now, we're the only ones that need to disappear..."

I nod. Okay... So she did all this out of a need to atone for what happened with her first lover. And now she's found love again with Sidonis. If they've been watching episodes of _Pushing Daisies_ as they mentioned earlier, they probably look to it for ideas on how to do stuff. Fun times, fun times. Well, at least now it's good to know what happened and why.

It's also really great to know that my impact here had some good effects on the ME universe for once. I mean, it's good to know that one conversation I had managed to save Garrus' squad. Well, except for three people, but hey, at least Garrus isn't fuming about trying to get revenge on Sidonis for selling him out, especially since the sell-out never happened anyway. So that feeling is great.

But I'll dwell on it later. For now, there are more pressing matters. "I didn't know you had handled firearms before, Lireya," I comment.

Sidonis shakes his head. "Actually, that wasn't it at all," he says. "Did Garrus tell you how the Journalist joined up with us?"

I nod. "The one where she took out the head of that prostitution ring by herself, right?" I ask.

"That's the one," says the point man, his mandibles flaring out as he is very obviously pleased. "She came to me and said she had killed this illegal arms dealer who was forcing everybody else to sell higher on the threat that they would kill them all. We had been tracking him for a week, so when this happened, I was quite shocked. She said she had poisoned him with something. When Viran looked over his body, he said he had never seen any poison quite like it." Sidonis turns to Lireya, closing his eyes as his talon came to rest over hers. "Of course, if I had known how she had really killed him..."

Garrus raises his eyebrow as he holds his talons together. "So you had a secret that you kept from everyone except Sidonis for this entire time?" he asks. "What was it...?"

She nods. "Seeing as how you are good friends with Mr. *********, I suppose I cannot hide it much longer," she says. "Art found me about to commit suicide. But... I never told you why I was committing suicide." Garrus leans forward, frowning slightly in interest. "Tell me, Garrus; have you ever heard of the ardat-yakshi?"

The turian is a little confused, leaning back at this. "I don't think so," he says.

"Wouldn't have expected you to," I comment with a shrug. "She was surprised I knew. Well... there's a little known genetic disorder among the asari."

"It's... a very unfortunate one," adds Lireya. "Something goes wrong with the meld in asari that have this disorder. The first symptom is that you become sterile for life."

"And the second?" asks Garrus.

The asari nods, the trepidation visible in her face. "The second..." she begins. "Is that you unintentionally kill the person you're engaging in the meld with..."

Garrus jumps back, a little surprised. Sidonis and I simply look to the former C-Sec officer, and he blinks at this. "You mean...?" he says. "You... You killed that dealer with your mind?"

Lireya nodded unhappily. "And my first lover," she says, shaking her head as her voice shakes bitterly. "His name was Andrew. He was human. He moved to the Citadel to study at a university in the Tayseri ward, and I met him just after he graduated with top honors..." She takes a pause. "He was the sweetest man you could ever meet. Every third day of the week, he'd take me out to my favorite place. It strained his funds, and I kept on insisting he not do it... but he kept on doing it anyway, always brushing it off with something about how I was so charming. He was such a sweetheart. We waited four years to try the meld..."

She pauses, holding her hand up to her eye as she recollects this. Sidonis' talon only grips hers tighter, and Garrus leans forward in concern. "You don't find out you're an ardat-yakshi until the meld kills the one you're having it with..." A single tear streaks down her eye. "And I didn't find out until Andrew was laying on the floor with a blank expression on his face, unmoving..."

The asari bites her lower lip before looking at Garrus. "I think about Andrew all the time," she says, her voice quiet. "Even now with Sidonis I think about what could have been. It's why I joined your squad; I didn't want anybody else to die because of what I am. I have the greatest genetic disorder in the galaxy, but I won't let that turn me into a monster..."

Garrus nods at this. "Wow," he says at first. "I... that changes things completely. I wish I had known..."

He looks to Sidonis. "How do you deal with not being able to meld?" asks Garrus.

The barefaced turian chuckles at this, and I watch him smile. "Well, there's more than one way to kiss the girl," he says, pulling a small cloth out of his pocket. "You can kiss them through sheets of plastic, for example." Oh... I think I know where this is going... Because if you can't look into her eyes or you die, and you can't touch the person or you die... "The blind fold makes it easier."

Garrus nods as Sidonis demonstrates with the cloth over her eyes. "I see," he says. "Well... I guess I can't complain about it too much since you did work for the greater good. I wish you could've told me earlier, though."

"I couldn't risk it," says Lireya. "The asari do terrible things to known ardat-yakshis unless they run away or beg their forgiveness from the order of the Justicar. I was afraid you'd turn me out of your squad to leave me at the mercy of the asari..."

"That's why she was attempting to kill herself," I add. "She couldn't think of anything else to do before I ran into her."

"Relax," he says. "But still, you used your... ah... difference... to kill the weapons dealer on purpose..."

"It took me three days to work up the courage to do it," replies the asari as her hand comes up and rubs her temple. "And even after I did the deed, I hunted for a shower and ended up taking one that was an hour long... So I was still very afraid of my curse. But now..."

She smiles as she looks to Sidonis, her other hand clasping over the talon that's closest to her. "I think it might've been a small blessing," she says. "I couldn't have realized that if I had killed myself. I have so much to thank Art for..." She turns back to me. "And I don't know how to thank you for everything you helped me realize."

I smile. "Just you being able to tell me in person is enough," I say. "I'm glad things turned out for the better, Lireya."

"As am I," replies Lireya with a soft smile.

I nod at this, and then the subject shifts to Garrus and I. Sidonis asked the question first, and so we ended up talking about Saren while waiting for the transport to Invictus to board. Pangloss would be having a field day with this situation right now, I can tell myself that much. It's just... in a place of darkness, I was able to guide her to the light. And when she got to the light, it led to more happiness than she probably thinks she deserves. There's something kind of beautiful about knowing she got something resembling a happily ever after. Even if it did involve being on the run from the Blue Suns for the rest of her partner's life, but I think we'll manage...

In the meantime, we talk about that one time when Garrus and I were watching _District 9_ on the couch with the other crew of the Normandy, and how Garrus turned it into an awkwardly awesome Rifftrax session.

* * *

When boarding time came, we all sort of gathered at the boarding area for the shuttle to Invictus. I looked over to Sidonis and Lireya as they made rather extensive goodbyes with Garrus. Shepard and Thane stood at a distance, and... well...

"So I hear quarian biotics are rare."

Nogond nods at this as Jenny and I stand off to the side. "Yep," he says. "It's going to be a bit tough learning how to actually use a gun, but I'll manage."

"Yeah," I say. "You were a hell of a biotic, though. I've never seen a quarian do that kind of stuff."

"A lot of quarians can't," comments the biotic as he crosses his arms. "There was an eezo-related accident on Mindoir when I was still in the womb. I got biotics, so..."

Ah. "I see," I say.

"It was actually something to see," comments Jenny. "Nobody on Horizon even knew quarians could be biotics. And all of a sudden, this incredibly frightened one shows up and starts lifting things half a meter in the air..."

"I'll admit I was afraid of Horizon at first," says Nogond, looking over to the colonist. "But Jenny made it easier. I'm half wondering why there wasn't someone like you at Mindoir."

"Hey, you were exotic," says Jenny with a shrug. "And you're completely awesome, so yeah. Just don't go hitting on every gay guy in Invictus or I might have to find you and deliver a couple of punches to your gut."

Nogond snorts and shakes his head. "Trust me, I'll be more careful than that," says the quarian good-naturedly. "Besides, it's only every gay guy on Invictus. How many turians do you know that're gay?"

"That's true," I comment. "But still, you never can tell how lucky you could get."

"Yeah, you're telling me," says the quarian. I can swear he's smiling under that face maks. "You better watch yourself, Jenny; these kinds of things are dangerous for you."

"I know," says the woman. "But I won't stop until... if..."

I nod, instantly knowing what she's talking about. I look over to Nogond then, who places a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "Hey, you'll find Gregor," he says reassuringly. "Something tells me that you will."

She nods at this, her expression more or less somber as she looks over to Nogond. "Keep in touch with me, Nogond," she says.

"Hey, that's Iden'Roya nar Neema to you, Jenny," replies the quarian playfully.

"Ah, right, sorry," says Jenny, scratching the back of her head. "I almost forgot that a biotic quarian is changing his identity and living with a Heirax Lelithien and a Sura T'Renya until he can find a pilgrimage gift. And probably finally finding someone to love who isn't a minor crush."

"I'll have you know Kortaine expressed some interest in me," says the quarian. "That's enough, I think... Well, before he died anyway."

"That's true," agrees Jenny. "Seriously, though, I hope you get more than just a crush on someone. You've been looking for that long enough."

"Eh, I think I need stability more than anything else," says the quarian. "I think I've found it living with Sidonis and Lireya on a turian colony with nobody chasing us. A relationship will just be the 'cherry on the top', as you'd say."

Jenny giggles, a small smile coming from her as Nogond nods. He turns to me then, pointing to Jenny. "Mr. *********, I'm leaving Jenny in your care," he says. "If I find out you've done anything to upset her, I'm breaking cover, hunting you down, and biotically throwing you out the nearest airlock."

I nod. "Hopefully it won't come to that, Mr. Viraliz nar Mindoir," I reply.

"And when you run into this quarian... crush... of yours..." he says. Oh, god damn it, Jenny! "You better know how you feel by then."

"Jenny!" I reply as Garrus, Sidonis, and Lireya all start to approach.

"You're _bluuushiiiing..._" comments Jenny in a sing-song voice.

"And it's so very _oobviioouus..._" Oh, God damn it, you too Nogond?

I shake my head, covering my by this point furious flush with my hands. God damn it, she's never going to leave me alone with that, is she? Damn it, damn it, damn it! Garrus and his two friends both approach, however, and then Garrus looks over to me.

"Huh, looks like Nogond has seen someone's crush again," comments Garrus.

"_Jesus Christ on a pikestaff!_" I cry, now covering my eyes with my hand. "Et tu, Garrus?"

"Hey, he was the first one to notice anything between Lireya and I," comments Sidonis. "I'd imagine his crush radar is going wild right now. So who's the lucky girl...?"

"I'm not telling you, and I'm sure it's not a crush!" I reply, still keeping my hands over my face. "Anyway, don't you have to board in a minute?"

"Of course," says Lireya as I finally take my hands away from my face. "It was nice to see you again, Art."

I nod to the asari. "Likewise, Lireya," I say. I turn to Sidonis then, pointing at him. "You better take good care of Lireya, sir. Or I know where to find you."

"Of course," says Sidonis. "I'll do my best."

I look over to Nogond and Jenny as they exchange a final hug before he has to board. The three of them pause a little bit and then move quietly away, and the next we see of them is the three musketeers there walking the gangplank. As Sidonis crosses onto the ship, he turns and gives a final wave at us, which Garrus returns. We see them disappear onto the shuttle, and I can swear Garrus' posture is more relaxed. They enter the shuttle, and as we don't see anyone too suspicious walking around we're relieved when the shuttle takes off ten minutes later.

As we see the shuttle depart, I see Shepard and Thane approach the three of us, Shepard placing a hand on Garrus' shoulder. "You all right now, Garrus?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he says, his mandibles out in a smile. "They're safe now. I'm glad, too, that I got to see them off."

"This leaves us with the Journalist, though..." I comment.

"Yes..." says Garrus, his expression fading. "Shepard, we're going back to Omega soon, right?"

"Yep," says the commander. "I'll make sure Joker plots a course for Omega as soon as we get back to the Normandy."

"Thanks, Shepard," says Garrus with a slight flare of his mandibles. "At least I know Sidonis and the people with him are safe now."

"Yep," says Jenny with a smile. "Come one. We should find this 'journalist' before it's too late."

Yeah, we should. I'm happy too; now that I know what happened that Garrus' squad was saved, I can rest a little easier. Now all that's left is this mysterious Journalist... We head back to the Normandy in silence as I begin to ponder on who Garrus might have fallen in love with.


	11. Chapter 10

_A/N: And we're back._

_So it was Lireya that caused Sidonis to betray the Blue Suns right back! Aha! __If you had figured it out, here, Anton Chekhov'll give you a cookie. If not, well, there you go._

_But we're not done with the reveal yet. So at the end of this chapter, there will be a huge, huge reveal about the Journalist. What about? Well, you'll have to see. Normally, I would disclaim stuff, but..._

_I wanna keep it a surprise. So there. You'll have to find it all out on your own! There will be a disclaimer next chapter, though, so stay tuned._

_Fun times will be had. I'll start the chapter now..._

* * *

Chapter 10: Corbiel: The Chase

Back on the Normandy, I sit at the mess hall. Sturge is making a hell of a lot of food right now, given that Gardner's on washing duty. But it's all good, because by this point we all agree that Sturge makes better food than Gardner probably ever will. So I sit there happily munching on my little dinner.

It's also great that Shepard did some food shopping on the side. Now that is something I can get behind. Food shopping is always great. Especially when it's a step up from military grade.

Garrus is agitated, I can tell. We've seen his squad safely off, but now it's worry for the Journalist. Looks like this is doubling as a loyalty-recruitment mision. That should be rather strange, I think, but hey, what can I do? Shepard's already talking to him, so it's just a matter of hoping things will turn out for the best.

Me? I think we'll find the Journalist alive. After all, what would the point be if she wasn't? I'm a little miffed by how we always seem to arrive on time for everything before it goes out of control. I guess Shepard has the best timing in the world right now, and even more so in the game. Even if she doesn't quite get there in time to save Tali's friends on Haestrom, we should be all right. I hope.

Either way...

I hear a tray settle down next to me. I look up, and am quite taken aback with the woman sitting in front of me. She's got a strange hood on that covers her face, and... Hm...

"Uh, hi," I say.

"Art*** *********?" she asks. "I didn't think I'd ever get to meet you in person!"

I glance to the side briefly before rolling my eyes. "Oh, great, I have another fan on this ship," I say, pursing my lips together rather tightly. "I'm guessing I'm going to have to sign your hood or something now?"

"I doubt it," she replies with a shrug. "I may have a thing for the arts, but if I ever meet a true artist, I doubt I'll ever ask for an autograph. I'm not that kind of fangirl, anyway. I'm Kasumi Goto."

Oh! So I finally meet the infamous Kasumi Goto, in real life and in the game! "Ah," I say. "A pleasure, Ms. Goto. I hear you steal a lot of stuff. Mostly art and all that jazz."

"I'm a fan of art," she says. "So your music interested me. I'm afraid I haven't had to steal anything of yours yet, but if I do I'm turning it right back to you."

I crack a smile at this. "Well, you're a bit late for that," I tell her. "When I first arrived on the Citadel, some batarian robbed me of my backpack. I could've used someone to help me find it, but it's back in my posession now."

"Oh," she says, blinking. "What did it have?"

"Sketches on paper that's probably priceless by this point since you can still write on it without the damn thing disintegrating on you," I reply with a smile. "Even better, it was all in my handwriting."

"Oh!" she says. "That would have been priceless indeed. Paper that can still be written on and you have stuff written on it..." I can see her smile underneath the hood. "But I wouldn't steal it. It's all part of the fun. But... a part of me would really like these sketches."

I nod. "At the moment, my sketches are with the person I've been living on the Citadel with for the past year and a half," I say. "If you'd like, I could give you the sketches as a gift."

"You would?" she asks. "I didn't think you'd agree to that."

I shrug. "I'm a published composer," I say. "I think you'd be more than happy to see how I came up with my processes. Even keep it. Hell, I'll even autograph my sketches so you can say that you have an authentic Art*** ********* sketch in your posession. It's all about the bragging rights with this kind of thing, you know?"

The Japanese woman nods. "I see," she says. "Well, I think I'd greatly appreciate that. I have a fascination with old stuff... so it seems like I could go with this."

"Awesome," I say. "I'll stop by and get the sketches when we're on the Citadel next."

"Thanks," she says.

"It's no problem," I say. "So... do you listen to any other Earth-born human composers?"

"Plenty," she says. "Probably leaning more towards Asian music, though. That aesthetic is very different from your American aesthetic."

"So I hear," I comment, cracking a smirk. "_Pelog_ and _slendro_ scales within the older Indonesian gamelan music tend to speak volumes about that."

I can see her eyes glow in merriment underneath that. "I think there is much more difference than that, Mr. *********," replies Kasumi with a light hint of mirth in her voice.

And so, the two of us continue to talk about stuff. Huh. This is actually pretty cool. I'm finding myself liking Kasumi Goto a lot. Shame I wound up here before her DLC was released. She sounds like a really cool girl from the stuff we're talking about. And she's a thief, but really into art. I love that in people. It's good to have three people on the Normandy that have some artistic knowledge of stuff. One of these days, I have to get Kasumi, Sturge, Thane, and myself into a room to talk about art. Now that would be a conversation I would place a 5,000 credit bet on for being mind-blowingly awesome. We'd talk about Elgar and Wagner and Varèse and all those people.

But for now, I'm talking to her, and I'm actually enjoying myself a little bit.

* * *

The rest of the trip to Omega is largely uneventful, as well it should be. Garrus and I of course went with Shepard, along with Thane. What I was not expecting was for Jack to come along as well. I figure if we're looking for someone we'd need a bit more subtlety than anything Jack can offer up. But, it's Shepard's decision, so I won't be too angry about it. After all, I have no right to complain if she decides to bring Jack along. It'll be fun to see what she things of all this anyway.

So as soon as we dock, we head straight to Afterlife. And now I'm thinking of when I first got here... Wow, I did badly when I had to go here, now that I think about it. At least I got to see Aria and figure out where Shepard is. But jeez... I think I got half the tenants mad at me when I barged in. And now that we have this, it's going to be even crazier. And that elcor bouncer is still there...

I'd hate to be trapped in a room with an elcor and a volus. I don't think I really have the patience to sit to them while listening to them talk. The volus have to take breaths every few seconds because of those fucking pressure suits or whatever. And the elcor talk slowly enough as it is; but when they announce their emtions before speaking? Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, those conversations can get long. And boring. Really fast. So I try to avoid elcor whenever I can. Volus should be avoided, but sometimes I find myself dealing with them anyway. Fun times are not had with slow-talking species. And at least they're not exactly combat species.

Unless we have an elcore biotic in the house. In which case... I better hope it doesn't end in tons of explosions. Because that would really suck.

Either way... We head into the club. Aria's guards are impersonal, and the turian even nods when he looks at me. Ah, I knew the bribe paid off somehow! This makes me unusually happy for that. I mean, I bribed someone, but I got them to like at least one human. So yeah, good times are had.

And then we go over to Aria, where she sits in that little alcove above Afterlife. Shepard, Garrus, and I go in, with Thane and Jack trailing only just a little bit behind. We approach the queen of Omega, and she nods before looking over to me.

"So I see Mr. ********* managed to find his way into your squad," comments Aria almost immediately.

"Yeah, he told me he went to you to find out where I could find someone I was recruiting," she says. "It was rather... explosive..."

"Explosive is... understating it, I think," I comment. "I took down a freaking warehouse when I ran into Shepard. With a whole bunch of unintentionally well-placed missiles. I... hope you don't mind..."

"Salvage teams are going through it as we speak," she says. "But I can assure you that with the way the rubble was set up, Archangel is probably dead."

Oh, dear. Yeah, this isn't going to help a whole lot. "Oh dear..." I say, glancing discreetly to Garrus.

"There may have been some misinformation about that, but it's better if we keep it that way," comments the turian.

Aria smiles. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," she says. "Besides, the merc companies are still struggling to recover from that attack. Their numbers here probably won't recover to anywhere near what they were in the near future thanks to that little stunt." She stands up and crosses her arms. "So much the better for me. That's a whole lot less people that will be able to fuck with me here. I can't begin to tell you how many times the Blue Suns have tried to fuck with me. I must say I'm thankful you did all that. So thank you. If there's anything you need from me..."

I shrug. "Well, actually, we are looking for a little bit of information, if you've got any," I say.

Shepard nods. "More specifically, there's someone here we need to find," she says. "We were wondering if you knew where she is."

The queen of Omega crosses her arms at this. "Normally, I'd pay a lot for information like that," she begins. "But this is an exception I believe, seeing how helpful you've been. Here, take a seat." This is said a little more cheerfully than I'm accustomed to Aria being.

We nod at this, and then we sit on the couch that Aria is on. I sit next to Shepard opposite her, and Garrus sits opposite to us. Thane comes forward, choosing to stand instead of sit as he holds his hands behind his back. Jack just stands where she is, crossing her arms as I look back at her.

"So, what can I do for you, Shepard?" she asks.

"We're looking for someone who used to be on the former Archangel's squad," says Shepard. "She's called the Journalist?"

Aria nods. "Ah, yes, the Journalist," she says. "You know, she got quite a reputation on Omega for being one of the greatest information hunters on this damn asteroid. Sometimes she knew more stuff than I did. Her reputation was almost as big as Archangel's really. We all knew she was part of Archangel's squad, but... I knew a little extra about her..."

"Really?" I ask, leaning back against the couch I was sitting on. "Like...?"

"Well... I met her when she first came to Omega," she says, beginning to pace about the room as she turns to look out the window. "She was alone. But she was determined as hell, too. She came after Archangel saved her. I told her what I knew, and before long..." She smiles as she crosses her arms. "She was damn good with finding people. But she really knew how to follow that one rule of Omega. She and I were reasonably good friends... I even kind of like her. I heard she returned to Omega recently, but she hasn't come to see me yet."

"I imagine you're a bit hurt at that," says Garrus, crossing his arms.

"A little," she says. "But it isn't that important. You're looking for her, right?"

"Yep," I comment. "You know anything that can help us?"

Aria nods. "Well, I think you might just be in luck," she says. "Something has been going on around Omega lately."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "What sort of something?" asks Shepard.

"You know when I said the merc companies were not going to regain numbers?" asks Aria. I frown at this. Oh, dear, I don't like where this is going. "There's an extra reason why that is. Someone's been murdering merc leaders all over this station lately."

"Really?" asks Shepard.

"Yes," replies the queen as she sits back down. "Someone's been targeting them in very sophisticated ways. The murderer's already taken down most of the leadership of the Eclipse mercs on Omega, a few leaders of the Blue Suns... But the murderer's also taken down almost all of the leaders of the Blood Pack. The Blood Pack on Omega is damn near that point where it's going to collapse, and we'll never hear from them on this place again. Even if this murderer is stopped, so many Blood Pack leaders have been dying that there's no possible way they could have anything close to a strong presence here again. They're essentially done here." She crosses her arms. "About damn time, too. Those filthy vorcha were beginning to get on my nerves, even with the added hitman to keep them from causing trouble."

Ah, yes, there is that bit about Preitor Gavorn. Minor side characters being thought of is always quite welcome on these fronts, I should think. Poor guy never did get to shoot much vorcha, did he? Oh, well. I shrug at this, looking to Aria.

"I see," says Shepard. "And you think the Journalist may be off doing something about these?"

"If there's a serial killer on the loose, there's no doubt in my mind the Journalist is going to be gunning right after him," replies Aria. "So if you find the killer, then you might be able to find the Journalist."

"All right then," says Garrus, feeling just a little cheerier. "Where should we go?"

"A Blood Pack leader was killed yesterday in his apartment," says Aria. "I just heard about it today, so I haven't sent in someone to look at it. You can go ahead and look at it, though. Maybe you'll find a way to the Journalist whi'e you're there."

Oh, boy. We get to examine a crime scene! This'll be quite fun, I should think. I wonder if the little prompts will pop up around us... And damn it, I wish that CORI thing Tali mentioned picked up a little bit of steam in this place. It sure sounds awesome to have ARI here. But then again... when cybernetics eat your soul? Yeah, that's a bit of a problem. I didn't mention that to tali, but I didn't need to. Discontinued items are discontinuous.

"All right," says Shepard. "We'll take a look at this crime scene and see what we can do."

"Yep," I say, pretending to unfold sunglasses. "Sorry Aria..."

I pretend to put the glasses on.

"It looks like we'll have to do some... investigative journalism."

_Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah!_

* * *

"You know what I said about 'collective ass' being the worst pun I've ever heard? Well, I was wrong about that. _That_ was the worst fucking pun I've ever heard."

I look at Jack as we head towards the apartment block in question. "Oh, hush," I say. "You're just mad because I made a reference you didn't get."

"Art, that's enough," says Shepard. "We don't want Jack getting too angry."

"Good move, Shepard," says the biotic convict as she crosses her arms. "I'd hate to filet the man who doesn't like the cheerleader as much as I do."

Yeah, we're vitriolic, but what can I do? It's better than nothing with Jack, I'm afraid. "Yeah, I know what you mean," I say. What do you expect we'll find here?"

"I do not know," comments Thane as we all walk pretty quickly. "I do not believe it will all be as pleasant as we would like, however."

"It's a crime scene, what're you expecting?" I ask. "I'm sure it won't be anything overly sick, though..."

"It might, actually," says Garrus. "Most of the early serial killers we brought to justice were sick. It was a little unnerving at first."

"I'll bet you had to get used to it," says Shepard.

"Oh, yes," says Garrus. "She did, too, actually; she was more used to snooping around places than checking actual crime scenes." The turian crosses his arms. "That's how she got most of her intel, too; she was really good at snooping around. And if she needed to vanish to more effectively snoop around..."

He blushes slightly as he remembers something. I glance at him, raising my eyebrows. "I'll bet it made the sex interesting..." I comment off-handedly.

"... You... could say that," says the turian. "I mean... Well, she found plenty of ways to make things interesting." His blush only gets more intense as he recollects all of this.

I blink at this, looking over to the turian. "Why the fuck are you even asking about his sex life?" asks Jack.

"I have to agree, that's pushing it a bit," says Shepard. "I won't ask about that. And we're here anyway, so it's probably best if we figure out what's going on with the murder scene."

Without ceremony, we enter the apartment block. Wait... there's no conceirge here. Ah, well. Omega's no place for people like the doormen at my old apartment building anyway. Old people don't exactly have a place here, especially not people as warm as those doormen were... Even two years later, the Brooklyn accent of my favorite doorman is still in my mind. Yeah, there were some good times had in that apartment building. Ordering in on Wednesday nights, playing on my PS3 on the weekends, writing those film reviews every weekend... there were good times in there.

But no conceirge has its advantages, I'll admit. Such as us being instantly able to access the apartment Aria had mentioned. So we head over to the relevant apartment and step into the dimly lit place...

To find quite a gruesome scene in front of us.

"Oh, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff!"

There's orange blood everywhere on the floor of the apartment. Yeah, this is pretty bad... We see the dead krogan laying in the center of the room, his head crest thingie hanging on the side and exposing whatever that pink stuff is to the air. His eyes are wide open in shock, and his arms are splayed out. He doesn't look like he's in the best of shape, but the body isn't even covered yet. The stench of death is still omni-present over the air, and as we enter, I cringe, biting on my lower lip as I advance.

Yeah, this is definitely... a lot uglier than I had hoped. Fucking modern media making things less gruesome than they actually are! Man, am I glad I've never been on a murder scene before. I'm just fighting the urge to vomit... Jeez, imagine if that had been me there... That would not have been pretty. At all.

"Man, this is disgusting," I begin as we step towards the body. I bring my hand up to my mouth, closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths for a second as I fight down the bile surging in my throat.

"For once, I have to say this is pretty fucked up," comments Jack, following close behind. "And I've seen a lot of fucked up shit in my life."

"It's just like those old war stories Zaeed tells me about," says Shepard... "Stick a knife in just the right way, and you can tear that head plate right off..."

"Whoever did this must've been really angry," says Garrus. "Or really sick. I'll bet it's the former."

I nod. "I take it you found serial killers like this all the time?" I ask.

"Not exactly," says Garrus. "Our last serial killer was some quarian virologist. who was making a virus that he would release in people's homes."

Jack smirks as we approach the krogan's body. "That must've been fun to kill him," says the convict. "Fifty creds says you coughed on his face and killed him."

"Actually, that was Sidonis that coughed on him," says the turian. "He had the flu that week. But yes, we coughed on his face and killed him. It was anticlimactic, but we actually found it hilarious when we looked back on it."

"Yeah..." I comment, kneeling over the body and looking away. "Okay... Whoever killed him must have left something on the body. Genetic material, a scrap of paper, a thread, something."

"Right," says Shepard, nodding to Garrus as his arm illuminates orange. "I hope you have some idea of what to do..."

"Don't worry," he says. "My omni-tool has a custom program the Journalist helped me and Viran to come up with. It really came in handy while investigating crime scenes."

His omni-tool lights up, and then he moves his hand down. As he does, a cascade of light green energy flows from the floor directly beneath Garrus' hand.

... Why did I get a flashback to ARI? He squints as he looks at something there. I turn on my omni-tool and look in surprise as I see that there's a marker on the ground in the middle of the huge pool of blood.

"Huh..." I say. "You can only see it if your omni-tool is on, apparently..."

"It's broadcasting a signal to your omni-tools," says Garrus. "You may be able to see markers come up while I'm moving around..."

With this, the others move to do the same, and their reactions are quite similar. "I believe this would require the work of a genius," comments Thane.

"Viran," replies Garrus nonchalantly. "He'll be missed..."

"Right..." I say, walking to the other end of the room. "Let's start scanning this place for anything that might've been left behind."

Garrus nods and begins walking around the room. As soon as he's about three steps away from where he was, his hand flicks downward again, and as the light green energy seeps out we see no markers coming on. He takes another few steps, looking around the room as the green light goes under again and again. I frown as we take a look at this. Huh... Garrus has scoped out a huge part of the room, but there isn't much to go on. At all. In fact, there's nothing.

I look around the room, trying to inspect the room for anything. But there's absolutely nothing. Huh... This is a bit thorough...

"Yeah, something doesn't seem right about all this," I comment as Garrus moves around us. "Anyone wanna bet this killer has dealt with other serial killers before?"

"I would be willing to bet on it," says Shepard, frowning. "This is strange."

"That it is," Garrus agrees as he comes to a stop by the door we just entered through. "Most serial killers we run into on Omega aren't this thorough. This is one hell of a sophisticated killer..."

The turian shakes his head, turning back around and scanning the area for any markers he might have missed. He walks around the apartment once, shaking his head as he finds his search for missing markers to be absolutely fruitless. With this, he looks at all of us.

"I just hope to the spirits it's not the Journalist..." he says.

Jack's eyebrows raise at this. "Wait, so you're pinning this on your girlfriend now?" she asks. "I don't get it."

I glance over at the convict. "I've gotta say, I agree with Jack here," I say. "What the hell makes you say that?"

The former C-Sec agent shakes his head again as he crosses his arms. "It's just... Everything about this is wrong," he says. "Not the murder, not the mission. Just, this scene... No crime scenes here on Omega are this clean. It's suspicious..."

"There's something else," says Shepard. "What is that?"

"Well... I can't shake what Sidonis said back on the Citadel," he says. "My supposed death hit her hard... I didn't think too much of it before..." He looks all around the room as he gestures at it. "But with this crime scene... I can't help but wonder. What if she came back to Omega to get revenge on the merc groups for what they supposedly did to me? It's just..." He throws his arms out. "I'm very afraid for her if that's the case..."

I look back at the body of the dead krogan. There's no way a woman could do... No, the only thing that matters is the angle. You stick it in right, you can tear it right off... So if it was her... Wow, I can understand Garrus' concern. But really, would a crime fighter resort to this to get revenge? I don't think so...

"Oh, cheer up, turian," says Jack, a frown set on her face. "You don't know that she's that much of a psycho."

"But..." he says, leaving a sigh at the end of this. When he speaks next, his voice is rather low for Garrus. "She lost her last lover before she came to Omega. And there was nothing she could do about how she lost him. It was... strange, how she was unable to do anything. And now that she thinks she lost me... Her anger..." He closes his eyes as he thinks of this. "It's probably really bad right now. She knows I'd never condone to this... But if this is her, the fact that she's doing it is disturbing me greatly." He shakes his head, and when he opens his eyes I can see they're a little brighter. Probably a little more wet too. "How is this meeting going to go if she is doing this? How is it going to go when I finally find her? I... I worry about her. I really do. And this is only making it worse..."

"Letting it disturb you is not forthcoming," says Thane. All eyes go to the drell as he stands impassively in the corner. "Perhaps you may be able to pull her out of her battle-sleep when you finally do find her..."

I blink at this, Shepard looking over to the drell as she crosses her arms. "Uh... battle sleep?" she asks.

"I think that term speaks for itself," I comment, looking back to Garrus. "Look, this Journalist girl may not be doing stuff that you like, but you've gotta hope for the best. If she is trying to get revenge for your 'death'- which I doubt-, then I'm pretty sure she'll stop once she finds out you're alive. So we'll find her trail, we'll let you show yourself, and everything will be all hunky-dory. Okay?"

"I hope you're right, Art," he says. "I hope to the spirits you're right..."

He flicks his hand one last time but this time a marker comes up. We all frown instinctively at this, and then we all edge closer to the marker as Garrus leans forward. He taps something on that visor he's got on his head, and he seems to look on as the marker comes on with information.

"It's a note engraved on the wall..." he says. Wait, a note engraved on the wall...?

"What does it say?" I ask.

"Hang on..." says the turian, bringing his hand out and seemingly pulling the marker out of the wall. He enlarges it, and then we all see what the engraving is...

_Grem_.

Wait, what? Grem?

"What the hell is Grem?" I ask.

Garrus blinks. "Grem was a major recruiter for the Blood Pack," says Garrus. "We were going to hit on him next if the incident with the Blue Suns hadn't happened..."

"Perhaps this 'Grem' is the next target," says Thane.

I nod at this as Jack comes forward. "If that's the case, we should go straight for him," she says.

"Jack, that might not be adviseable," comments the drell assassin.

I look over to the convict, crossing my arms. "Actually, that might not be a bad idea," I say. "Even if we don't find him alive, we still might be able to have the benefit of an untampered crime scene. We can probably pick up a lot more DNA if we're fast enough. And if we catch the murderer there? Great! That's one step closer to the Journalist either way."

"Something's not right, though..." says Garrus. "Why would the murderer want to engrave a name in the wall where nobody would hide it?"

"Maybe something for the extra-vigilant to see," comments Shepard, crossing her arms. "Either way, we have a lead now. Let's find this Grem before the murderer does."

"Yeah, let's," I say. "We don't have all day, after all."

And so, the five of us leave the apartment quickly, a new lead in our hands with the hope that we can pull another Nassana Dantius on this guy.

* * *

... I hate stealth as a genre. I really do...

But then again, it's the best option. Thane and I are both working our way through the place Grem is at. Seriously, Aria's being a big help to us while trying to take this murderer down, but it's hard to get an audience with him. Apparently, he's got a waiting list.

Screw that, we don't need the waiting list.

So Thane and I are breaking in, with Shepard, Garrus, and Jack ready to come in at a moment's notice. I've shed my armor by this point (seriously, it's really hard to be stealthy in standard-issue armor that's two years old), and now I'm going along with only a pistol to keep me safe. Dear God, I hope I'm not noticed. It's very difficult to survive an encounter with a krogan with only your clothes on your back and a pistol. I have one of those shield things strapped to my shirt, but still... I've gotta be careful.

And as I siddle against the wall with my pistol in hand, I really begin to think something's not right. Thane is elsewhere in this apartment block; apparently the murders made Grem a little on edge. So now... I have to search each of these blocks myself. And without getting noticed, too, which is much easier said than done for me.

Thane? No problem. He's been doing stuff like this for basically his entire life, so he goes in and out of rooms like that. But I'm not as experienced in stealth, apart from that one level in _Wind Waker _where Link tries to save his sister... the time that he fails because he doesn't have his freaking sword with him. And that was with cel-shaded graphics. So yeah, I'm at a bit of a loss here.

It doesn't mean I can't do stuff, though. In fact, I haven't been getting off too badly. Thane is doing the upper floor, I'm doing the middle floor, and Shepard, Garrus, and Jack are all ready to do the bottom floor.

It doesn't mean I'm not concerned, though, and as I sidle up to another doorway, I bite my lip. Okay... how to make sure this apartment isn't empty...

I siddle up slowly, being careful to watch for the red there. Wow, even during Omega's daytime cycle their doors are locked. All the better for me, I suppose. Or perhaps not. We'll have to see what happens...

I open up a hacking module that I installed to my omni-tool. Huh, hacking in this universe is easier than in real life, I must say. I mean, it's just like it was in the games; you have the scrolling text, and you look for the patterns that match. Only this time, you don't need to use the arrow keys to navigate. It's just touch screen and stuff. It's a lot easier that way, I think. Target code segments are always nice, especially when they're color-coded for ease of hacking. I wonder why they didn't realize it was easily hackable...

Either way, it works for me. I hold my pistol under my armpit then, touching the target code segments. When the doorway shines green, I nod with a smile and take out my pistol. My omni-tool powers down, and then I touch the door panel and enter.

And I'm greeted by an empty apartment. Huh. I go inside, gun at the ready. Okay... all right, the area is dimly lit... I move forward in there... Huh, there's stuff here. Either someone lives here or they moved out recently and forgot to tell the neighbors. I hold my gun up, and when I peer further in, I see a bed that hasn't been made. Okay... so someone lives here... it's just that they're not here right now... Okay... I look around, not hearing anything else as I move back towards the door, which has somehow closed on me.

Okay, so it definitely isn't in this apartment... Damn it, Grem, where the hell are you? We're trying to find the freaking Journalist, and yet... Damn it... This isn't getting any easier. I haven't heard back from Thane yet, so I'm guessing he's having as much luck finding the guy as I have. God damn it, we've been at this for an hour, and we're no closer to finding Grem or the Journalist than when we started... This isn't boding well for any of us... And it will continue not to bode well, I take it. I mean, it's just empty apartment after empty apartment; either Grem chose this place because it was emptier than Bill Murray's house after the zombie apocalypse, or because everyone is out at this time of day and nobody can see what he's doing... Either way, this doesn't work well for any of us...

Right... I better keep moving then.

I move towards the door, the thing opening very slowly as I walk outside. After a few seconds, it closes behind me, and I decide enough is enough with that. I move forward, keeping my pistol in my hand...

And suddenly, from somewhere deep within the hall, I can hear a door open.

Huh... I hear it close quickly. Jeez... I doubt even Thane could be this fast... At least I'm not alone on this floor anymore. But Thane... isn't he supposed to join Shepard and the rest of the crew downstairs when he's done? What's he doing on this floor?

Well... since he's in person, I might as well ask him. I follow the sound to a doorway, my pistol slack in my hands as I move towards the door. Okay, Thane, I know you're there, now o-

... Wait a minute...

Why's the panel red? Thane wouldn't just lock me out, right...?

... Unless...

After a few seconds, I begin to hear muffled voices. I hear a deep voice of some krogan and... a woman? There's the sounds of a tussle that's building up, glass being shattered...

Shit... it's not Thane. Thane would never be this noisy when interrogating someone, even if it was with a krogan. And I don't think Thane had a woman's voice, otherwise I'd be very afraid for myself and for the rest of organic life in the universe. I open up the hacking module on my omni-tool. Shit... if it's not Thane, and there's a krogan in there... Ah, shit! I open up the hacking module, and match the first image of code.

And right when this happens, I hear what sounds like canvas being cut. And following it, krogan cries of pain.

Oh, shit! I'm catching the murderer in the act! Fuck fuck fuck...

I turn my attention back to the hacking module on my omnitool, and my finger carelessly graces over a wrong piece of code. Shit! Okay, Art, calm down...

I hear the screaming culminate as I feel a shiver rush down my spine. Shit! I'm too late for Grem. But... I'll be right outside, and the murderer won't be able to get past me, right...? I'm hoping not... And I'm hoping this murderer doesn't have the infiltrator cloak. Because if she did, that would suck. Yes... the murderer has to be a she, that was a female voice I heard...

I work on the hacking module, and then the door lights green. Okay, it's time for action.

I grab my pistol, slam my fist on the panel, and enter the room. Okay... I'm here...

I step into the room, the dim lighting making it tough to see what's inside. I bite my lower lip, and the first thing that assaults me is the smell of krogan blood. Damn, that shit is rank as fuck. Did this guy take a freaking shower...?

... Or wait, it wouldn't matter that much.

I see a krogan laying on the floor in casual clothes. He's dead, of course, and his head plate is off to the side exactly the same way as the victim we looked at earlier. Yep, this is Grem all right. And he's dead as a doornail. Or something. He's laying there, eyes wide open, with stuff. He's surrounded by various objects, such as a desk over to the side. With a chair. And that chair looks detachable...

Either way... the murderer has to still be here, right? I mean...

I feel a pair of eyes looking directly at me. Yes, the murderer is still here.

I whip around the room, frowning at this. "I know you're here," I say loudly, holding my pistol out in front of me as I move around the room. "Step out where I can see you!"

As soon as I say this, I sense movement to my left. I turn my pistol in that direction, and I see a slight movement. All right, the murderer is still here. I briefly glance at the door... Okay, and I'm between the murderer and the door. Excellent. I've got the murderer exactly where I need her to be. I can sense something strange in her stance...

"I know you're right in front of me," I say, frowning. "So let's just make this easier on ourselves, okay? Step out into the light, and I won't hurt you too badly. You're valuable bait for someone, and you'll get them to come to us. All right?"

She doesn't say anything at all, and I can swear her frame is relaxed a little...

And then I look at where she is. I glance to the side of her to see a bunch of sharp objects. The glass is already shattered, and then... Wait... those are knives... And one of them is missing from the rack... And another one is gone...

... Shit, she's armed...

I fire a single shot at her. But then I find out that she's got kinetic barriers... Jesus Christ, she's more prepared than your average killer!

I don't get time to think about it, though, for then I feel a knife embed itself in my pistol, right where the barrel is.

Oh, son of a-!

I don't get time to think about this, for then I feel her lunge at me, knocking me away from my pistol. I'm unable to react in time, and so we both fall to the floor in a heap. I look up, and then find myself having to dodge a knife embedding itself in the floor where I just was.

And then I get a good look at my assailant. She's in a brown combat suit, similar to what I would be wearing right now if I wasn't trying to be stealthy. She's got a helmet over her head, brown armor all over... and she looks like she's ready to kill. Shit... this definitely isn't your standard serial killer. Fuck...

I move my head out of the way as she attempts to stab at me again. Okay, remember that shaolin kempo kind of thing... As her knife embeds itself where my head used to be, I grab her arm suddenly with my right hand. As soon as I do this, my left arm comes up, and I elbow her in the stomach...

Ow! Okay, yeah, never engage in a hand to hand fight with someone in armor. Because damn it, that kind of hurt. But... I've got no choice in the matter. Besides, it works, because she then rolls to the side and off of me. I quickly scramble to my feet at this, putting up a fighting stance as she quickly gets up. I see her hand dart for my pistol, and then she hurls the thing at me. Ah, crap, projectile attack! I duck to dodge my own pistol flying at me, keeping my fighting stance as it clatters to the side. I think the trigger also gets pulled, but it doesn't do anything given where that knife is.

I look up just in time to see her rushing at me. She attempts to deliver a punch to my jaw, but I manage to deflect this very easily, and I counter with a kick that hits home on her chest. It doesn't do much, though, as she comes back with a punch that I dodge quickly.

She then manages to catch the punch that I throw at her shortly afterwards, taking the opportunity to pull hard on it and send me down on the ground. I fall to the ground very fast, letting out a grunt as I hit the floor. Shit, didn't expect her to do that. I turn around quickly to see that she's rushed over to where the body is, and that she's grabbed a chair. I quickly stand up, but by the time I'm standing, she's already let out a yell and the chair is already careening at me. I don't have time to get back on the ground before the chair collides with my body, and then I feel myself fall back as the chair flies. Ow... that kind of hurt...

... Wait, flying chair...

Why do I get the feeling that's familiar somehow?

I don't know, and I don't have time to think about it, as... Oh, god, the pain... Especially with my face... Ow... that kind of hurt... Fuck me for not having my armor right now...

She simply looks as I stand up, shaking slightly. God damn it, woman, you're not making my life any easier. So you're going down.

I walk forward, trying to ignore the pain in my ribcage and in my head. I frown at her, and as I approach, I take a swing at her. She dodges this pretty easily, and then I feel her elbow me in the gut. Ow! She trips me up, and I fall forward, my hand flaring out as she then runs away. I briefly notice her exit the room, the door closing shut behind her as I grip my gut and let out a rather soft groan of pain while taking a few breaths.

Gah... "Fuck..." I mutter, shaking my head.

Damn it! I almost had the murderer! Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! Well, I got a good visual on her, and I know she's definitely not that kind of murderer that's just doing this for the hell of it... She's trained as shit, and she's well prepared...

I'm beginning to think Garrus' worries are holding some water here.

I look around the room as well, and then I slowly manage to pick myself up from the floor. When I look down at my shirt, I realize that it's all in orange blood and that stuff... Oh, crap, I landed next to the freaking dead krogan here! Damn it, all this blood will take at least a week to wash off! Damn it all to hell! Fuck!

Oh, well, I'll make do with what I've got right now. Because I've got...

Wait. What's that?

I edge closer, for then I see a black kind of thing there. Huh... I must've knocked it out of her posession when I got elbowed in the gut. Either I'm Norman Jayden now or this isn't a coincidence. This... is a little strange...

I crawl slowly towards the object, picking it up as I slowly feel the world come into alignment again. Hm... Looks like some kind of black camera. It's small, and very lightweight as I hold it in my hand. It looks innocuous enough, and I think I could feel right at home with this camera in my posession... But still... something feels really freaking old about it. Like it's not from the present century. But why do I get that feeling in the first place...?

I don't know. I'll ask Garrus when I go downstairs. Maybe he'll recognize it or something... I pocket the camera, standing up a little uneasily as I lean against the wall. Okay, just take a few deep breaths. Shepard can get you some medigel and it'll all be better... I hope.

After waiting a few minutes to catch my breath, I bring my hand up to my ear at this, shaking my head. "Art to Shepard," I say.

"What is it, Serviceman?" she asks.

My hand flinches against my ear as I suddenly feel a light pain shoot up in my abdomen. I groan in pain, shutting my eyes. Okay, I need medigel. Soon.

"Art, are you all right?" she asks.

"I just got my ass kicked, if that's what you're wondering," I say.

"Oh, dear..." says Jack loudly. "I wonder what we'll fuckin' do about that, tough guy!"

"Jack, please," replies Shepard, frowning. "Who did it?"

"It wasn't Grem, if you think I got my ass kicked by him," I say. "We were too late to talk to him. In fact, the only reason I found him was because he was screaming as he was dying. But I had a brief tussle with our murderer. Let me tell you, Shepard; first, this murderer is a she, and second, she was a lot more prepared than you'd think these kinds of killers would be. She came in fully armored and everything..."

The line goes silent for a brief second. Yeah, just saying she's fully armored, I realize now how tough that must've been for stealth... "How does someone manage to be stealthy in full combat armor?" asks Shepard.

"That's the least of the questions we should ask ourselves, if I want to be honest," I say. "And we'll figure that out later. I managed to get something off of her. Something that might point out a lot of things about who she is and all that stuff... I'll show you when I get down there..."

"No, Art, don't move too much," replies the commander, her voice very concerned as I take a breath. "I'll send someone to you to help you down here. For now, stay put and catch your breath. We'll apply medigel when you get down here."

With this, the comm link is cut. I look out and blink, shaking my head.

I breathe steadily in and out as I think about all that just happened. Great, I got my ass kicked on a murder investigation with an alternate universe version of ARI involved thanks to that wierd omni-tool app Garrus has now. The only thing I need is a freaking Triptocaine addiction and it'll be like playing Norman Jayden's sections of _Heavy Rain_ all over again. I might as well say it now...

"I'm tired of getting the shit kicked out of me during this investigation!"

I shake my head, smirking wryly at everything. I shouldn't be laughing at that, but I am.

When the flash of mirth passes, I concentrate on regaining my breath as I lean against the wall waiting for whoever it is Shepard is sending to take me downstairs.

* * *

Shepard sent Thane down to get me, and when they all saw me as a right mess, they all began to worry. I told them not, to, though, and they did notice that it was mostly krogan blood on my shirt and not human blood, so we were good.

So they had Jack go down to get a new shirt for me while they took my grey shirt away and had me sit on a crate. Shepard just applied the medigel to my injuries, so I think I'll be fine. I'm breathing a little easier, at any rate, and Thane and Garrus are both standing by my sides, making sure I'm recovering all right. I just lean back against the wall, taking a few deep breaths as I wipe the sweat off of my brow. Jesus Christ, it's hot on this stupid asteroid, even with my shirt off. Shepard thumbs over my armor, and I feel rather relieved that they're all here.

"Are you well, Art?" asks Thane as I move my hand along my ribcage.

"I think I'll be fine," I say, nodding. Okay, nothing was broken. "Having a chair get tossed at you isn't as painful as it looks, apparently."

Garrus nods at this. "So she was stealthy with combat armor, and threw chairs at you?" he asks.

I nod. "Yeah, there was something very improvised about how she fought," I comment. "I never got the chance to look under that helmet, though, so I can't tell you more..."

"But still, you'd think a chair would do more damage," says Shepard.

"Yeah, so would I," I comment with a shrug. "And yet, here we are. She's a pretty good thinker, I'll give her that."

Shepard nods at this. "So then... how did you survive that fight?"

"I don't know," I say, frowning slightly. "But I did, somehow. It was like she was trying to incapacitate me..."

"She must not have wanted to kill someone who had nothing to do with the Blood Pack," comments Thane. "She still has some honor..."

"I think so," I comment with a shrug. "Either way, she could've done a lot more to kill me. She could've picked up that gun. Could've stabbed me when I was incapacitated. Could've hit me over the head with the chair. Instead..." I shrug. "I don't even get why she did that. She sure didn't hold back with the knife when I was still able to defend myself. I almost got stabbed in the face a couple times!"

Garrus blinks at this, shaking his head. "This is only getting more disturbing," he says as he starts pacing around the area we're keeping to ourselves. "We have all of this. I can't help but keep thinking about how the Journalist ties into all this..."

"Hush, Garrus," says Shepard. "We'll get to the bottom of this soon." She turns to me, blinking briefly as she crosses her arms. "You mentioned you got something off of her."

"Yeah," I say, bringing my hand into my pocket. "I had just gotten incapacitated when I noticed I knocked something out of her armor..." I pull out the little black object, gesturing to it in front of Shepard.

The commander is a little confused, and she frowns, looking at it. "What is that?" she asks.

"I don't know," I say with a shrug. "But it looks like a really, really old camera. In fact, this thing probably shouldn't be in working condition. What makes it all wierd is that it looks like it's in mint condition. Most old things like that don't make it past the beginning of the century... Yet this..."

I shrug, holding the object as Garrus turns to look at us. "I don't know why she'd keep this," I say. "But... we might be able to find-"

"It was her camera."

This effectively stops us, and then we all turn to Garrus as he looks down at the black object in my hands. All of a sudden, the rank air of Omega becomes a little more stiffling as he picks up the camera from my hand. He holds it tenderly in his talon, and I can suddenly see a bit of moisture building in his eyes. He shakes his head as he closes them, his mandibles flaring out as he let out an unhappy sigh.

"Hey, guys, I got his shirt!"

Jack comes walking back with a black shirt in hand, but she's instantly silenced by how we're all looking at Garrus. He shakes his head, his fringe following along as he walks towards the wall. He leans against it, still shaking his head as he can't believe it. The talon with the camera in it holds it tenderly, and Garrus simply opens his eyes and looks at the thing.

The pained expression in his blue eyes is more than enough for us to notice that things are not well from where he stands.

"This was her camera..." he begins softly, voice flanging a little more direly than usual. "She used it all the time when she was on Earth, and it was the only thing she had on her apart from her clothes when she first came here. She had to take really good care of it; it dates from 2009." Shit, that must've invovled a lot of restoration. "It still works for some reason, and she would always take pictures on it rather than use her omni-tool for that purpose. It's priceless, and she probably could've sold it for at least two million credits in its condition. And that's what anyone else would've done if they found it..."

He pushes off the wall as he shakes his head. "It's just as I feared..." he says. "She's become what she hunts..."

I shake my head. "The motive is most likely revenge," I say. "If we can get her to see what she's done..." I nod at this. "You know?"

"But still, it frightens me," he says. "She... I love her so much... But now that she's done this... She's become the thing she hunts, Art. How the hell am I supposed to work with that?"

Jack shakes her head. "Oh, get a fucking grip!" she says, throwing her arms up in the air. All eyes turn to the convict as she shakes her head violently and walks right up to the turian. "Look, I don't care too much for your whining so I'll make it brief: who the fuck cared about Blood Pack anyway?"

I lean forward, watching as Garrus' mandibles flare out. "It's not that simple, Jack," he insists.

"Oh, trust me, it is that damn simple," retorts the girl as she places her hands on her hips. "She's killing merc leaders. But is she killing other people? Unless there's someone the blue bitch up in Afterlife forgot, I don't think so. I don't know about innocents, but you sure as hell like to protect them. So why the fuck aren't there any innocents as victims here?"

... God damn, Jack actually has a point.

"Besides, she didn't kill the ballsy pussy here when she had the chance, did she?"

"Hey!" I shout. "I thought I-!"

"Shut the fuck up, I'm making a fucking point here!" says the biotic as she turns to me briefly. "Look, turian, you may not like this, but she's not killing the assholes that don't have shit to do with the situation."

"But Art has everything to do with this," says Garrus.

"But this Journalist bitch doesn't know that," comments the convict, shaking her head. "Let me tell you something; I worked with Blood Pack before. They've fucked with me like you'd never believe. Trust me, I'd want every single one of those assholes dead, too. And you know what? I don't feel sorry for the fuckers." She looks straight at Garrus. "Neither should you. So man the fuck up and get your girl back or I'm beating your ass out of Omega."

I blink at this, shocked at this. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, Jack, I thought you were supposed to be _bad_ at this kind of thing," I comment.

"I'm just tired of seeing him sitting on his ass whining all the time about some bitch I don't care about," comments the convict as she crosses her arms. "You got a problem with that?"

"Not really, but did you have to put it in such blunt terms?" I ask, crossing my arms and raising my eyebrows. Jack opens her mouth to reply when Garrus speaks first.

"No, she's right." We all look to the ex-vigilante as he stands. "I guess if that's true, not all hope is lost. I guess I should be thankful she hasn't killed any innocents yet." He nods, a more determined look readable in his eyes. "I can do this."

"Well... that worked," comments Shepard. "So where do we go now?"

"We had a list of Blood Pack leaders we've been meaning to take down," replies Garrus. "Grem was the third to last leader of the Blood Pack we were planning on taking down. The second to last leader on the list is not far from here. If we hurry, we might be able to corner the Journalist, get her to see that I'm alive."

"Do you know where he is?" asks Shepard.

Garrus nods. "Down to the apartment," he says. "We didn't have anything on Grem, but we have stuff on this guy. He'll probably have quite a few Blood Pack guards by this point, though, so we need to go in fast. Knowing the Journalist, she's working her way past them as we speak. We need to go in there and get someone to follow the Journalist."

"I'll go," I say instantly, raising my hand. "She saw me once; maybe if she sees me again that'll get her attention."

"I don't know, Art," says Garrus. "I think I should go."

"But if she knows we've been following her, it might make it easier on her to find out you were involved last..." I comment. "I don't know. But I want to give her some words, and given that it was my ass she kicked... she'll realize it was more than coincidence that I was there."

Shepard nods at this. "Fine," says Shepard. "We thin out the krogan and the vorcha, and we kill enough to give Art an opening to rush into the place after the Journalist. Art, get your combat armor on; we don't have much time."

I'm already putting on my shirt by the time she finishes the sentence, and I quickly begin to pull my armor on. "Will do, Shepard," I comment, strapping my leg armor in place as I bite my lower lip.

Garrus nods, opening up his omni-tool. "I'll download the apartment location to your omni-tool," he says. "If we hurry, we might catch her in the act."

My omni-tool pings as I pull up my breastplate, and I open it up briefly to see a few numbers and stuff. Okay, that floor, that thing... Okay, just remember that and you should be fine. "Okay," I say. "This should be good enough. I'll move as fast as I can when you make that opening.

The commander nods as I get the rest of my armor on with Thane's help. "All right," she says. "Garrus and I will take point. Jack, we need you to do a lot of destructive things with your biotics. Thane, you'll hang in the back with your sniper rifle, and when the rest of us have gone in when we clear the Blood Pack you'll stay behind to make sure the stragglers don't bother us."

We all nod at our assignments as I grab my magnetic holster and place all my weapons on that. I grab my shotgun out, looking to Shepard as she simply sits there and nods.

"I hope you're ready, Serviceman," she says.

"Of course, Commander," I reply.

With this, the five of us move out towards our destination, Garrus and Shepard in front as I take a few deep breaths to prepare for the monumental task ahead of me. Okay, I have to run in there and stop the Journalist from killing people. Right... That sounds simple enough. Except how am I going to... wait... oh yes. I think I know how to do this now. Yeah, I got this good. I just wonder how the hell Jack became good at shouting people down. I thought she was bad at that... Well, then again, in most cases you're not pissed at the other person because they're pulling a Bella Swan on you, so I guess that helps the motivational bit of her previous speech a little. But still, that was unexpected. Perhaps I'll take that approach with the Journalist...

I just hope we're not too late...

* * *

We get to the apartment block, our guns drawn. My pistol is out of commission thanks to the freaking knife, so I crawl into cover with my shotgun out. We see a krogan and a whole bunch of vorcha standing guard...

Okay, we can do this, I think. The vorcha are unsuspecting dumbasses, and the krogan will go down pretty fast. We just have to hope for the best.

I look to Shepard and Garrus as they prepare themselves, and then to Jack as she glows biotically blue.

And without another word, I cock my shotgun loudly enough to get the attention of the Blood Pack people. They all turn towards us, and this gives Shepard ample time to come up and throw a biotic shockwave at some vorcha. As those vorcha fly up from the ground while surrounded by biotic energy, I come up and fire my shotgun at the solitary krogan.

This enrages all the Blood Pack mercs, but they don't get much opportunity to do stuff before I fire at a vorcha. As soon as it gets hit in the face, Garrus comes up an fires his assault rifle into the crowd. Shepard comes up as Jack releases a biotic shockwave into the crowd. This doesn't do a whole lot against the krogan, but it manages to send a vorcha flying at us. Panicking, I fire a shotgun round at it, screwing my eyes shut as it flies over us. I look up to see the vorcha dead from that shotgun plast, and then I hear Jack curse loudly.

Damn it, that didn't go so well... Okay, time to keep the pressure on them. The vorcha start coming in larger numbers, but Garrus and Shepard have taken to specializing where they fire into the crowd. Garrus manages to take out the krogan, but by then vorcha are starting to swarm the place. I come up again and fire my shotgun in the same direction Shepard is shooting at. I see that some of the vorcha are falling, no doubt from Thane's side, and Jack helps Garrus out with his side with a pistol and the occasional biotic shockwave.

About a minute later, we're still taking down vorcha in this manner... Shit, we're not going to do so well in getting to the Journalist in time if we keep this up. Shepard senses this, and she throws in a shockwave before nodding to Jack.

Oh, wait, that's right... Cutscene power to the max doesn't apply to the real world. The convict glows biotically blue, smirking at me as her eyes shine in mischief. After this look, Jack comes rushing out of cover quickly. With a bit of momentum, she leaps as high into the air as she can. As Garrus finishes gunning down a vorcha a short distance away, the biotic girl slams down on the ground, sending out a biotic shockwave that manages to send the krogan and most of the vorcha flying away from the door.

I look up, and my eyes widen as I hear Shepard come up and fire her submachine gun into the crowd. Right... here's my chance!

As the vorcha scramble to stand up from Jack's biotic attack, I store my shotgun.

"Okay, I'm making my move!" I say. "Cover me!"

And with this, I bolt out of cover, rushing straight for the door. I see some of the vorcha ready their assault rifles, but damn it, I can't think about that right now. The door only takes me two seconds to get to, but it feels like a little bit longer as my fist collides with the panel. A shot hits my shields and manages to take them down, but the door opens very quickly. I start panting as soon as I realize this in relief, and so I rush into the hallway around me, pulling up my omni-tool as I rush down the hallway. As soon as the door closes behind me, I bring up the information Garrus downloaded to my tool.

Okay... Go straight... and up the stairs. I see a stairway directly in front of me, and I rush up there, my feet clanging against the steel steps as I rush up. Okay... hope the vorcha don't break in, hope they don't break in... left!

I turn left very quickly, just as I hear some assault rifle rounds zing past the place where my back used to be. I don't care for it much, though; I'm sure Shepard and the crew have a handle on that. I concentrate on running through the hallway, checking the doors quickly with my eyes... Okay... wait, why am I doing that, it's on the next floor!

Fortunately, I find a staircase rather quickly. Okay, excellent. I thunder up the staircase, not caring if I tip the Journalist off. After all, this is a lot more like Thane's recruitment than I care to think about... And plus, she's probably already there... Just keep running, just keep running...

I get to the top of the staircase and burst through the hallway. Just as I move, I hear a door open to my right. I suddenly see a door dart into a room very close to where I am.

Okay, there she is!

... Why does this sound like an ample time for a J-pop song originally set to a bunny chasing a cat?

Right, don't think about it. The door closes behind the figure, but I know where she is now. So I rush over to that door, pulling out my assault rifle as I do. Okay, I've got one chance to do this right... So here we go!

My hand slams on the green panel, which flashes as the door opens. I burst through the door just in time to see the woman in the brown color of armor pointing a gun at a krogan who's just sitting there in casual clothes. She's got a helmet on, almost like a motorcycle helmet, and she's keeping her gun trained on her opponent. I enter quickly, keeping my weapon level at both of them.

"Hold it!" I scream out as soon as I enter. "Nobody is going to shoot anybody until I blow this whistle!"

Both of them are staring at me, their eyes feeling a little strange to me. I look over to the Journalist, and her stance drops in shock.

"You!" she says. "I thought I incapacitated you! You weren't supposed to be involved!"

Ah, so that's why she didn't kill me. "Well, dear, I'm involved now," I say. "And you might want to try a little harder to incapacitate a former Alliance marine next time. Just saying."

"Who the hell are you?" asks the krogan before the Journalist can reply.

"Someone who you frankly shouldn't give a shit about," I say, glancing at him. "I'm not here for you. I'm here for the Journalist."

At this, she flinches before bringing her gun up to my level. "You're here to finish what every other merc company in Omega started with the squad, aren't you?" she asks. "And then to finish what those same people started when they killed Archangel?"

She thinks they killed Garrus. I _knew _it! Shit, this is pretty bad, especially since she's pointing that gun at me. At least my shields are recharging. That is always a good thing.

"It's not what you think!" I reply, training my gun while keeping my eyes on both the batarian and the woman. "If I was here to kill you, I probably would've waited outside and killed you when you walked out!"

"Enough!" says the krogan. "You come in here, storm my office, just to get to some bitch with a romance problem? You don't even look like you're out of school!"

I glared at the krogan, grabbing my assault rifle from the magnetic strip as I do. "I didn't come here alone, just so you know," I say as I level it at the krogan. "I've come with a few very good friends of mine. And one of them won't think twice about putting a barrage of bullets through your head!"

"And what good is that going to do when you're dead?" asks the Journalist, holding her gun level.

"Trust me, you've got no idea!" I reply, glancing at the Journalist. "You and I share a common acquaintance, we do!"

She seems rather leery of me. Well, there isn't a whole lot I can do about that, unfortunately. "Really?" she asks. "Is it Sidonis?"

"No, it's not Sidonis," I reply. "Whoever the fuck that is." It's partly true, anyhow. I mean, I know him, but that's not the relevant contact here.

"Then why are you here?" she asks, getting progressively more angry by the minute. "I don't deal with merc companies anymore."

"Then what the fuck are you doing here?" I point out. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, you went straight for one of the key players of the Blood Pack!"

"This is different," says the Journalist as she put her gun to the krogan's head again. "This is revenge. I've already lost someone dear to me out of my own control! I'm not about to let anybody get away with what they did to Archangel!"

I shake my head. "So that's it?" I say. "This is all for revenge? You nearly wiped out the Blood Pack by yourself, just for _revenge_?"

"What do you know of that?" she asks. "All of the major mercenary companies on Omega killed the only man I cared about on this station! I loved Archangel! And now, thanks to people like this man here, he's dead! You don't know what it's like!"

I shake my head. God damn it, you bitch! "That's what you think!" I reply. "I got separated from my entire _family,_ you know! How do you think _that_ feels? Huh?"

She shakes her own head, her gun aiming at the krogan once more. "You still don't understand," she says. Shit, she's pissed... "And you probably never will. I will not stop until every mercenary company is burning on the ground for what they did to Archangel!"

"You're about to make a terrible mistake!" I shout, holding my guns at both of them. "Don't make it!"

She shakes her head. "I made this decision the minute Archangel died!" she cries. "I will not stop!"

"So you're going to stoop down to the level of all those serial killers you yourself helped to bring to justice?" I reprise, gritting my teeth together.

This finally gets her attention, and she hesitates with her gun. I glare at her and continue. "Aria T'Loak told me and my friends that blood pack leaders had been disappearing," I continue. "In a systematic fashion like a serial killer. When we searched the crime scene of your last run and found your presence there... I couldn't help but think of how much of a hypocrite you were. A vigilante who stops serial killers. Yeah fucking right; now she's a serial killer herself! You can stop this, Journalist! Or you can abandon all your values and lose everything you've fought so hard for when they all find out that you wiped out the Blood Pack by tearing all their head crests out!"

She hesitates at this, and I can see her grip on her gun falter. I can't read her expression because of the mask, but it's clear she's contemplating. Her gun shakes slightly in her grip, and she looks down at the ground. Finally, she lowers her gun, and I know I've talked her out of it.

"A... All right," she says. "You have a point. I won't kill him."

I nod, smiling softly. "Glad you could listen to reason," I say.

My gaze rests dangerously on the krogan, and I sit on his desk, putting away my assault rifle as I hold my pistol in his face.

"As for you," I say, looking at his shocked expression. "Don't think that me talking her out of her revenge ultimately means I'll let you walk out of here alive. Actually, my face will probably be the last thing you see."

And of course, there will be no James Bond villain speech. 'Cause those tend to cause death to the self. So, I pull the trigger, and the gun explodes in his face. I pull the trigger a few more times at his collapsed form as he spasms in death. Yeah, krogan take more than one shot to kill. They are kind of like gods, after all. At least when I kill krogan they won't turn into giant ghosts that kill everything in sight. Ah, good old _Princess Mononoke_. All this talk of mystical spirits is making me think of you again...

I look to the Journalist with a shrug. "Yeah, that would have happened regardless of what you said," I reply. "Mostly because some of what I'm saying is extremely confidential. And we can't have every mercenary company on Omega know some of this."

She shakes her head, leaning against the wall. "Still, you could've warned me," she says. "Either way, it's a kill in for Archangel. Even if it wasn't by my own hand."

At this, the door opens, and then Shepard and Jack casually stroll in. Jack has a smirk on her face as she rotates her shoulders, and Shepard is wiping some sweat off of her brow.

"Man, that felt fuckin' good," said the biotic. "Been a long time since I've ripped krogan in half like that."

"I can imagine," I say, looking back at the Journalist.

The journalist indicates Shepard. "Wait, you had these people killing the Blood Pack too?" she asks.

"Yeah," says Shepard. "We're keeping you from making a mistake."

The vigilante shakes her head. "By killing everyone I was trying to kill?" she says, clearly confused by this. "How does that work? Are you trying to keep me from my revenge on Archangel?"

The door opens one last time. "Well, let's put it this way. It's kind of hard to avenge someone who's still alive."

... God damn it, Garrus! First you survive a missile to the face in the game, and then you just have that kind of badass entrance... Fuck... You're awesome. So awesome it requires documentation...

Hm... Garrus Vakarian could be the next Chuck Norris... Hm... I'll have to start thinking along those lines... But that'll have to come later.

The Journalist looks at Garrus as he enters. Even with the face mask on, we can tell she's shocked. She steps back, dropping her gun on the ground. After a few seconds, Garrus comes to a stop in front of her. She looks at the turian, the shock clearly evident in her body language.

"... Garrus?" she asks. "You're..."

"Alive," says Garrus with a nod. "I'm still breathing air, at least." There is a brief silence as the Journalist regards this, her limbs seemingly trembling at the sight of the turian.

And then, without a whole lot of hesitation, she rushes to him, almost jumping on him as her arms fly around him. Garrus stumbles back, but manages to stay upright as the Journalist shudders in his grip. A choked sob comes out of her throat, and she pulls herself closer to Garrus.

"You're alive!" she wails out. "Oh my God... You're alive... You're alive..."

"I'm here," says Garrus comfortingly as his arm slowly comes to rest on her shoulder as they part. There is a brief silence that overtakes the room as we watch this. Jack seems annoyed, and she taps her foot, but I shoot her a glance that's enough to convince her to stop it. "I'm sorry. I should've told you sooner."

The woman nodded. "I wish you had," she replies as they part. "Why didn't you cancel that message? Why didn't you talk to me?"

"I..." says Garrus, drooping slightly. "I wanted to. Badly. But I couldn't." The turian sighs at this, running a hand absent-mindedly down the Journalist's arm. Oh, boy, Garrus definitely wasn't lying about the 'intimacy' bit. "I tried every outlet I could. But I couldn't figure out where you were, and I completely forgot about the message on the omni-tool since I got swept up in so much. The only reason we found you was because Sidonis, Lireya, and Nogond were all at the Citadel and I ran into them trying to make sure they were all right. Sidonis told me that you had come back here. I didn't know you would do something like this... I thought I told you to stay on the Citadel no matter what happened."

I hear her sniffle. "I already lost someone dear to me outside of my control," she says, her voice cracking. "The thought of losing you for the same reasons... It drove me mad... I just wanted some justice for what happened. But now..."

Garrus simply pulls her into a hug, and the Journalist simply leans into him as she lets out another sob. Oh, yes, they were definitely intimate. They stand this way for a few seconds, with Jack crossing her arms as I holster my weapon. His mandibles droop slightly as he holds the Journalist in his arms.

"I'm sorry," he says.

The Journalist simply shakes her head. "So am I..." she replies softly.

And the two of them finally part, Garrus' talons still holding to the human's hands tenderly.

"How did you survive the warehouse?" she asks.

Garrus gestures to the rest of us. "Shepard helped me survive," he says. "She came in just at the nick of time. I also have Art here to thank as well. They both saved my life."

"That we did, ma'am," I reply with a bow of my head. "We were trying to recruit Archangel. Nothing could prepare us for seeing a former crewmate, though..." Well, except with my background, but still...

She looks over to the rest of us, her expression difficult to read. "So you're the famous Commander Shepard," says the Journalist, her mask seeming to look on Shepard. "Garrus talked about you a lot when I was on the squad. I swear you're like a sister to him."

"You could say that," says Shepard with a soft smile. "He's pretty loyal, it seems... Especially given what we're doing next."

Her pose changes slightly so that it conveys a sense of curiosity. "What do you mean?" asks the Journalist.

"Well..." says Garrus. "Thing is... I've joined a suicide mission."

The Journalist gives Garrus a look that I can't make out behind her helmet. "You mean, you're throwing yourself in front of death _again?_"

"Well, possibly," replies the former vigilante. "I doubt I'll actually die due to our leadership, but you never know. And that's partly why we're here. We could use your skills on our mission."

"Could you?" she asks. "What's happening that we need to go on a suicide mission?"

Shepard walks over to the journalist with a nod. "Human colonies have been disappearing," she says. "We have proof that it's the work of the Collectors. I'm gathering a team to head to the Omega 4 Relay to stop it."

"No one's ever gone through it alive," I add. "We intend to be the first."

At this, the Journalist seems interested. "I see," she says. "You do realize I'm an investigative vigilante, not a soldier."

"Garrus told us about your prowess in combat," replies Shepard. "You may not have the best combat, but we could use all the help we can get. Plus, I'm pretty sure Garrus wouldn't have it any other way. He really does care a lot for you, it seems..."

The Journalist stands there, giving Shepard a nod. "I see..." she says. "Well, I guess I owe you... Without you, Garrus wouldn't have been able to save my life. So, thank you. I'll join this mission, if only because you mean so much to Garrus. Consider it thanks. I just hope everything will turn out all right with the mission."

Shepard nods at this, smiling and holding a hand out. "Glad to have you on the team, Journalist."

The Journalist looks right back at Shepard, nodding. "I'm glad to be on it, Commander."

Jack snorted. "That's great and all, but I'm havin' a fuckin' hard time taking you seriously with that helmet on," she says. "And also, who the fuck are you?"

"Jack!" reprimanded Shepard with a glare.

"No, she's right," replies the Journalist. "I ought to be less formal since I'm going to start talking with you more often."

She pulls up her hands to her helmet, and with a few clicks it comes... Wait a minute. I've seen this face before. Short brown hair, brown eyes, kind of French-looking face, a mouth that seems to fit right into the uncanny valley... Where...?

"Madison Paige," she says with an accompanying hand gesture.

Wait... Did she just say...?

"All right, Madison," says Shepard, shaking her hand. "Welcome aboard."

... What the fuck? Is this real? No... No way...

Madison Paige? As in, the photographer/investigative journalist from _Heavy Rain_? As in, the confidante of Ethan Mars, who patched up his wounds and helped him escape from the police twice on the best path? No fucking way! It's not... This can't be... No, this isn't right... No... How the hell did she get here of all places? There's no way...

Wait a minute. No, it makes perfect sense! It has to be the character from _Heavy Rain_! Orange mentioned that two people would come to help fight that were not of this universe either. So that means that Madison's being here makes perfect sense. Shit... it looks like she did die somewhere along the line in the actual events. And... yes, of course, that would explain her codename! There's no other logical explanation for it! Of course!

Shit, I need to talk to her. Garrus refused to pipe up about her history, meaning that it's probably as shady as mine is. Maybe we could form a support group. Madison, Tali, Mysterious Individual No. 3, and possibly Garrus if Madison told him the real story behind her showing up on Omega. Oh, man... This is surreal...

"Hey, Art, you comin', or will I have to mop the floor with you?"

Damn it Jack! You interrupted my thoughts!

"Oh, sorry," I say, seeing that Garrus, Shepard, and Madison have left the room while I was trapped in my thoughts. "I just thought of something really odd is all."

"I don't fuckin' need an apology," she says. "But still, we should get out of here. I've had my fill for the day."

I shake my head, snorting softly. "So have I," I reply.

And the two of us leave the room. Note to self: talk to Madison the next opportunity we get. Get her alone, and speak with her about Ethan Mars and Scott Shelby. And make sure EDI isn't watching. If that fucking AI reveals us to the crew, I'm hacking into it and destroying it. But then again, Orange might help keep EDI under control. I mean, EDI is an AI, and Orange is a mystical paperweight that tells me it was developed by the Protheans mere seconds before they were completely wiped out by the Reapers, so I'm sure Orange will help.

Whatever the case, I think we're finally making some progress here.


	12. Chapter 11

_A/N: And we're back._

_Okay, so the Journalist was Madison Paige of Heavy Rain. So now that she's here, I'll add that disclaimer:_

_Heavy Rain and its characters are not owned by me. They are the property of David Cage and the guys at Quantic Dream. As well, this fic will contain MASSIVE SPOILERS for Heavy Rain, so if you have not played it, proceed with caution._

_So that's that._

_Oh, yeah, and we hit a major review milestone last chapter. The last chapter I posted broke 200 reviews on Friday night. It officially means that Mass Vexations 2 is my most heavily reviewed fanfic, and the first one that's gotten up to 200 reviews. I can't begin to tell you how honored I feel that you all read this, so for those of you that leave reviews: thank you so much. From the bottom of my heart._

_You'll get free cookies!_

_Anyhow, I think it's time we figured out what Art does about Madison, yes? And I think it's time we finally geared up to finding Tali on Haestrom. So here we go!_

* * *

Chapter 11: Strange Times

I'm standing in debriefing with Shepard, Garrus, Madison, and Jacob. Miranda opted out of greeting Madison as she stood there, out of the brown armor. Now she's in something very closely resembling a futuristic version of her _Heavy Rain_ get-up. It's as close to that as you can get to her original outfit when you're in a world where leather isn't commonly used in clothes anymore, anyhow. And she stands there with Jacob, nodding to the Cerberus operative as we look at her.

"Welcome to the team, Ms. Paige," says the operative.

"Please, call me Madison," replies the former journalist as she shakes his hand tentatively. "I don't really like 'Ms. Paige'. Too formal."

"Very well, then," says Jacob with a nod. "Cerberus hasn't had too much luck finding any information about where you're from or how you got to Omega." And they likely never will. "But I am to understand you were born on Earth, Madison?"

"Yes," she says. "It's... a bit of a long story how I got to Omega. Even longer one about where I'm from."

"Her past is a bit of a touchy subject," comments Garrus as he stands behind her, ever vigilant. "She doesn't like to talk about it, even to friends."

Gee, I wonder why. "Really?" asks Shepard, crossing her arms. "Did anyone on your squad know about that past?"

"I do," replies the turian. Huh? Wait, so Garrus knows she's not originally from this Earth...? Wait... "Trust me when I tell you it sounds too strange to be true. I still doubt that it's possible myself."

... So he knows. He knows about Madison, but not about me. Right... Yeah, this is going to get slightly convoluted, I think, but I already know Madison's backstory if we're thinking of the same thing. So I'm approaching her with it first chance I get. And then talking to Garrus about it, and then myself... when I can get to it. But from the way Garrus sounds, it's probable that Madison came from the _Heavy Rain_ universe to here...

Hm... Well, Madison could've died at any point in that game, so... It obviously wasn't with the robbers in her apartment, because that was a dream sequence... It probably wasn't at Adrian Baker's house since Garrus mentioned something about a previous lover and you have to survive Adrian Baker if you want to get the love scene between her and Ethan (who I'm assuming is said previous lover)... It definitely wasn't at the Blue Lagoon as Paco Mendez never fires that gun he has trained on her during that striptease she's forced to do... The only possible times I can think of for her to die that would make sense would be during the two confrontations with the Origami killer. One possibility is that she died in the house fire when the killer locked her in the apartment and set it to burn down... And the other would be when she's confronting the killer himself in the abandoned warehouse, provided Ethan never got there...

Hm... I'll go with the house fire, as that's the situation that Madison got herself killed in when I played through _Heavy Rain_ the first time. Probably not what really happened, but hey, one can dream, right?

"All right," says Shepard. "I won't probe into it unless I feel it jeopardizes the mission. I imagine you'll want to stay close to Garrus?"

Madison frowns at this. "With him, actually," she says. "Where does he typically hang out?"

"He's usually always in the gunnery bay," I reply with a short nod. "You'll find it close to the mess hall. I think he sleeps there, too..."

"The cot might be a bit small, but we'll work it out," says Garrus as his hand comes around Madison's arm. "Right?"

"Of course," she replies as her hand comes to rest over the turian's talon. I swear I can see a soft smile come to her lips as she does this. "Is this all?"

"Well..." I say. "When you've got a few minutes, I'd like to see you in private."

I see her twitch slightly. Well, I can't say I blame her, especially not after the Paco Mendez incident. That was something I'd be afraid of for any woman, not just Madison. I'm just relieved she made it out of that incident with her pride intact.

But she quickly swallows it and nods. "All right," she says. "Where do you usually hang out?"

"Around the ship," I say with a shrug. "But usually I'm in a room that's next to life support, so you can hound me down there and we can speak for a little bit."

"All right, then," she says. "I'll swing around after Garrus gives me a tour of the Normandy."

I nod in agreement with this. "Very well," I say. "Shepard?"

"That's all the business we need to take care of with you two here," says Shepard. "You are dismissed."

With this, Madison and Garrus both nod, and the two of them exit the debriefing room hand in talon. It looks kind of beautiful, really. But it's also jarring as hell... I mean, hell, I saw Madison's tits in _Heavy Rain_! So I imagine Garrus must have quite a bit to admire. Either way, it's going to make talking about Ethan a bit... awkward. But it's still a nice thing to see the two of them holding hands as the door closes behind them. Jacob crosses his arms, looking after them as they exit. He nods, and I can sense he wants to say something.

"Well, it's obvious they're quite deeply in love," says Jacob. "I just hope some of the Cerberus crew don't have a problem with it."

"I hope so too," says Shepard. "Do you personally have a problem with it, Mr. Taylor?"

"No," replies Jacob. "They've known each other for a long time, and they care deeply about each other. I think that's all you really need, right?"

"Yeah, I think so too," I say with a nod. "Let's just hope the more xenophobic people on this ship are all right with it. Are you worried it'll get in the way of the mission, Shepard?"

"It's obvious it's helping Garrus keep a clear head," comments Shepard. "I don't think it'll get in the way of the mission, so I'll let them stay together on this ship. Besides, we don't have fraternization rules here on the Normandy." Yeah, because you regarded them so well with Stinky Buttface who used to love you. "I have nothing more to add unless either of you have concerns that should be brought up now."

Jacob looks right at me. Oh, dear, I think I know what's coming. "Why do you want to see her in private, Art?" he asks.

I shrug, frowning slightly. "Call me crazy, but I feel like I have an idea of her origins," I say, crossing my arms. "I want to see if my hunch is correct. Privacy makes her more likely to open up." And it'll keep my own origins safe, but you don't need to know that. Plus, I already know her origins; I just need to make sure that they're the right origins...

"Is it a little suspicious that you may know, but the rest of us don't?" asks Jacob.

Ooh, good question... That's... a tough one to answer. Doesn't mean I won't try, though. "I'm from Earth myself," I say. "I knew most of what was happening up until a certain point. I think I may have a theory about her origins. I just want to make sure it's correct is all. Nothing so suspicious about that, right?"

He frowns briefly. Hm... Dear God, please don't let the questions start rolling.

But he shakes this feeling off quickly and simply nods. "I guess not," he says. "I have nothing else to say, Commander." Okay, good, that was a close one. I hope I don't have any close calls like that for a while... But still, he's getting pretty suspicious, I think. I better watch my step around him next time... If I give him too many tips, he might find out. And that would not be good...

"Then the both of you are dismissed," replies the commander with a nod.

I give her a nod of acknowledgement as we end debriefing here.

* * *

Speaking of people not of this universe... I think I need to go tell Sturge about this.

I find him preparing meals at the crew deck, maneuvering around with pans and stuff trying to make the day's dinner. He pauses as soon as he sees me, and then nods as he sets a steak down on the grill.

"Why, hello there, Art," he says quite happily. "How are you there?"

"I'm... feeling fine, thanks," I say with a nod as I lean against the kitchen counter. "You got a minute to talk?"

"For you? Sure," says Sturge. "But I'll have to flip this a couple of times during the conversation."

I nod. "Of course," I say. "I wanted to ask you about your thoughts on Madison."

He nods at this, glancing over to the gunnery bay doors as he comes closer to the counter. "Oh, she looks like a nice girl," he says. "If a little on the strange side. But she does seem sweet. Garrus seems to think so, anyhow. What do you think of her?"

"I think... she's very strong-willed," I say, looking over there and smirking. "And good at hunting down serial killers." I bite my lower lip as I continue.

"I also know she's definitely not of this universe either."

The old man turns to me, raising an eyebrow. He frowns slightly as he turns and picks up a pair of tongs to flip the steak over on the grill. "Let me guess," he says, flipping the steak over and turning back to look at me as he does so. "She's in the same dilemma as us."

"Yep," I comment. "And I know who she is and what she did, too." I watch him turn to me with a perplexed look on his face as I cross my arms. "She was in this game that came out for the PS3 about two months before I showed up here. It was this thing called _Heavy Rain_, and it was about a serial killer and the people trying to hunt him down."

"Oh, more video games?" he asks, frowning. "Really, Art, I never thought you'd be the type."

I shrug. "I always was a gamer," I comment. "I was a gamer before I came to New World, I was a gamer during New World, I dipped briefly in activity after New World, but it resurged at the conservatory. So I know who Madison Paige is." I take in a breath. "She was an investigative journalist who was searching for the Origami killer. She was chiefly a photographer, and she suffered from insomnia last I know. But she's tough as a nail, and not afraid to do anything to get information."

"I see," he says. "You plan on telling her we're in the same boat she is?"

I nod, glancing to the side to see the gunnery bay. "Yeah," I say. "Possibly Garrus, too, if she told him about her real origins."

"Art, are you sure that's the best idea?" he asks, frowning slightly. "I mean, you already told me that people would think we're mad if we told them we were from another dimension, you know? I'd think Garrus would be the last person you'd want to find out about something like this. First of all, how would he react to it? And second of all, does he even know?"

"I don't know," I say, shrugging. "But I've got a way to prove it. There's a certain story he tells Shepard when you get his loyalty; he hasn't told anyone else about it yet, but I'm about willing to bet he'll respond to... reach and flexibility..."

I smirk smugly at this, looking at the gunnery bay door as Sturge gives me an odd look. "Reach and flexibility?" he asks, clearly confused.

"As it refers to Garrus, it's a double entendre," I reply.

He blinks, then nods slightly as he realizes what I mean. "Oh," he says. "I see... I guess that'll work then. But still, such a private memory?"

"It's the only thing he hasn't told me about that I have yet to exploit," I reply. "Everything else is kind of... eh."

"I see..." he says. "I'd be wary if I were you, Art. Once you tell him, you don't know what he's going to do and how he's going to react to the fact that you knew everything. I'm willing to bet he'll be pretty angry about the fact that you knew more about what was going on, and that you didn't tell anyone about it. I know you'd be insane, but wouldn't you be best off trying to say you get visions and you have paranormal abilities? If some idiots back on our Earth bought into it, then these guys might..."

"It didn't work when I tried it when I attempted to return to our Earth at Virmire," I comment. "It only tipped someone off, and that someone was already suspecting me enough."

"So I see," says Sturge. "I don't know, Art, I'd be careful with how you approach Garrus about the truth. You don't know how he'll react to that."

"Trust me, I'll be careful," I reply with a tilt of my head. "Besides, that's only if she told him in the first place... Which I doubt. But we'll see. Besides, if he doesn't mind Madison... he might not mind me being from another universe that much."

"I don't know, two years of history with him might say otherwise," says Sturge. "Madison didn't know anything, but you do, so his reaction will probably be very different. Just be careful, Art. I don't want Garrus trying to rip your face off because he's so angry."

I nod. "I'll be careful, Sturge," I reply. "I'm probably going to go sketch stuff. I just wanted to let you know about that in case she asks about that after the talk."

"Of course," says the old man with a soft smile as he takes his tongs up again. "If you need anything, you know where to find me."

I nod. "Thanks," I say, a small smile coming to my lips as I leave him to cook that night's dinner.

You know... he has a point. He might get pissed that I knew Shepard was gonna die well before it happened. But there really isn't a whole lot I can do about that, so I'll just have to roll with the punches. I'll talk to Madison first, and then I'll talk to Garrus. And I'll have Madison there in case Garrus gets too angry. I just hope he'll be willing to talk to me after I reveal that I knew everything... Ah, I hope this is going to go well...

Maybe writing something will help.

* * *

Okay, god damn it... I still can't write that song about love... But at the very least, I have an intro. That's a lot better than nothing, I think, even if it does sound a bit like the _Heavy Rain_ soundtrack. Well... we'll see what happens then. I guess I'll just keep on writing, and we'll see what happens.

Hm... No, I shouldn't tell Madison about Orange just yet. After all, I need to make sure she has a confirmer here. It would be very humiliating if I introduced her to the Prothean oracle and she wasn't a chosen one. But still, I have a very strong feeling she'll be a chosen one. Wing of justice... She did do some minorly questionable things during the Origami Killer case, but hey, she helped save the kid in the end. Or tried to, before she got burned up or fell from heights or didn't enter that god-damn fridge in time. I wonder if the Origami Killer is going to be her confirmer. If so... it might add credence to Orange mentioning I might have to defeat one of the confirmers.

The door opens, and I jump slightly as Madison strides into the room. Yes, Madison Paige just walked into my room. I'm going to have a very hard time getting used to this, I'm sure. This will be quite odd seeing Madison all the time, especially now that she's in a relationship with a turian. I hope she and Ethan went all the way, but that's a pondering for another time.

"Hello, Mr. *********," she says. "You wanted to talk to me?"

I nod at this as I stand up. Writing can wait. For now, I have this to exposit to Madison. "Of course," I say, gesturing to my sleeping area. "Have a seat. And please, call me Art."

She takes a seat on the bed, and nods up to me. "All right then, Art," she says. "So what did you want to talk about?"

I bite my lower lip as I begin to move around the small room. "Well, I have a theory about your origins," I reply. "I remember Garrus told us that he wouldn't tell your history for very specific reasons."

"Yeah, it's a little wierd," replies Madison with a shrug. "You wouldn't believe it if I told."

I shrug at this. "It depends," I say. "Especially in my case."

Madison shifts uncomfortably on the berth, her hands lacing together nervously. "You're starting to remind me of some of the serial killers I've interrogated," she says. "At least, those that I questioned in plain-clothes operations anyhow."

I jolt a little at this, my eyes going wide. "Oh, dear..." I say, going off from the wall and walking to the berth. "We'll have to change that, won't we?"

The journalist responds with a soft laugh. "I guess we will," she says.

With this, I sit next to her on the bed, my hands clasped together as I work my fingers softly. "Right," I say. "Now, I did say I wanted to talk about your origins, mainly because I have some speculation on where you're from."

Madison shifts slightly. "Everybody else does too," she says. "I told Garrus because I grew to trust him, and he was completely blown out of the water because his guess was all wrong. I'm guessing yours will be too."

Oh, boy, Madison. I pressed X to make you not die, you silly goose. "You'll be pretty surprised, I should think," I say. "But anyways, let me get started with that."

Madison nods, crossing her arms. "What do you think?" she asks.

"Well, to tell you that, I have to tell you a little story first," I reply. "If you don't mind me going off topic for a second. You'll see how it relates in a second."

She nods, shifting slightly next to me. "All right," she says. "What is this story?"

I nod. All right, time for the Sparknotes version of my first playthrough of _Heavy Rain._ "Well, there was this serial killer," I reply. "He drowned boys in rainwater by leaving them in a ditch for a few days. They were always young boys, never older than 13 years of age. The victims would always be found in a different spot. The killer was dubbed the Origami Killer for his tendency to leave origami figures and orchids on the bodies of his victims. And for three years, parents across the city were left in trepidation."

I look to Madison briefly to see that she's still holding her composure in check. But I'm beginning to see something in her eyes. Something... apprehensive. Yeah, I figured she would get that way. Like, how the fuck am I supposed to know this? Yeah, you'll find out soon enough, girl. Just sit tight with me and I'll get there.

"What nobody seemed to know, however, was that the Origami Killer was killing not for joy, but to test the resolves of the boys' fathers," I continue. "He had a very tough past, and major daddy issues around the death of his brother. But that's another story. Anyways, he had kidnapped a victim by the name of Shawn Mars. His father was Ethan Mars, who fought tooth and nail to get his son back by taking on a great number of terrible trials in which he caused great injury to his body and his psyche.

"But he wasn't alone." And here, I sense Madison tensing up a little bit. "There was an intrepid journalist who was helping him by either patching his wounds or going on other leads to hunt down where Shawn was. See, Ethan Mars became the prime suspect. His friend went around to find proof that Ethan Mars was not the Origami Killer. This helper eventually found out who the killer was and broke into his apartment. But the helper was found by the killer. And so, the poor thing was left to be trapped in the apartment as he set it on fire. The helper tried to escape, but couldn't.

"And this is where it gets a bit wierd. See, this helper didn't die. Instead, the helper wound up on Omega, not knowing where she was. When the helper went on to nearly get raped in a back alley of Omega... Archangel found the helper and saved her. And so, the helper moved joined his squad, and did so after a hit on a prostitution ring."

I look directly at her with a coy smile. "And now, I'm sitting down, talking to this helper," I say. "Because your name is Madison Paige, and you helped find the Origami Killer."

Madison bolts off of the berth, looking at me with shock on her eyes. "W-what?" she asked. "How did you know? How...?"

"Garrus didn't tell me anything," I say. "I'm just saying that now so you don't get angry at him."

She shakes her head, covering her mouth in disbelief. "No way..." she says. "How do you know this?"

I smile, standing up from the berth and shrugging. "Well, let me put it this way," I say. "It's one of the perks of being a fellow interdimensional traveller."

At this, all of the tension that was on the journalist's person vanished almost immediately. "You mean..." she says. "You're not from this universe? Like, you just came here the same way I did?"

"Yep," I reply with a nod. "Get this: I come from a dimension where your adventures tackling the Origami Killer were the subject of a game called _Heavy Rain_. And, well, that's how I know your story. And that universe also has a game describing every event here. It's strange as hell, but somehow it happened."

Madison is still looking rather shocked at this. "Wait, I thought you were from E-"

"I made that up," I reply. "What, you think I'm going to tell everyone that I'm a person that isn't even from the same time period as everybody else? They'll all think I've gone insane!"

"So Sturge...?" asks Madison.

"Yep, Sturge is also from another universe," I reply. "Same universe as I was, apparently, but you know how it is."

She's still very shocked, but it's beginning to subside. "And Ethan..." she says. "What else do you know about him? If you know about me..."

"He had another son named Jason Mars," I reply. "The poor kid was killed in a car accident when he was ten years old. I know a lot about that universe. Even about Leland White, the Taxidermist that you helped expose."

Madison nods at this, her guard dropping. "I... I see..." she says. "This... is a lot to process... and I'm not totally sure I believe you. But you correctly guessed how I got onto Omega. I don't know how the hell it happened that I woke up after I was sure I had died..."

I shrug. "I didn't know how I got here when I first showed up either," I comment with a shrug. "All I know was that I was playing a piece that gave me really bad hallucinations and the next thing I know I wake up on the Citadel."

"Too true," she says. "But still... this is a lot to think about."

"Well, think of it this way; it's one more person you can talk to about your past without seeming odd," I reply with a shrug.

"I guess so," she says. "Still... It feels so wierd knowing that you know who I really am."

I nod. "Don't worry," I say. "I don't plan on telling anybody. Unless EDI was listening in despite the fact that I told her to sign me off when you got here. Or something. Either way..."

Madison nods at this and looks at me. "So what now?" she asks. "Now that you know who I am, and that I know that you're not really from this galaxy... what do we do?"

"Well, Sturge knows about you, so you can talk to him," I say. "There's also someone who's not on this ship, and she's the only person originally from this galaxy who knows to the best of my knowledge."

The dimensional foreigner nods to this. "Wait, does Garrus know about you?" she asks.

I shake my head. "No..." I reply. "I never got the chance to tell him, although with you in the picture, that changed. Fast. He doesn't know, either, that I knew about everything that was going to happen for the past two years, much like I knew who you are."

"Wait, so..." says Madison. "There was that other game, and it described everything here too?"

"More or less," I comment, shrugging slightly as I look to the journalist. "Again, there's only one person from this universe that knows."

"I see..." says Madison. "I... am not sure I should take your word on it, but... since you knew about my true origins, and you knew about Ethan... I'll ask Garrus if he said anything about that to you."

"Go right ahead," I say with a hand gesture. "I can guarantee you he didn't say anything."

She nods, standing up from the bed. "All right, then," she says. "I... this is a lot to think about, but... I guess we'll see soon enough, right?"

"Of course," I comment. "That's all I wanted to talk about."

"All right," she says. "Be careful, Art. Garrus may not take so kindly."

Yeah... I know, Madison. I know.

With this, she walks out of the room, and I'm very breifly reminded of Madison and Ethan's first meeting in _Heavy Rain_. Yeah, I swear she walked like that, only this time I have nothing to be careful about. So yeah, this is turning out to be just charming.

Anyhow... that conversation went quite a bit better than what I was expecting, so that's always a good thing. At least now I know Madison Paige knows the truth about me. And with that knowledge... I better tell Tali when I can get a minute alone with her after we stop by Haestrom. Speaking of which... I wonder when that will be... Hopefully it'll be soon, because that would suck if it was not...

I guess I'll let Shepard tell me about it. After all, we do only have Samara and Tali left to recruit out of the original recruitable squad from the game. So I imagine Tali will be joining the crew of the Normandy soon. I hope so, too; Gabby and Kenneth look like they could use a little bit of help here. Either way, fun times will result from when they finally meet.

I return to my terminal, and look at it as I bite my lower lip. Right, time to get back to writing.

* * *

I get to write for about an hour longer when I hear the door open. Blinking, I turn to the doorway and see Shepard standing there, her hands crossed behind her back. I cross one of my legs and look to her, raising one of my eyebrows.

"Hey, Shepard, what's up?" I ask.

"I have some news I need to brief you on," she says.

I nod at this. Okay, given that I'm the unofficial XO here, I think that's relevant. "Okay," I say. "So, where are we heading next?"

"We are heading into geth space very soon," she says. "I want you to be with me."

Wait, geth space... This isn't the mission I'm thinking of, is it? "Geth space?" I ask. "Why are we going there?"

"The Illusive Man sent me a dossier," she says. Yes, this is the mission I'm thinking of. "Tali's dossier. She told you about her mission in geth space?"

Well, technically, I told her, but that's a story for another life. "Nothing specific, but yes." I am such a liar. I think it's time I finally told a truth for once. "Lemme guess; we're going straight there right now, aren't we?"

"I believe so."

... Holy shit! I get to see Tali again! And we'll get to rescue her from the geth soon! Hm... I wonder how she's doing right now. Hopefully the geth haven't spotted her so we can get to her in time in the first place. I wonder how Kal is doing, too, and whether Shepard will keep him from fighting or not. I hope she keeps him from fighting, because he's awesome. And I wonder if anyone else will survive thanks to my advice. I know she said she'd take it to heart, so... I wonder who else will survive as a result.

"Oh!" I say. "So you want me there?"

"Yes," replies Shepard. "Actually, scratch that; I think Tali would like to see you again, too."

I nod at this. "All right," I say, smiling. "Just say the word, and I'm there."

She nods, smiling. "Excellent," she says. "I'm sure she told you how dangerous it was."

"Smack dab in the middle of geth space," I comment. "Yeah, I know. I'm honestly not expecting the best if we're heading there right now."

"Honestly, Art, neither am I," she says. "This will be a fairly intense mission, I can sense it."

Oh, Shepard, you have no idea. "That I think it will be," I say. "But yeah, you can count on me being there, Shepard. In fact, I'll be the first guy at the airlock!"

She smiles at this. "Great," she says. "I'll bet you're looking forward to it."

"Oh, you bet I am, Joc," I say. "I only got to see Tali in person once, and that was during the film premiere. I'd definitely like to see her again on this ship."

"As do I," comments Shepard, her eyes seeming to shine fondly at this. "We could use her skills on the Normandy, that's for sure."

"That we could," I say. "Ken and Gabby have their hands full as it is; having someone who worked on the original Normandy will probably do them all kinds of good. Especially as far as keeping the drive core functional go."

"I don't know; she may be a little surprised by what she finds here," she says. "There's a lot of new technology I'm adding on to it. For one, we have the Thanix Cannon installed and ready to go, and for another we're preparing some extra plating for the Normandy's hull." Ah, so she's getting that upgrade done too, eh? Well, at least Jack will survive the suicide mission for sure now. All that's left to be researched is the multi-core shielding and we'll be good for ship enhancements that will help us during the actual suicide mission.

"Oh," I say. "So you've been upgrading this ship."

"Yes," she replies with a nod. "I've been upgrading it steadily with resources that we've been finding."

I nod. Ah, yes, the planetcrack. I know it's technically probes, but it's mining resources, and it's from the planet, so I can call it the planet crack as much as I bloody well want. "Yeah, I keep wondering why we stop over non-critical planets for a few hours," I mention. "But... you have your reasons, and I can't say I disagree with them, so I think we're good."

"We'll need this ship in the best shape when we face the Collectors," she says.

"Indeed we do," I reply, nodding my head as I uncross my legs. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Well..." begins Shepard, knitting her brows slightly. "I wanted to ask what you talked to Madison about."

Ah. Oh, dear, this could be a problem...Well... she doesn't know anything yet, so I can hold my cover for a little longer. I just hope she doesn't find out. Preferably at all, but if she does find out, I'd prefer to see it later than sooner. "Oh, nothing much," I say. "I just had a hunch about something. I had this wierd feeling of deja vu when I first saw her, so I wanted to see if I knew here from somewhere."

"No wonder you spaced out back in the apartment block," comments Shepard. "Did you get it sorted out?"

"I like to think we did," I say with a nod. "Either way, she's thinking about it a little bit. She's doing all right, I hope?"

Shepard shrugged. "Well... she talked to Garrus about something around twenty minutes ago. And when he came out of the gunnery bay... he was a little agitated." Oh dear... He might not take this so well... "He actually asked Sturge a few questions, but he deferred to you... So you should probably go talk to him the next chance you get."

I nod. "I see then," I say. "Where is he now?"

The door opens, and then we both see Garrus standing in the doorway. Oh, yeah, he's not taking this well. His eyes seem to be burning with some kind of fire, and his gaze falls squarely on me. Shepard crosses her arms as I sit at the terminal, looking right at the turian as he nods to Shepard. I look at the turian.

"Speak of the devil," I say. "Hello, Garrus."

"There you are," he says. Oh, dear, I don't think he's happy if he's forgetting the greeting. "I've been looking all over the ship for you."

"You know, I haven't moved from this spot since I spoke with Madison," I comment. "I take it you want to speak with me?"

"Yes, yes I do," he says, turning to Shepard. "Shepard, can we have a moment alone, please?"

"Of course," she says. "I finished saying what I needed to say anyhow."

With this, she walks towards the door, looking at the two of us. "Try to keep it civil, all right?" she asks. "I trust you will, but still, don't get too rough in whatever it is you're talking about..."

With this, she exits, and the door closes behind her. This leaves me with Garrus, and suddenly I feel goosebumps travel up my arm. God, it's suddenly really cold in here... I look up to Garrus as he crosses his arms, shifting his stance while giving me an absolutely unpleased look. I gulp. Oh, dear, this isn't going to be easy to talk about without pissing him off... I mean... Please tell me Madison encouraged him to give me a chance...

Fuck... This might not turn out so well after all...

"So..." I say. "I take it Madison told you about what I talked to her about..."

"You better believe she did," replies Garrus, his voice hard as he strides towards me. "She told me you knew about her."

"Well, we did both come from-"

"Drop the charade, Art." Garrus' mandibles are flaring out in anger now, and his eyes are alight in fire that I've never seen from the turian.

Shit... "How much-"

I don't get to finish the sentence, as then Garrus slams the part of my desk closest to me and furthes from my terminal. I jump back slightly, seeing the slight dent Garrus' fist made in the metal as his eyes flash at me in anger. I hear a low snarl build in his throat.

"She told me you knew about everything that was going on," he says. "Here, in this galaxy. From when we hunted Saren... from when Shepard... when she _died_."

I look up to Garrus. "So...?"

The turian looks straight at me. "I don't know if it's true, and frankly I don't want to believe it," he says. "So I'll give you one chance. Tell me something about myself that you shouldn't know yet you do anyway. Now."

Okay... well, he doesn't look too happy, but... it's probably just the fact that he doesn't want to believe it. Sorry, Garrus, but I'm gonna prove you wrong.

"Well..." I say. "You were in the turian military on this ship. You were about to hit a batarian pirate squad, which I imagine is a very stressful mission." I clear my throat as Garrus looks on threateningly. "There was this scout on that ship. You and her were at each other's throats, so you decided to relieve the stress in the sparring ring. You could've taken her down easy, but you were both the top hand to hand specialists on the ship." Garrus' expression seems to morph from anger to shock as he hears this. "You had reach, she had flexibility. After nine rounds, the judge called it a draw. So then you had a tiebreaker in your quarters... And you had reach, and-"

"She had flexibility..." Garrus finishes for me. He blinks at this, closing his mandibles twice as he thinks about this.

"Yeah," I say. "Exact words you used, too."

He stands there for a brief period of time, wondering what this could all mean. I look up to the turian then, biting my lower lip before continuing. "It's exactly as you feared," I reply. "What do you want me to say, Garrus? What do-?"

"I want an explanation," he replies, interrupting me as his anger returns full force. His talon points in my face to that effect. "You have a lot to answer for now that I know you hid everything about you from us."

I frown. Hold up, Garrus. "Whoah, wait, Garrus, just-"

"Damn it, Art, don't give me excuses!" he shouts. "You said you came from Earth, and yet Madison tells me you told her you came from another dimension! How the hell did you get here?"

I look to the side and shake my head. "Look, Garrus, I don't know how the hell I got here, all right?" I ask. "All I know is that I was playing this piece that doesn't exist here, I hallucinated badly, I get knocked out cold, and the next thing I know I'm 173 years in the future inside a video game. I don't know any specifics. But you're-"

"You knew about everything, you said?" he asks. "You knew about Virmire! You knew about Saren! You knew about Shepard's death! And you knew she was coming back to life! And you went around pretenting you didn't know!"

"Look, Garrus, I-" I try to interject.

"I can understand you not looking like you're crazy," he interrupts, his voice still incredibly steeley. "I've lived with you long enough to know that you're already crazy enough. But you didn't do anything to stop these events!"

... What? "Garrus, you think I could just walk up to the Collectors and say 'hey, bitches, don't kill Shepard or we'll fuck your asses up two years from now'?" I ask, throwing my arms out as I stand up. "There are some things I can't control!"

"That's not an excuse!" says the turian. "What about Virmire? You couldn't just move on with the rendevouz point like Shepard told you to! I... Why?"

Oh, that mission again? God damn it, Garrus! "I _was_ trying to get myself killed," I say, frowning at him as I begin to feel the tears build up. "And I wanted to save Ash! Why the hell do you think I refused the order? I did all I could to save Ash and it still wasn't fucking enough!"

"Yeah, and she died because of something that probably wouldn't have worked!" comments Garrus, shaking his head. "And you... you knew about my stint as Archangel. And yet you told me you didn't!"

"Garrus, I-"

"I don't want to hear it," he says, angrily. Why... God damn it, Garrus, just listen to me for once. "You knew about it all. I can understand that, but why didn't you say anything to the Normandy's crew? I would've believed you! Instead, you're keeping up this... this act! And you just go about lying about everything you've ever taken part in!"

... The _nerve_ of the son of a bitch! "Garrus, w-!"

"And on top of that, Tali's the only one who knows!" he rages. "Why'd you tell her and not me? Why didn't you tell the rest of us, Art? You could've stopped lying to us all! You could've dropped the act any time for us! I know I would've kept your secret to myself. Spirits be damned, Art, we lived together on the Citadel for two months, and you knew everything! You should've said something! But you gave us this act, and-!"

All right, get out my house.

"_You think I enjoy lying to everyone about who I really am?_" I scream out.

This finally shocks Garrus into silence, and the hot tears of anger are rolling down my face as he regards me in shock. I shake my head as I pace around the room slowly. "You think I enjoy it?" I ask. "Well let me tell you something, Garrus. I _don't_ enjoy it, contrary to popular belief. I do it because I don't have a fucking choice."

"Yes you-"

"Shut the fuck up, Garrus!" I shout, pointing my finger at the ground. "I don't have a choice, no matter how much you tell me I do." I breathe harshly for a few seconds as I stare down the turian. "I don't have a fucking choice!"

"We would've been able to understand!" he says.

I turn, and the glare I give him manages to shut him up. "Garrus..." I say, my voice seething in anger. "I'm not even from the same time period you are. I..." I shake my head. "I came here on the first day of April 2010 back in my universe. And from there to here, I missed so much. I missed 130 years of international politics on Earth. I missed 130 years of technological advancements. I missed 143 years before first contact, I missed 143 years of warfare, and I missed 173 years of culture!" I huff slightly before continuing. "On top of that, with the sole exception of Sturge everyone I've ever loved and cared about is in another fucking dimension! To top that bit off, I can never contact anyone from my home universe, ever again! I'm basically on my own, Garrus. So don't you fucking _dare_ tell me you can fucking understand me, because you never fucking will!

"And besides," I continue, looking at him as the hot tears continue to spill down my face. "I _don't_ know everything that's going to happen. You know your squad? Yeah, that _died_ in the game. _Everybody fucking died!_ Sam, Kat, Nogond, _everybody!_ The only reason they lived was because I talked to Lireya, but even I didn't know she would affect events so much! If we had it it any other way, you would've been out for Sidonis' blood! But that fucking changed! And Madison? She's from another game, and that game wasn't even by the same fucking developer or released for the same fucking consoles! By all accounts, she shouldn't even fucking _be_ here! So no, I don't know everything!"

I look at him then as I breathe in and out, and I can see in his eyes that he's quite shocked at my outburst. I'm almost done though. "You want to know why I cried after Virmire?" I ask. "Ash was only a small part of it. I had been separated from everyone I ever loved. And I didn't have anyone to tell it to. I only told Tali because I slipped with her..." I shake my head. "I don't tell because I don't know who the hell I can trust with that kind of information. I'm not totally sure if I can trust you with knowing this and not telling anyone. And if word gets out that I'm not actually who I say I am... I'm afraid for what's going to happen, Garrus. Even if I don't enjoy it, I have to keep up the charade..."

The tears are still flowing, but by this time, I've sat on the bed, staring out and shaking my head. "I'm sorry, but it had to be done," I say, closing my eyes and biting my lower lip. "You... you can go now if you'd like... I've probably lost your friendship anyhow."

This startles the turian, though. And he doesn't move for a brief period of time. I look up at Garrus, feeling defeated as I sit on my bed. Damn it... I shouldn't have been so harsh on him... I shake my head again as I close my eyes.

I hear feet shifting from where Garrus stands, but instead of hearing the door open I feel a weight depress in the bed next to me. I open my eyes and see Garrus has taken a seat next to me on my bed, making sure his talons are on his legs. He looks down before glancing at me.

"Tali became your best friend, though," comments the turian. "Who's to say I won't react like that?"

I shrug. "I don't know," I say. "You're right, I did live with you for two months. But you're not exactly good at telling me stuff either. I mean, you did just leave me there without saying a word."

"True," Garrus says. "Just... was your indignation over that real?"

"Yes," I reply, with a nod to add to that. "I really did feel a little angry that you had just up and left me on the Citadel without even leaving your note in English. But then... I had a lot to hide, too..."

The turian nods. "I still think you should've told me," he says. "I... I'll need some time to think about all this. But... I shouldn't have gotten angry at you."

I nod, turning to face him. "You and me both, Garrus," I reply. "You and me both."

He nods, and then he stands up. "I guess I'll see you soon," he says. "I'll talk to you again when I've thought it over. But for now, I don't think I'll forget all you've done for us."

I nod at this, a soft smile coming onto my face. The turian stands up, and then he leaves the room with little ceremony. I sit on the bed a little longer, looking at the door...

He's right. I shouldn't have left him out of the blue as long as I did. Some things are messed up that way. I just hope I still have his friendship at the end of all this, because if I don't that would be a very, very sad thing. We may not have been the best of friends on the original Normandy, but we got to that place elsewhere. So... I just hope I don't lose his friendship because I did what I had to. That would be incredibly sad. And unforgiveable.

I sit there a little longer, thinking about what I told Garrus for a little longer, then looking back at my terminal and frowning. I stand up, save my progress, and shut it off. I'm going to go around the Normandy and do stuff now. I need to take my mind off of this and maybe get someone else's opinion on the matter.

Or just fuck with Miranda...

Actually, now that I think about it, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea... Let's do that.

* * *

"Then she asked me if I wanted Cerberus to go to hell. Craziest question she can think of, you know?"

"I would've gone even more fucking crazy. What did you say?"

"I told her exactly this: 'I don't think Cerberus should go to hell, so much as it should be castrated and fed to children. Because starving orphans need our help, and what better way to do that than to feed them terrorists for breakfast? With onions.'"

Laughter. "Oh, man, I'll bet that got the cheerleader pissed."

"I think it took all her willpower not to biotically fling me out of her office two seconds later. She simply gestured at the door, and then told me to leave if I didn't want to have a broken arm. I left, but not before saying 'don't forget the salt and pepper'!"

Jack chuckles at this, smiling wickedly.

Well, fucking with Miranda was fun, particularly when you're pretending to hold a smoking pipe in the one hand while talking like a member of high society in a bathrobe. Or something. Either way, here I am, relating it all to Jack in her little hidey hole. She's taking it really well, seeing as how we both hate the cheerleader. Even if we disagree on most things, it's nice to know there's one thing we can both agree on. That being, that Miranda is a bit of a bitch.

It's kind of dark here, but I don't really mind. She's sitting on her cot, and I'm leaning with my ass against the table as I look over at her.

"Damn it, I wish I'd been there to see that!" says the convict. "That would've been a sight to see."

"I know, right?" I ask. "That's why you need to come out of the hidey-hole a little more often. You miss things like that if you just stay down here."

"No, thanks," she says, shaking her head. "I'm doing fucking fine on my own down here. I like the quiet. And plus, I need to think."

I raise my eyebrow at this, crossing my arms. "You need to think?" I ask. "What about?"

She shakes her head. "Don't bother asking," she says. "I'm not telling you."

Hm... It looks like I've hit a nerve... Maybe it's her loyalty mission? Hm... I think I should continue along those lines...

"Shepard told me you had gotten access to Cerberus files," I say. Good thing she actually did tell me about the Cerberus files being given to her, though. "Did you find anything there?"

"Not that you should be concerned about," she says.

Hm... Yep, I think it is... "Try me," I say, crossing my arms. "I think you might be just the slightest bit surprised."

She pauses for a second, and I can sense she's thinking it over. Finally, she blinks and stands up. "Shepard told you about how I was raised, right?" she asks.

"Yeah," I reply. "Lab rat for Cerberus. You broke out, and caused mayhem all over the galaxy, culminating with a space station and the hanar's favorite moon. You've hated Cerberus for what they did to you."

"Yeah, that's the gist of it," replies the biotic. "I found out where they kept me. They kept me at some Tetlin facility on Pragia."

I nod. "I see," I say. "You can't seem to stop thinking about it, I guess."

"Good for you," she says sarcastically. "The ballsy pussy gets a bonus point."

Oh, god damn it, not that again! You know what? "I'm not even going to bother with that anymore," I reply, shaking my head. "But... I guess that now that you know where it is..."

"I want to burn that place to the ground," replies the convict. "No. I want to blow that place up. Wipe it out forever. I just... That place can't exist."

"So why not destroy it now?" I ask.

"Because I can't figure out a good time to leave," she says. "I want to see that base blow, Art, and I want to live to see it."

I glance to the side before shrugging. "Well..." I comment. "Why not ask Shepard?"

Jack glances at me harshly as she comes up to me. "And sidetrack the mission?" she asks. "I don't fucking think so. We need to stop whatever those bug things are doing, and we're not going to stop them by blowing up Cerberus bases."

I shake my head. "You'd be surprised at how accomodating Shepard is," I reply. "I remember back on the original Normandy that Garrus had this doctor he wanted to deal with. Dr. Saleon, I think his name was. He had coordinates and everything; he just wasn't sure what the right time was. But... Shepard went over to those coordinates and helped him find some closure for that. Believe what you will, but Shepard is usually very good about attending to the needs of her crew."

"Really?" she asks. "I won't believe it until I see it."

I shrug. "Right, you do that," I say. "I'll bring it up the next time I see Shepard. Or you can the next time you see Shepard."

"I don't think I will," she says. "Do whatever the fuck you want, though."

"Okay, then," I say with a shrug as I fully stand up. "I guess I'll do whatever happens then." I shift on my feet slightly, looking at her. "I'll see you around, Jack."

With this, I make to leave. Okay, so now we have Jack's loyalty mission. Now I just-

"Wait just a minute there!"

... Oh dear. I pause just as I get to the stairway to take me upstairs, and then I slowly turn to face Jack. "Jack?" I ask. "What the hell do you want?"

"Not I," she says, crossing her arms. "You. You're always coming down here. Do you fucking want something from me?"

... Did she seriously just start the casual sex dialogue? Oh hell no... No no no no no... I don't do casual sex, especially with mentally fragile biotics.

"Uh... what sort of thing would you mean?" I ask, turning to face her.

"You know, sex, biotics, that kind of thing?" she asks.

I frown at this. Ew! "Uh, no," I say. "I don't need that sort of thing. Why the hell would you even ask me that?"

"Everyone who spends this much time with me usually wants something from me," she says. "They always do. So stop fucking with me and tell me what you want."

I cross my arms. "Jack, I don't fucking _want _anything from you," I reply. "The only thing I really need is the fact that we both agree that the cheerleader is a bitch. If I wanted anything else, you'd know, trust me. And besides, why the hell do you think I would want to do the whole sex thing? You know I'm not that kind of guy who just fucks everything that has a vagina." Or asshole, but you get my point.

She glares at me. "Fine," she says. "I can see you're not interested in most of that. That's... different."

That it is, Jack. That it is, although Murtagh might be frowning in disapproval right about now. "I thought it was established that I'm not like your average person," I comment, splaying my arms out.

"Whatever," says the biotic, sitting back down on her cot. "Leave me alone."

"Will do," I say.

And with this, I exit the hidey hole. Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, did she seriously offer me the casual sex option? Yeah... This is going to make conversations with her a little more awkward. And wierd. God... she asked me to fucking have sex with her! I mean... what the hell, Jack? I thought you knew I wasn't that kind of guy! Even that reassurance doesn't stop her... Well, you could sex her up as a male Shepard, so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised.

Oh well. Nothing I can do about that, really. I guess I'll just play along until we get to Haestrom. Writing is always good for the soul, I think, so I'll go ahead and do some more of that.


	13. Chapter 12

_A/N: And we're back._

_So last time, Garrus found out, and didn't take it too well. Don't worry, he'll come to terms with it soon. Other than that, stuff will happen after this chapter that will result in quite a big thing for Art when MV3 hits. You'll see what it is; trust me, you'll know the instant you see it._

_And yeah, fun times are had on Haestrom. And yes, there will be more squad members surviving. You'll see._

_So I'll get that disclaimer out of the way: Iya'Miya vas Neema does not belong to me. She belongs to nevertalk, author of the excellent Reclamation fic._

_Oh... and one last thing. Hazza137 started a Dragon Age self-insert that I'm beta-ing, so if you like Dragon Age as much as Mass Effect, do yourself a favor and check it out!_

_And if you're wondering where I get the term "hesh'alan" from? Well... you can thank Tairis Deamhan for that. And now, it's time for more shameless advertising of other people's stuff; if you really love Tali/Shepard, then you should totally check out his fic _Razor's Edge_. It's where I got the term from, it's got incredible expansions on basically everything in ME2, and it has some of the greatest Tali/Shepard dialogue I've seen on the site. So go check it out. Like, right now. Because if you're a Tali/Shepard fan and you haven't looked at it yet, you're missing out._

_Anyhow, let's get this party started! Talimancers, rejoice; Tali returns!_

* * *

Chapter 12: Haestrom

As I promised Shepard, I was the first person at the airlock of the Kodiak. I was so eager I didn't need the nightmare or EDI to wake me up. I just suited up and made for here the first chance I got. If I remember correctly, Haestrom's sun was acting up because of dark matter, meaning it'll fry our shields with direct sunlight. So just remember to stay in the shade... although, to be perfectly honest, the first ten meters will have open sunlight for us to venture out on. So that will be quite a fun venture to take part in, I should think.

I wonder how Shepard is going to treat Kal. I hope she spares him. Because if she doesn't, that will suck. Greatly. I also wonder who else will be spared...

It's a question I don't get to think about too much, because then I see Garrus walking towards the airlock. I nod to him briefly as I hold my hands behind my back.

"Hey, Garrus," I say.

"Hey, Art," he says. "I've been... thinking about what we talked about. I... actually talked to Madison briefly about it, too. And since EDI's not listening in at the moment..."

I bite my lower lip. Oh, dear, difficult conversation coming up. "You okay?" I ask. "I mean, after all that yelling we levelled at each other... It was uncalled for... so..."

"Maybe. But you know something? I think you're right," he says. "I... I don't know how I'd react to suddenly being in a different time and a different place from where I came from. I... guess I would've hidden the truth from people too if that was the case. I can't blame you there, I guess. I mean, you did the best you could, so... there's something to be said for that, I'm sure. I shouldn't have gotten angry at you. I'm sorry."

... Oh. Conversation isn't so difficult after all. It's good to see we're coming to an agreement on this thing, at least. Thank heaven.

I nod at this. "Hey, it's cool," I say. "I can understand your anger, anyhow. I mean, it's not every day that you find out one of your friends was lying to you about who they were since you basically met."

Garrus nods. "Well, at least now I can say I've gone through everything," he says. "I've pissed off every merc company on Omega, I've chased criminals, I've taken down giant machines planning on a galaxy-wide genocide... I guess having a friend from an alternate dimension is going to be quite the addition to that list."

I snort softly, rolling my eyes as I smirk. "That's not all," I comment, crossing my arms. "If I hadn't hijacked that airship, you would've taken a missile to the face."

Garrus starts slightly at this. "Really?" he asks.

I nod. "Yeah," I say. "You took a missile to the face in the game; you barely survived that, and half your face had to be replaced with robotic parts as a result. Of course, since Jenny was piloting the airship and we got to turn on all of the Blue Suns mercs, that didn't happen. If I hadn't come in, you'd be very badly scarred at the moment."

"I'm pretty sure that would be natural with a missile to the face that I've somehow survived," comments the turian as he shifts slightly. "I guess since Madison isn't there in the game... I imagine I'd be pretty lonely."

I glance around nervously, biting my lower lip. "Well..." I comment. "The Commander could've romanced you in the game, so..."

He blinks. "You mean... Shepard and I...?"

I nod, seeing his eyes light up in shock at this revelation. "Yep," I reply. "That's actually how I know about the turian scout; that's her cue to start down the romance track with you."

"I see..." he says. "And she is getting... very friendly with Thane... I guess you had a pick of who you got Shepard to romance in the game?"

"Yep," I comment, smiling. "And Thane was one of them. Pairing Thane and Shepard was one of my favorite things about the game, so..."

"I see," says the turian. "Who else could she have romanced back in that game?"

I blink, shrugging as I look up. "Well..." I say. "Let's just say that a certain armory officer's abs have made some male players of the game gay for a few seconds."

Now it's Garrus' turn to be a bit shocked. "Jacob?" she asks. "I never would've guessed... Jacob?"

"Believe it or not," I reply. "He was the only human romance for female Shepards in the game. Other than Kaidan, of course, but you know what happened with that. There's a lot of stuff that could have happened very differently in the game. I'll have to tell you all about it sometime when we're not about to go on a high-stress mission."

Garrus nods. "And you told Tali about all this?" he asks.

"She knows... almost everything, yeah," I comment. Best not to mention she doesn't even know her own loyalty mission yet. "She's known ever since I slipped up after Virmire. I actually have quite a bit to tell her about people running into me knowing all of a sudden."

"Good luck with that," he says. As I nod in reply, he taps his foot against the ground once before changing the subject. "I wonder what would've happened if I got thrown in another of those properties I'm pretty sure you'd have called science fiction back when you didn't have relay travel."

"It would've been interesting, I think. To be honest, though?" I ask. "Depending on where you'd end up, I think you'd have a hard time trying to hide the fact that you're... well, a turian. Different properties had different aliens, you know?"

"True," says the former C-Sec officer. "Still, I'm glad we got this all sorted out."

"So am I," I say. "It's nice to know I haven't lost a friend."

"Same here," says Garrus, holding out a hand. "Friends?"

I look at it for one second before I come forward and clasp his hand in mine. "Friends." I cement this with a firm shake, smiling as I point at his talon. "I'm surprised you learned the human gesture?"

"Learned it from Sam," says Garrus. "You know... I'm also glad Madison will be joining us for this mission."

"Oh?" I ask, shifting my posture slightly. "I guess Shepard's going to test her on the battlefield?"

"That's the plan," replies Garrus. "She's not here now, though, but she'll be here. She usually is. It's just that she spends a lot of time before missions thinking about her previous lover..."

"Ethan..." I mutter under my breath.

Garrus' mandibles flare out. "Yes," he says. "The man who was trying to save his son."

I nod at this. "Ethan was one incredibly tough son of a bitch, I'll tell you that," I comment, crossing my arms.

"That he was, from what Madison says of him," comments the turian. "I don't know too many people that would cut off their finger to save their son."

I shake my head. "That you do not," I say. "I don't know many people that would go to those lengths either... Makes me wonder whether anyone else in this galaxy has such an iron will..."

We continue talking like this, waiting for the others to arrive. You know, except for our choice of subject matter, this could be like one of our conversations from back on the original Normandy. I think... we've reached a new semblance of normalcy. Although, this will be strange now that he knows... Well, at least I have one more person to trust my secrets with.

And as we talk, Madison and Thane eventually show up at the airlock. Hm, she's taking Thane on a lot of the missions now. This... is certainly going to be fun. I can see them sitting in a tree, _kiiiisiiiing_. It's so going to happen if Thane ever asks me about Shepard and what she likes. Second loves are so adorable like this, somehow. Either way... I'm going to have a lot of fun making fun of that. And supporting them on their romantic ventures. And now I have people that can help me play matchmaker. I think? I don't know, it depends on how well Garrus takes the fact that he could've romanced Shepard at one point. Oh, well. He is kind of taken now, so there isn't much I can do about that.

Ah, well. At least we're on good terms again. I'm glad for that at least.

For now, we're left waiting on Shepard to show up as Garrus, Madison, Thane, and I end up engaging in a rather odd four-way conversation about stuff.

* * *

A few minutes later, we're on the shuttle, and we've just touched down on Haestrom. Wow... it's so wierd now that Jenny is piloting this thing. Now that Shepard can sit with the four of us, it makes things a lot more interesting, I think. I can't help but notice how close she and Thane are sitting to each other; any closer, and she'd have to sit on his lap. Garrus and Madison already kind of are, though, but that shouldn't be too much of a surprise seeing as how they were already together before this mission. It'll be interesting now that we have one less seat to sit in.

And... hey, wait, why does the commander's weaponry seem so strange? I see all the usual weapons there, but that grenade launcher she usually keeps on her... It's not there. Instead... there's this other thing... I can't really tell what it is...

The shuttle lands on the surface of Haestrom without too much of an event, and then the five of us clamber out. As I exit, the shuttle door closes behind us, and Jenny briefly pokes her head out from behind the driver's seat. "You be careful out there, all right?" she asks loudly. "And be careful with that sun."

"We'll be careful, Jenny," says Shepard. In response, the shuttle pilot simply nods, closing the door to the shuttle as we move forward. It lifts off shortly afterwards, and then we're left standing in the shade.

And I take in the scenery of Haestrom for the first time. Damn, it's beautiful. It's strange how the scenery looks like something straight out of _Fallout 3_, but with the added problem of a dying sun in the distance. It's still beautiful in its own wierd little way, and I'd take the time to step out of cover and look at it... if not for the fact that it'll burn my shields out if I do. Fucking dark matter killing off suns... I can't tell Shepard about it, either.

Not like it'll matter, anyhow. As we start moving, I pull out my pistol, looking to everyone else as they pull out their weapons. Looks like Madison is going to deal with the submachine gun now, eh? Thane grabs out his sniper rifle as Garrus takes out his assault rifle. Shepard glows a little bit, pulling out her shotgun as we all advance forward...

Hey, wait a minute, we're all using the five weapon types that every squad member can use! This will be a fun mission, I think.

And sure enough, we step out into the sunlight, and then I hear beeping as my shields quickly go down. I walk back into the shade, and Shepard spares us all a glance.

"Yeah... the sun really is burning out our shields," I comment.

Madison glances back at the patch of sunlight. I'll bet she never thought she'd see the day where she'd wish there was incessant rainfall again. Well, Madison, here's your chance to say exactly that.

"No clouds?" she asks.

"I don't think so," says Shepard. "Either way, we'll have to stay in the shade here. Be careful."

I nod at this, and then we advance along down the path. We're not going to come across any geth yet, I don't think. If everything goes according to the game, that is. Which I'm sure it will. After all, I think we come across that radio we contact Kal with soon enough, right? Well... not soon, but it'll be pretty fast, I think. Kal won't be sitting here waiting for us forever, after all. I just hope he'll be all right with us...

We come down the way to find a closed door ahead of us. We look over to the side, seeing a small room off to the side. Undoubtedly the controls are there... So here we are.

"Hm..." I say, looking over to the room. "Someone want to go over to the controls over there and open the doors?"

"Sure," says Shepard. "Come on."

With this, we follow the commander into the room where the door controls are. When we open the door, we hear an audio log just finishing. But... perhaps surprisingly, we find the body of a marine just laying there. Sure enough, there's the radio there, with Kal's shouting flying from the speakers. Hey, wait, didn't this radio show up later in the mission? Huh... I guess the geth attack is worse than I thought it would be...

Either way, Kal's still yelling at people there, so he's still alive. All right, we're good to go so far! Everything's more or less checking out except for finding the radio earlier, but, hey, what can I do? We hear Kal yell some more into the radio, and I glance to Shepard. She nods before walking over to the radio and picking it up.

"The squad is out," she says. "But I'm here. I'm Commander Shepard of the Normandy, and we're here to help."

There's silence on the other end. "_Commander Shepard?_" asks the voice of Kal from his end. "_Kal'Reegar vas Rayya, quarian marines. __It's good you came when you did. We're taking a beating here!_"

"It doesn't look like it's going well," says Shepard, glancing down at the body below her. "What happened, and what's your status?"

"_Things just went to hell_," replies Kal as we hear the gunfire from around him. "_We were on a stealth mission. High risk. I don't really know the specifics, I'm just paid to shoot stuff. But we were doing this when the drop ship came down on us and started raining geth. We've been fighting these damn machines ever since. We've taken heavy casualties. There are other strike teams, but I haven't heard too many words from most of them. They sent another drop ship over where Tali is, and we need backup._"

"Is Tali safe?" asks Shepard.

"_She's fine,_" replies the marine. "_She's holed up at the other end of the field from where we are. She's got the door locked behind her, and I think she's keeping the geth from getting to her. I don't know how long she'll be able to keep it up, though. But we're protecting her and the data she's getting at all costs._"

I look up upon hearing this. "She's all right then..." I say. "If we manage to help finish off the geth, we might be able to get to her before she pulls another Okeer on us."

And the less I say about that the better.

"I know," says Shepard, holding the radio in her hand. "What about what you came here for?"

"_We got that, too,_" replies the marine. "_But we can't access our ship, and we can't transmit the data through this radiation._"

I nod at this. Yeah, this sounds about right, I think. "Sit tight, Kal'Reegar," replies Shepard. "We'll be with you as soon as we can. And keep communications open!"

"_Yeah, of course,_" says the marine. "_Tune your comm channels to 617 Theta. I think we can make this easier that way._"

All right. I bring my hand over my omni-tool, bringing my comm unit up to speed with that. I suddenly hear the sounds of gunfire coming from the radio being very crisp and clear-cut from where I stand. Wow... that sounds like quite the battle. I'll bet that Colossus is giving them a hell of a time. Either way... we don't have much time to ponder it, as Madison is already at the door controls. She's working on them, and we all nod to Shepard as she nods back to us.

"Okay, we're tuned in," says Shepard. "Sit tight!"

She then glances over to Madison as she sets the radio down. "Open the doors."

"You got it, Commander," replies the Journalist, her hands maneuvering around the holographic interface.

With these words, she figures it out, and then the door opens rather quickly soon after. Okay, now that that's taken care of, we-

I don't get to do much else before I see a female quarian rushing past the door with a brown veil on her head. She's wailing away with a submachine gun, but she manages to get close to us, her reddish suit shimmering slightly in the odd sunlight as she ducks behind the wall of the room we're in. We see a geth trooper come running up letting a hail of fire from its assault rifle out, but the quarian is faster, launching an overload at it before pelting it with submachine gun fire.

... Huh. _That_ definitely didn't happen in the game. Kal was the only one who survived. I guess I should be relieved that there's another marine here helping us. Or waiting to be helped by us. This is actually pretty awesome. More than one marine has survived! Fun times shall be had.

Either way, Garrus is the first one to react. As another geth unit comes out of the door, Garrus jumps out of the room, letting out his assault rifle fire as the quarian marine leans against the wall. Thane follows shortly after, throwing a biotic warp at another geth that's just coming out. Indeed.

All right, well, here we are. Let the good times begin!

I rush out shortly after this, training my pistol on the warped geth and firing a few shots. As we don't see any geth after this, Madison and Shepard both rush out, and then I rush over to the area to see quite a few geth there...

Oh, boy. This is gonna be fun.

I pull out my pistol as Garrus comes forward with his assault rifle. Shepard is quick to rush in, and then I run over to some nearby crates. Okay... there's a lot of geth here, so let the slaughtering begin!

I come out of the crate I'm hiding behind to fire a pistol shot straight at a geth. I see submachine gun fire pelt it as well, and I glance breifly behind me to see Madison and that quarian marine both rushing for cover. I smile at this before turning back and shooting at another geth from behind my crate. This one goes down pretty quickly with a single sniper shot (Thane, I'm assuming), and I duck back and reload quickly.

I hear that strange robotic dialogue... a little too close to where I am. Shit, he's on the other side of this wall, isn't he? Right...

Fortunately, I don't have to think too much, for then I see the geth rise up above me... Ah, Shepard must've used a lift. Thanks, Shepard! I point my pistol at the geth and fire a few shots. It would have sailed over me, but the force from my shots sent it backflipping in the air and then floating in mostly the opposite direction. I shot at it again just as the lift faded, and then the dead weight fell on top of another geth. It was barely shaken, but it was distracted long enough by the unexpected load falling on it to be felled by a few submachinegun rounds. All right, things are going beautifully here.

I shoot at another geth that I see Shepard finish off with a shotgun blast. I duck back behind cover as I see Garrus and Madison rushing into the fray. The Journalist is holding a submachine gun out in front of her, and... well, she's actually not bad at aiming. She comes running behind a crate, but I can see Garrus watching her vigilantly as she fires into the crowd. She stays out of cover a little too long, though, but before I can say anything Garrus has pulled her back behind cover before providing his own assault rifle into the group of geth that is rushing towards us. I can see her frown slightly, but she doesn't raise too much of a quarrel. She takes it rather well, actually, taking the time to reload as she shifts slightly. The turian comes back into fire, but before I see much else I see his omni-tool light up.

And then, right as the quarian marine runs right by my line of sight, I see Garrus overload the thing. Hm... Everyone's rushing forward, as I see Shepard running forward and unloading a shotgun into a geth platform that gets a bit close to her for comfort... Hm... I should probably get going... But to where...?

Oh! Well, there's a low crate over there... it's pretty close to where that quarian marine is... Shepard is moving very close to it... okay, I'll go for that particular low crate!

I come out behind my crate, firing at a geth platform that's trying to get at Madison and Garrus. This is all the hesitation I give myself, however, for then I sprint at the piece of cover that I have declared mine. Okay... I hear the rounds zip by me as the others begin to take down a geth, and it's all good...

Right up until I see a geth platform pop out right at the other side of where I intend to go. Shit... It's got its rifle aimed straight at me, and I can't stop and make a break back since I'm too close at this point...

Well... I can't do much else, so when the one option fails, there's always plan B...

We hope that the awesome action movie stunt can actually be done with the crate.

I see my shield begin to peter out as the bullets chip away, but by the time they're about to break, I'm already very close to the crate. All right, action stunt, go!

I jump up, feeling the world fly by me as I see my shields go right to hell. And time seems to slow as I land not behind the crate, but above it, with my free hand holding my body up. I close my eyes, and then feel my leg fly forward. I snap it out, feeling the flat of my foot connect with the flashlight head. With a metallic crash, it staggers to the side, and I can feel a slight pain in my foot... Okay, maybe kicking the geth in the face wasn't the best idea, but hey. I bring it back, not daring to shoot with my pistol I might shoot my foot off, after all.

My momentum carries me over the crate, which is where I do not want to be. So my hand comes back from beneath me as I land on the other side, and then I jump back slightly. I slightly miscalculated when my legs would hit the crate, though, so I end up being sent sprawling behind the crate instead just as the last of my shields gives way. I quickly curl into a ball, however, and bullets impact the crate harmlessly as I catch my breath.

Hot damn, it actually worked! I blink, hearing the firefight start to die down as I lay there. Okay... I come back up slowly, leaning against the crate I was taking cover behind while waiting for my shields to come back up. Okay, this might take a bit of time...

Shortly after, my shields are back up, and then I come out and fire my pistol at another geth. The rest of the firefight goes swimmingly from there, I should think. We kick synthetic ass, Madison learns the value of hiding behind cover when your shields are down, Garrus does stuff, and I constantly look to the female marine that we've come across. Well... she survived. Hopefully she won't pull a Jenkins on us and get herself killed within an hour. But it doesn't look like that; she seems very competent with that submachine gun of hers, so it's all good, I think.

We take down the last of the geth troopers in the area with little ceremony, and then we all glance over to the female quarian we've found. We don't see too many geth, so she joins us underneath the shade as we begin to come out of cover. We gather over by where I am, and then we all look to her.

"You okay there?" I ask, gesturing with her to my head.

"I'm fine, yeah," she says. "I thought I was dead for a second. If you hadn't opened that gate..."

We all nod at this. "Well, it's nice that we're able to get help," says Garrus.

"You're telling me," replies the female with a shake of her head. "Iya'Miya vas Neema. I'm with the Migrant Fleet marines and Kal'Reegar's second in command on this mission."

"Commander Shepard of the Normandy," says our commander. "If you need it, we're here to help."

"Thanks," she says, nodding. "We could really use the help right now. We're really getting hammered by the geth."

"So we noticed," I comment, crossing my hands behind my back. "We've got an update from Kal'Reegar. He's bunkered down by where Tali is."

"So she's still alive," comments Iya. "Good. Our sacrifices aren't in vain. We need to go assist Kal. If we do that, we may be able to get Tali and the data out of there unharmed."

At this, Madison crosses her arms. "Data?" she asks. "What kind of data?"

Iya looks to the sun briefly. "This system's sun is dying," she says. "We don't know why, but we were sent to take readings on it. Anything else, I don't really know. Tali can tell you more about what they found and why they were looking at it."

Actually, I can probably say that it was because it's a plot element, I think. Too bad I'll never get to play _Mass Effect 3_ to confirm that. But also, it's dark matter in the sun that's aging it faster than it should be. It doesn't die that quickly, after all.

"Of course," says Shepard as she shifts to the side. "Do you know where she is?"

"Yes, I believe so," replies the quarian. "Just follow me and I can get you to where Kal last was. I think it's also where Tali might be held up."

"Good," says Shepard. "Can you fight?"

Iya nods at this. "It's a damn miracle I didn't get hit, I can tell you that much, Commander," she replies. "I can fight, don't worry. And my suit is intact right now, so I'm focused."

"Good," says Shepard. "Just be careful. I don't think we can have any more casualties than we've already got."

"You and me both, Commander," replies Iya with a dark chuckle as she turns to me. "And... you must be the human Tali mentioned."

I raise my eyebrow, crossing my arms. "Oh, she talked about me?" I ask.

"All the time." The marine chuckles as I feel Garrus and Madison smirk at me from behind. I can feel it. "When it wasn't technobable or anything referring to the fleet, she mentioned quite a few things about you."

I nod, holding my hand behind my head. "Yeah, we're very close," I comment. "What tipped you off?"

"The orange... uh... plant thing... on your armor," she says.

Oh, yeah. That. "Ah," I comment. "That explains a lot." Yeah, I think she likes my armor scheme quite a bit for some reason. She brought it up twice when she visited me for the film premiere, even getting in my face about the fact that I wasn't wearing an orange shirt. No, thanks. I still think dark green worked better for the occasion, but she did agree that it did work with my complexion, for lack of a better word. "Did she say anything else?"

Iya crossed her arms. "She also defended you when that message you sent recently might have tipped the geth off about our presence..."

My face pales slightly. Oh, damn it, I knew I should've encrypted it! "Oh..." I say, glancing to the side... "Uh... Really?"

"Personally? I don't think that message tipped them off," she says. "If it had, none of us would be standing. As it is, it took them about five days to finally notice us here. It wasn't the message."

"Oh," I say, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "That's a relief. I assume she got it?"

"Yes," replies Iya as she crosses her arms. "She actually wants to talk to you. When I asked, she refused to elaborate. So..."

I nod. "It's something for my ears only," I reply. Good, she got my meaning from the message. That is always good, I believe. "I'll talk to her when we find her."

"Right," says Shepard. "For now, we have more pressing matters. Let's get going. We need to assist Kal and Tali."

We all nod at this, and pull our weapons back out. We all nod to the quarian marine as she walks on, and then we follow her past the point where the radio was _supposed_ to be before we come across another battlefield. Okay... I think we're in good hands here. More than one marine has survived, so I think I managed to pull another Lireya incident with mentioning the Colossus. I feel pretty empowered right now thanks to that... the only thing that would make me more empowered is if I had biotics to throw at things. Unfortunately, I don't, so... yeah.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself, as we see geth start to approach us. I rush into cover, and fire out at the group.

* * *

Well, that pillar fell down with quite a bit less ceremony given how we found the radio earlier than we were supposed to. Although, now, it's becoming a bit of a pain to get the charges together...

At least Shepard already has one of those charges. It's been a bit of a pain getting the other one, though. Just when we think the geth are down, more units show up. And as we trade fire close to the second charge, I begin to think.

Seriously, how is it that there are this many fucking geth units? Last I checked, the geth didn't exactly have the resources for a geth factory or anything like that. So it makes me wonder just how they manage to build all those fucking units... Well... I guess when you factor in the fact that they've been isolated for what amounts to 300 years in their own system they get all the time in the world to build so many units. But then, that begs another question: where do they get the resources to build these platforms? I don't get it. Does the Perseus Veil have some planet that's rich in metal that makes geth? And if so, haven't they depleted it by now? I'm sure it would be really ridiculously easy to do that... unless it's multiple planets. In which case, yeah...

Although, I'll bet they didn't count on Shepard showing up mining their planets so we can have our upgrades. It takes a while, but hey.

At least we're doing really well for ourselves. Iya is showing herself to be quite the asset... kind of makes me wish we can recruit more quarians after the suicide mission. I'm hoping to God we can get Kal on the team, as that would just be awesome. And now that I think about it, this mysterious new face could also be quite something to see...

Hm... Yes, I think I'd like her on this little ragtag bunch of misfits that we are. That would be quite fun.

Although now really isn't the time to be musing about who may or may not show up in part 3... That will be saved for when it's actually relevant and I'm not hiding under cover keeping the geth from shooting at me... and making sure my shields don't burn out. That too. For now... I just continue contributing to the fire...

...that isn't really there... All the geth we were fighting are more or less taken down. Thane finishes a trooper pretty quickly, and then things are all beautiful with that. There's no more geth to kill, the coast is clear, and Shepard is going off to get the charge.

... Huh. I guess that's a bit of a relief. And even better, the charge is right there.

Well... that'll teach me to daydream during the middle of a battle. Or figure out why I overthink things too much. Either way, I need to pay more attention to the battle now. Because if I don't, I will really get left in the dust.

And I can't have that, now, can I?

I head over to Shepard as she picks up the charge from where it's lying. Okay, we've got two charges on her. How the hell does she parade around with the charges without actually blowing them up on herself? I don't know, and it's probably best if I don't dwell on it too much. After all, time's a-wastin', and those geth will be back on our trail.

Iya for her part is being as cautious as she can be while still being the slightest bit wary. I can't say I blame her, really; the geth can come from my ass at this point and it won't affect our surprise too much.

Shepard picks up the charge, and right as soon as she does I hear a round impact the wall behind me. Yep, geth fight! I duck down behind cover as I look. Yep... there's the walkway all out in the sunlight, and then there's geth firing from that walkway. Yeah, we won't be able to go through that way...

"Art, Garrus, Madison, flank them from the left!"

...

Oh _hell_ no. I'm going to have to face exposure to direct sunlight?

... Well, it's not like I've got much of a choice. I peer out of cover and shoot at them with my pistol as I glance briefly to Iya and Thane off to the side. Okay... they look like they can handle themselves for now.

I guess... it's going to be a fun conversation. Garrus fires his assault rifle, and then I take this as my cue to get the hell out of there and move. Madison also takes it as a cue, and then the two of us are running past the geth fire and up the tunnel to the catwalk above. Garrus follows soon after, and the three of us bolt up the stairs. We don't let the geth know we're on them until we start shooting, and then we see ourselves in the direct sunlight. I hear the sizzle take shape, followed shortly after by the sound of my shields being depleted as I fire a shot at a geth. A round impacts against my shields, and then they go down shortly after.

Crap! And I'm not in cover yet!

Fortunately, I manage to find a piece of cover that's there. And I manage to hid behind it, taking the time to reload as I see Garrus do the same not too far away. Madison piles into cover next to him, and they both look to me briefly.

"So, everything going according to how you remember?" asks Madison as she checks her submachine gun briefly.

I peer out of cover and fire at some geth, but I'm quickly forced under as the sun burns at my shield. I look to Garrus and Madison, who are both waiting for their shields to fully recharge.

"Not completely," I say, taking this time to reload my pistol. "I can't say I can't complain, though. Kal was supposed to be the only survivor of the marines. The fact that Iya's here at all changes quite a bit!"

Garrus nods as he comes out of cover and fires his assault rifle into the geth crowd. I hear the sizzle of his shields slowly dying from this planet's sun, but he manages to get two geth before he hides back behind cover. I peer out briefly to see about three geth there. Two of them are rushing towards us, but I can see Garrus preparing something on his omni-tool. Ah, probably an overload or something.

"Really?" asks Garrus.

"Yeah," I reply. The turian takes this time to come out of cover, flashing his omni-tool out. As soon as I see this, I look to the geth to see that they are suddenly in an explosion of sparks. Looks like they took some damage, but before I can reply Madison comes out and fires her submachine gun at the overloaded geth. She manages to take it down, but she hides very quickly under the sun. I look to her and bite my lower lip as I look outside to see the second geth rushing for us still being unattended.

"So does Tali live?" asks Madison.

"She should, yeah!" I reply, coming out of cover. I fire my pistol into the enemy geth that's there, and with a couple of headshots it goes down. Just in time, too, for my shields are damn near burnt out by this point. I hide behind cover, looking to Garrus as he prepares another overload. "Kal should also still be alive by the time we get there. Whether he lives to head back to the fleet or not depends on Shepard's action."

Garrus cocks his head briefly to the side. "Knowing her, she'll probably make sure he lives," replies the turian. "Anything else?"

I see Garrus come out with his overload, and then I see the final geth on the platform explode in a shower of sparks as Madison then comes up and shoots at it. "Yeah," I comment, keeping tabs on the battle. "I told Tali we run into a colossus at the end of the mission!"

At this, the turian flinches behind his cover, his eyes suddenly the slightest bit wider as he looks at me. "We have to fight a colossus on foot?" he asks.

I nod. "Yeah," I reply. "And it can heal itself, too. I don't think it used that in the game, but I think it could pull that on us in the near future!"

"Spirits..." mutters Garrus as Madison comes back down. She looks back at us, a little confused.

"A colossus?" she asks. "Is it large?"

Oh, really, she's asking that? Well... she did get to say that one line about painkillers in _Heavy Rain_, so I guess I shouldn't be totally surprised. "Largest geth there is, I think," I comment. "At least now Shepard carries a heavy weapon."

"I suppose that's true," says the former C-Sec officer. "Hearing that, though, I just wish we had the Mako again. It would be just like old times!"

I shake my head. "We wouldn't have a clear shot from the Mako if it was still intact," I comment as I come up and see a final geth rushing up to us. "And you think that's crazy? Just you wait, Garrus- if things go according to how I remember, we'll be facing a Thresher Maw on foot!"

At this, the turian is speechless. The investigative journalist frowns slightly at this. "On foot?" she asks. "What's so bad about that?"

I raise one of my eyebrows. "Uh... anyone who's ever faced a Thresher Maw on foot is either highly traumatized or dead from the experience," I say. "It's not easy facing off against what is essentially a gigantic sand worm that shoots gigantic blobs of acid at you and living to tell the tale."

He works his mandibles. "How do we get into fighting a Thresher Maw anyway?" he asks.

"Ask Grunt," I reply, coming out of cover and shooting my pistol at the geth as it rushes towards us on the walkway. I fire a few shots at it as Garrus does the same with his assault rifle. Our combined fire is enough to take down the geth, and then a quiet comes over the landscape of Haestrom. Hm... Looks like Shepard, Thane, and Iya all took care of the geth down below. With this, we pant, and I look to Garrus. "We'll have to stop by Tunchanka for him. Basically, he'll go through this rite of passage where he has to survive five minutes against a Thresher Maw at the end of it. If he kills it, bonus points for him. You'll see."

The turian blinks at this, crossing his arms as he looks to me. "I'm not looking forward to it," he says. "If it even happens."

I frown at him as I come out of cover and walk back into the shade. I hear the sizzle of my shield dying but I pay it no heed as I'll be in the shade soon anyhow. "Trust me, Garrus," I say. "It'll happen unless Shepard decides to skimp out on it. And knowing her, she won't. So just give it a chance to happen and we'll see where it goes from there, yes?"

Garrus considers this before nodding. "I'll take your word for it," he says. "For now."

I nod at this as Garrus and Madison both follow me. "Good," I say. "Now let's go. They're not gonna wait forever, you know."

With this, they fall into step behind me as soon as we go downstairs. When we emerge we're greeted with Iya standing by as Shepard and Thane are chatting off to the side, hoping to sit in a tree while _kiiiisiiiing_. I swear, those two are really falling in love right now. I don't know why, but... I think Shepard may be getting over Kaidan in the near future. That will always be a good thing. I simply look to Iya as she nods in my direction, crossing her arms.

"So, we've got the charges?" I ask.

"Yes," replies the marine. "Good thing, too."

"Yeah," I say. "We should probably get moving. Those geth aren't going to wait for us to inflict their worst." Not IRL, anyway.

She simply nods in reply, and then the four of us rejoin Shepard. Whatever Thane and Shepard were chatting about, they drop it when they see us. Okay, good to see things are still business with her as usual. I give Shepard a soft smile as the six of us walk off to find that downed pillar, and all is good. Shepard sets the charges, we all get out of the way, and as I hear the explosion I can't help but think about how everything is going smoothly so far.

* * *

We enter a room shortly after we clear the way of any rubble. Iya goes first, and then the rest of us follow behind her to enter a room that's all in disarray. There's a whole ton of science equipment left lying around, along with quite a few dead quarians. It's a little crazy, and I blink as I look around the room. It's kind of dark... yeah, a little darker than it was in the game, actually. But I can still see the area around us. It seems like the geth stormed through here in a hurry, seeing as all the consoles are still mostly intact. There are the dead ones, though... and for them Iya kneels in the center of the room, looking down. I can't tell if her eyes are closed, but it's probably not important.

Madison and Shepard both begin looking through the room they're in to see what they can see. Garrus and Thane follow after their respective interests shortly after. Okay, maybe Thane isn't all touchy-feely about Shepard in the same way Garrus is about Madison, but still, there's the attraction. And Garrus isn't so bad, anyhow. He simply stands behind Madison, watching her look through some of the stuff.

This leaves Iya and I standing around I look down to the quarian in mourning as I nod at this. I look down at Iya as she kneels there contemplatively. I nod at this, looking at the dead quarians. I always assumed these were scientists... but I think I should be sure.

"Who were these guys?" I ask.

"Scientists..." says Iya. "Our best ones aside from Tali. They didn't have anything on them... They just..." She's silent as she regards the rest of them. She shakes her head before she stands up. "We have to make sure their sacrifices weren't in vain. We must get that data out of here."

I nod as I hear this. Well, at least she isn't going in tears about this whole thing. That's always a good thing, I should think. "You're not disturbed?"

"They knew the risks," says the quarian. "These were brave men that died today. I'm not about to let their memory get tarnished by a mission failure."

"I wouldn't either," I say in reply, looking down at the dead quarians. "I just hope we can actually make sure the data gets out of here... whatever it is..."

She nods in reply to this. "I hear you there, Mr. *********," she says.

The two of us then look to the door at the end as Madison and Garrus both come close to us. No sooner do we do this than the terminal closest to us seems to dance to life suddenly. We all look on in astonishment, even noticing as Shepard and Thane turn to see this. The holographic display comes up, lighting the room a little bit, and then...

The image of Tali is seen... Oh my God...

"_Researcher Tali'Zorah to Team Alpha, do you copy?_" she asks.

I look to the others as we see Tali's face come up on the display. Oh my god...

"She's still alive!" I say, smiling as I look to the others.

"Best not keep her waiting, then," says Shepard. "Art. Answer the call."

"Yes, ma'am!" I say a little too enthusiastically. I rush over to the terminal as I look at Tali's face, feeling myself collide with the interface as I stop myself. Okay, I almost crashed into this thing. Yeah, that's not really a good thing. But... Tali's all right! That means everything's going according to how I remember it. Good thing, too... I'm not going to let Tali die before the mission even happens. I glance back to Shepard before looking on the terminal. Okay... if I remember correctly... it's this... and then this button here... and... voilá! We have communications!

"Tali! You're okay!" I say, looking straight at the terminal. "Thank Jesus Christ almighty!"

"_Art?_" she asks, apparently confused by this. "_Is that you?_"

"Believe it, Tali," I reply with a wacky smile on my face as I see her image dart back slightly in surprise. "Shepard and Garrus are here too! We're here to get you out!"

"_I... I see..._" says Tali. "_I take it there's no quarians beyond that point that survived the geth attack..._"

I glance over to Iya as I shake my head. "Actually, we found a marine still alive here," I reply. "One Iya'Miya vas Neema."

"_Oh!_" says Tali, flinging her hands up. "_That's good. I think Kal will be fairly relieved with that._"

I glance over to Iya, raising my eyebrow. "Really?" I ask. "How so?"

"Well... Kal and I are fairly close," says Iya with a slight dip of her helmet. "So..."

"_We joke about it all the time,_" comments Tali from her end of the link. "_Good to see you are well, Iya._"

"Same here, Tali," replies the marine. "You've attracted quite a few misfits."

"_So I see..._" says Tali, shaking her head in the image. "_But this isn't the time for that. We have more important things to worry about._"

I nod at this, turning to her. I think we know what those things are... "How are you holding up in there?" I ask.

"_I'm all right, for now,_" says the engineer as she looks at me through the link. "_But they're breaking through. And fast. There's a colossus here, and it's making it a little difficult to keep this door closed._"

I glance back to Garrus and Madison. See? Told you. I only see Madison raise an eyebrow to acknowledge this, but I can see it in both of their eyes that they're quite surprised. Well, I predicted the future. No other way I'd know that information, right? I look then to the door close to where I am, and then realize that the door's locked. I bite my lower lip and look to her projection. "Okay, we're on our way to you," I say. "But the door to the next area is locked. Can you open it from here?"

"_It is?_" she asks, looking a little surprised. "_Well... Let me see..._" she works a little bit on her omni-tool as her arm glows that orange that I've become so accustomed to by this point. I look over to the quarian as she then nods. "_Ah, yes... Hold on just a second..._"

I look to the door then, seeing the lock turn to green. All right, she's got it!

"_There you go,_" she says. "_That should take care of that. You should probably get moving._"

I nod at this, looking to the quarian on the other end of the transmission. "All right," I say. "Sit tight, Tali; we're coming to get you out of there."

"_I will,_" she says. Not like she has anywhere to go to, but hey. "_Oh... and be careful, Art._"

I nod to her, my hand reaching out to the holo as I look at her. "I'll be careful, Tali," I say softly.

The link cuts out soon after. I glance back to the others, and it's only then that I realize Iya has her arms crossed in front of her. I raise my eyebrows at this, feeling some kind of stare that I can't place.

"May I help you, Iya?" I ask.

"Not really," she says, uncrossing her arms and letting her fingers drum along her pistol. "I'm just thinking. If the rumors are true, I think you'd make a good _hesh'alan_ for Tali."

... There's that word again! "W... what?" I ask. "I... what does that word even _mean_? And why...?"

The quarian's position shifts, but out of the corner of my eye I see Madison and Garrus glancing at each other. Their look is so... smug... Oh, god damn it, they know something about what's going on here, don't they? Oh, hell! "I'll let you figure that out," Iya replies, her voice playful. "Besides... what fun is it to tell you now? Go find it out on your own!"

... Oh, did she just...? Oh... she...

I glance to Madison and Garrus as they don't seem to be able to hide their chuckling at me. I look at them with pleading in my eyes, but only Madison seems to notice. She crosses her arms, her smirk really speaking volumes to me. Oh, shit, she's not going to help either, is she?

"No, I'm not helping you with that," she says. "I think you're better off learning it on your own, too."

... She just blew me off too? Why? I don't know what it means! Is it too much to ask for the definition of one freaking word? Why, God? Why do you like to torment me? I mean... Just... Oh, bloody...

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff!"

* * *

Yeah... that was awkward. I hope I never have to hear that fucking word again... If it does show up, I'm not sure what the hell I'll do... I guess I'll ask, but if I know anything about things like this it's that I'll never find it out. And now I have to be left completely out of the blue.

Just like my probationary member process when I was still in my fraternity. Joy.

Anyhow, we move out, and we hear the sound of incessant gunfire fly overhead. I look over to the wall...

And there's Kal'Reegar! Yay! He's holding that rocket launcher just like he was in the game, and he's hiding behind cover as bullets pelt his position. Okay... We're close to him! Shepard simply gets close to Kal, falling into cover behind him as I follow suit quickly. Thane does the same thing, looking over to us as Garrus, Madison, and Iya all take cover relatively close.

"Kal!" says Iya. "You're all right!"

"Iya!" replies the marine. "Good to see you're still in one piece here!"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says. "But thank Commander Shepard here."

The male quarian turns to Shepard and nods. "Did we speak on the radio earlier?"

"I think we did," says Shepard with a tilt of her head in acknowledgement. "Kal'Reegar, I assume?"

"You have that right, ma'am," says the marine with the rocket launcher. "It's good you came when you did!"

I nod as a rocket impacts against the wall... Jesus Christ... I look over to Kal as Shepard holds her gun level. "I can see you're not in such good hands here!" she comments, her eyes looking right at Kal. "I take it things aren't going so well!"

"You've got that right, ma'am," he says, pointing out beyond cover. "You see that colossus?" Shepard only looks over the chest-high wall briefly as I do the same. Yep, that colossus is there all right. And it's wreaking havoc, just like it should. "Normally we'd just pelt it with rockets and it will go down. But this one has a repair protocal; it just folds into itself and fixes itself."

"A self-healing geth?" asks Shepard with a look of surprise etched on her face.

"These things truly have evolved..." comments Garrus from where he stands behind a pillar.

"Yeah," says Kal. "It's a pain in the ass, but this unit of geth is the only thing standing between us and Tali!"

"Are you sure she's all right?" she asks.

Kal nods. "She's in the observatory," he says. "It's reinforced, and she's running all kinds of countermeasures. They'll need time to get through it. And it's hard to hack a door when someone's launching rockets at you!"

I nod at his. "Good," I say. "Any ideas on the colossus?"

"I don't have any idea how to take it out all at once," he says. "But now that you're here, I think I've got something."

"So you've got a plan?" asks Shepard.

"Yeah!" says Kal self-assuredly. "You guys can get close to the geth colossus. Kill it with bug bites. Just make sure it doesn't work it's self-repair protocol. I can probably weaken it from here!"

I look over to Kal. Wait... He hasn't said anything about his suit puncture yet... "Are you sure about that?" I ask, hoping to get him to say something about it. "How are you holding up?"

"I tried to get closer, but they shot a bullet clean through my suit," he says quickly. "But my suit seals are intact, and I can still pull a trigger!" All right... that worked. And I didn't even have to tell him I knew about the suit puncture!

At this, Shepard jolts slightly, but I'm concentrating more on Iya as she looks over at Kal. "Kal, do you have a death wish?" she asks. "You're injured!"

"My suit seals are fine!" he says. "I'm swimming in antibiotics, but I can still shoot!"

The female quarian isn't convinced, though. "Kal, you're in no shape to be fighting!" she says. "Stand down!"

"Iya, I'll be fine!" reiterates the marine. "I'm not going to sit here while the geth can-!"

"Kal, you've already done more than enough!" Shepard's statement throws both quarians off guard. Hm... Is this...? "We don't have enough people for you to go off and take one for the team! Stand down!"

Yes... it's the dialogue where he stands down! Yes! Thank you, Shepard! Kal'Reegar shall be spared! And that shall be full of awesome in every sense of the word. That's always great, I should think...

"These geth killed my squad!" replies Kal. "And I'm not going to sit by here!"

"And if you want to honor your squad, you'll stay here in case reinforcements come in!" replies Shepard over the sound of gunfire.

The squad leader pauses as he considers Shepard. It's... tough to tell what a quarian is thinking without a face, so... I'll assume he's a little frustrated at this development. Well, there's not a whole lot he can do about that, given that if he does do something he dies. So yeah...

"All right, we'll do it your way," he says. "I trust you can work your way through the pathways?"

Shepard briefly looks over cover... Well, if I remember correctly, the left path is shielded from the colossus but open to the rest of them, the middle is open to the colossus but with plenty of cover, and the right path is the optimal... I went with the left path, mostly because I was playing Vanguard and had my shotgun with me, but I don't know... Now that we're not just three people, I think Shepard can afford to send a couple extra people away.

She nods at this, facing me. I simply give her a curt shrug in reply. Okay... what do you want me to do? "Art, take Madison and Iya down the left path," she says. "I'll take Thane and Garrus on the right path. Be careful there."

I nod at this, pulling out my shotgun as I replace my pistol. "Of course, Commander," I say. "And you be careful too."

With this, she nods, gesturing to the two snipers as Garrus switches out his assault rifle for his sniper rifle. She pulls out her pistol as Madison holds on to her submachine gun. I look to the two people I'm being given command of, and then nod as Iya pulls out a shotgun. Hm... is it me, or do quarians always seem to be able to hold weapons that are heavier than they look? I mean, Jack and a shotgun, I can partly understand, but Tali and a shotgun? I wouldn't have made that connection at first. But... what can I do?

I nod to them as Shepard and her team go out to the right. I take Madison and Iya to the left, hoping to God I'll get lucky. We pass by everything, and we see all sorts of geth begin to pour out.

Right. It's time to get stuff done.

Iya, Madison, and I rush right up to cover, seeing the first of the geth run towards us in the direct sunlight. Okay... that should work to our advantage, I hope. And unless Iya is a biotic (which I doubt) and Madison got biotic abilities somewhere between Fake-American-Philadelphia and Omega, we can't throw them around. But... Iya has overloads, which will only help. And I have a shotgun... Okay...

We see the first of the geth rush over, and then I look to Iya.

"Iya, overload the son of a bitch!" I shout out.

She nods, quickly coming out of cover as her omni-tool lights up. She flashes it, and then I see an explosion of sparks from the lone geth as Madison comes up and shoots at it. It goes down relatively quickly, and Iya remains standing as another two geth come out. The quarian is quick to notice this, however, and fires her shotgun at one of the units. It's a bit far... but I have the assault shotgun here... Madison is still firing her submachine gun, anyhow, so it still goes down relatively quickly as Iya quickly ducks down to reload.

Okay. I come out of cover and fire my shotgun at the first geth unit. This makes it go down reasonably quickly, and so Madison trains her fire on the second one, which is fairly close by now... Okay, go! I fire my shotgun twice at the thing, and after being sent rearing back its flashlight head dies rather quickly. It falls to the side, and then... Oh, wait, that's a red geth...

Shit!

"Rocket trooper!"

I shout this just as I dive back into cover. Iya seemed about ready to come out, but upon hearing this apparently thinks better of it. Good timing, too, for right as she ducks back into cover a rocket sails straight over her head, impacting on the far wall. Right... I peer out, and see a trooper heading out for us... Oh, dear...

I come up and fire my shotgun at the advancing trooper, and it stumbles back after a bit. I look to Iya as I look at the trooper... Wait, more are coming out... Okay... I have to coordinate this carefully... Okay... Shotguns are no good for range... so...

"Madison, concentrate your fire on the rocket trooper for now!" I shout. "Iya, concentrate on the normal troopers, and if you can overload stuff, use it on the rocket trooper!"

"Got it!" she says.

And so I come up and fire at the advancing trooper, the journalist coming up and firing at the rocket launcher guy. I always find it odd how they color-coded their units... Also, that geth hoppers vanished here. Can't say I'm sad to see them gone, though... the fuckers were annoying as hell. Right...

It's... a bit tough... but... Madison manages to take the rocket trooper down pretty quickly, thanks to a quick overload from Iya. And with good common sense, she moves on to the regular troopers afterwards. We thin them off pretty quickly, and... huh... there aren't as many geth heading towards us as there were in the game... Probably because Shepard is on the other side keeping them a little busier than usual...

Whatever. It gives me a free break to make a run for it.

I nod as I look over. "Iya, switch weapons," I say. "I'm gonna make a break for the next piece of cover in the shade. Cover me!"

They both nod wordlessly. Okay... Just hope we don't get too many geth swarming here, and all will be well. Especially not in the sun, what with my shields dying really fast on me and all that... Gotta be careful...

Okay, I'll move now!

I quickly jump out from the chest-high wall I was hiding behind, and as I see a geth trooper come out, I dash to the side and out of range of Iya and Madison's fire. As soon as this is done, I hear my shields begin to get burned away by the sun, but not the trooper that's appeared. After all, it's kind of hard to shoot stuff when you're getting pelted with submachine gun fire. Okay... this should be fast if I move... Okay... almost there...

As I approach the trooper, I aim my shotgun and pull the trigger quickly, putting an end to the trooper. Okay... I look to the side briefly and see that Shepard is still busy with a few geth units that are going down quickly. But, there isn't too much resistance on my end, so...

"Iya, Madison, follow me!" I shout. "We're heading into position to deal with that colossus!"

With this, the two of them quickly rush out of cover, their submachine guns still in front of them as I move to cover within the shade. I see a stray geth, but it's nothing a couple of shotgun blasts can't handle. I take care of this rather quickly, and it falls to the side as I come up behind a chest-high piece of cover. Madison and Iya both join me soon after, and then I look over to where Shepard and her group undoubtedly is...

Okay, I see Garrus running away towards the area where the colossus is with his assault rifle out. A few seconds later, I see Thane do the exact same thing with his submachine gun, followed closely by Shepard with her pistol. Okay... I nod to Iya and Madison as we both make our way to the corner. We all hide behind various cover, and look up to the colossus as we all settle into cover...

Jesus Christ on a pikestaff! This thing is absolutely huge! Wow... I definitely should've expected this size from the game... Man, seeing it on foot is a lot more intimidating than seeing it from the Mako, I can say that much. But... I'm sure we can do this. I look to the other side as I see the shapes of Garrus, Thane, and the commander move into cover. I glance back at Iya and Madison as I do so, and then bring my hand up to the comm channel.

"Okay, Shepard, we're in position," I say.

"So are we," says the commander. "Kill it with bug bites! I'll help take it down with the heavy weapon."

I nod at this. "Got it, Commander!" I shout.

And with this, I cock my shotgun. Okay... In the original game, those things could kill you in one hit, so I'll have to be extra careful with that. Although... I think they were understandably downpowered in the sequel... I got massacred when I tried to take on those things on foot in the original game, so much that I had to turn down the difficulty. But here... we'll have to make do. Because depowered enemies don't occur in real life...

I come out first and fire my shotgun at the thing... Damn it, it's still got shields. I look to Iya, but she's one step ahead of me, her omni-tool glowing orange as she prepares an overload. I look over to the other side... Hm, I imagine Garrus is getting ready to do the same right about now. Right...

I fire my shotgun into the colossus again, and I can see its head turning to me. Its gigantic eye thing flashes brilliantly and then... Oh, shit, it's charging its canon!

I duck back behind cover right as I hear the sound of that ball of energy being launched. It impacts against the chest-high wall I'm using for cover, and before I know what's up I see a whole bunch of dust and cement chips go flying...

Shit... the cover isn't as safe as it was in the game! Fuck! I should probably be careful from this point on... After all, I never know when this thing can crumble...

But it's a non-issue soon enough as Iya comes up quickly, flashing her omni-tool at the colossus. I look back to the gigantic geth construct and see that explosion of bright little light thingies and nod. Okay, that's one overload... I hope Garrus can put some andale into his action. Whatever the case... I see an energy ball get launched where Iya is, but she's fast enough that she's in cover by the time the ball hits her piece of cover...

And then I see the fireworks occur again. Yeah, overloads are fun against synthetic enemies... And then I see something rush straight through the colossus.

Hm... I look past to see Thane shooting at the thing. Okay, its shields are down! We can really lay on the hurt now!

And Madison seems to get the picture. She comes up as well, firing her submachine gun into the colossus. I see Garrus doing the same on the other side, and then I decide it's my turn to come up. I tilt out and fire my shotgun at it, the rounds penetrating its armor. I fire several more times, and think to myself how thankful I am that this is an assault shotgun and not a regular shotgun. I cock it breifly as we all pelt it with fire, the thing flying around. Hm... I see it's got its small little machine gun attachments whirring away.

But, those don't really do much. After all, our shields are still mostly in... wait a minute, didn't colossi not have those things?

Huh... The geth evolved faster than I though they did. This is a little unsettling, but... given that Legion will be coming on after the Reaper IFF mission it might not be such a bad thing after all... But we'll see. For now, this makes it a little unsettling. The repair protocol was first, but now there's this...

Well... we kill it with bug bites anyhow. Because that takes top priority.

I fire my shotgun at it before ducking back into cover, looking over it... Okay, I hope it doesn't activate its repair protocol in the near future... Because that would suck. Greatly.

I come out with my shotgun, cocking it as I fire another round.

And right when I least expect it, I see Shepard... Oh wait, it's that thing... But why? I see her pull and hold the trigger... and... is that...

Oh my god... It's the M-90 Cain! Jesus... I hadn't even gotten it researched, I don't think... Oh, wait, _that's_ why her weaponry looked so strange. She changed her heavy weapon! But still, she researched that already? What the hell? I mean, isn't it a bit of an overkill for this thing? I mean, seriously, what the hell? Wait... if she's charging it... Yes... I see the light...

I mean... this is awesome and all... but... Isn't that... like the mini-nuke?

Wait... mini-nuke...

Close to the colossus...

"Get down!"

No sooner do I shout this then Shepard finishes charging it. She barks it out soon after I do, and as soon as I brace myself against cover I hear the simple sound of the round being launched. And after that?

The explosion occurred. I screwed my eyes shut, remembering about that TV movie Sturge showed us where that kid goes blind after directly seeing an explosion... But even then it's still fucking bright here! I feel a great rush of wind race right past me, and I don't hear a whole lot after the deafening boom. I feel the world go noiseless around me for a second as soon as the explosion occurs. Okay... just stay here and you'll be all right... Just stay here and you'll be all right...

And soon after, I feel the world return to some semblance of normality as my ears adjust to the noise and I open my eyes to find it's not so bright anymore. Jesus Christ...

I shake my head, standing up as I look at... where the colossus used to be. Now it's just a giant hunk of burning metal... Jesus, that thing did a number on the colossus... And then I see Shepard, Thane, and Garrus come out, the three of them nodding. I look to where Iya and Madison are slowly climbing out of cover, the two of them both extremely surprised. I look over to Shepard and shake my head.

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, woman!" I say. "What the hell was that?"

She simply raises the Cain in reply. "Our way of keeping Kal safe," she says.

I blink, crossing my arms. "Yeah, but did you have to nearly kill us too in the process?" I ask. I mean, for crying out loud, Hiroshima wasn't even even 100 years old when I was growing up! I know it's only a mini-nuke, but still!

"It's not a full nuclear bomb," she replies. "You'll be fine."

I nod at this, crossing my arms. "I know..." I say, rubbing my forehead. "It's just... You know... I'm a little afraid of bombs of that size..."

Especially after what they did to Ash... and almost did to me... on Virmire... God... the more I think about what I was trying to do with that mission, the more I realize I was acting like a complete dumbass... But... there's nothing too bad about that...

I nod as she approaches. "Sorry..." I say. "I'll grin and bear it next time."

Shepard simply bites her lower lip before holding her hands behind her back. "You'll be all right, Serviceman," she says. "Tali's undoing most of the firewalls against the door. We'll be talking to her in a bit... You feel up to it?"

I glance at the doors as Garrus and Madison meet back up close by, their hands instantly linking. I look over to Iya as she glances at the door... Hm, so she's still alive after all. Good, I don't want anyone pulling another Corporal Jenkins on us... Thane simply stands by impassively as they wait by the door. Well... Tali's in there...

I nod. "I'll be fine," I say. "Let's go."

And the two of us walk over to the small group as it gathers around the door. No sooner do we do this when the door opens with a slight whoosh, and then we all enter, a little nervous about what's inside. I mean, I know it's Tali... but I'm just hoping she'll be all right... Because that would just fucking suck if she was not. But... we'll see...

With this, we enter the room to find Tali standing in front of her omni-tool, the orange light being the only lighting in the small room apart from the small beam pouring in from the entranceway. She's typing on it briefly, and then I sigh in relief. Good, she's safe. And sound. And still quite alive. I don't even know why I doubted Shepard for a bit there, but it happened... And here we are, looking at Tali as she finishes up with whatever it is she's doing.

I nod at this as she finishes up and turns to face us. The surprise is evident in the way her arm moves, but she doesn't let it get to her as she turns to face all of us. She stands there, and then... yes, it's how I remember her. Violet veil, the suit, the two eyes peering from behind her visor... Exactly as I remember her. She regards us for a second, and I can see the lights of her eyes disappear for a split second as she acknowledges our presence with a brief motion of her arms.

"Shepard," she says. "Garrus. Art. You're all here..."

"We are," says Shepard.

"What, you think we'd miss out on kicking some more geth around?" asks Garrus, crossing his arms. "Just like old times, Tali."

The quarian in the room laughs softly at this. "Yes, Garrus," she replies. "Just like old times. Only I'm playing damsel in distress to the knights in shining armor."

I blink at this, raising my eyebrows. "Wow, that one week on the Citadel really rubbed off on you," I comment, bringing a hand behind my head and ruffling my hair slightly just above where it's tied together.

"What can I say?" she says cheerfully. "You have quite a knack for attracting strangeness." She turns to Iya. "At least not everyone in the squad died."

"It's good to see you're alive, Tali'Zorah," says Iya with a curt nod. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fine, Iya," she replies with a nod. "Thank you. I... guess you are all owed an explanation..."

Well, not for me, but... "Well, I mean, I think we'd like to know what you were here for..." I comment. I get a glance from Garrus and Madison as I say this, but I don't comment on it. I think Tali noticed that... Well, we've got plenty to discuss before we move on for the day. And I think she'll see me alone for that.

Tali nods at this. "We were taking readings on Haestrom's sun," she says. "This system's sun is dying, far faster than it should. We were sent to take readings of it to determine the cause."

We all nod at this. "What did you find?" asks Shepard.

"We think it may be dark energy within the sun," she replies. "No sun should be dying this quickly, but if we throw dark matter in... It shows surprisingly consistent results."

"I see..." I say, crossing my hands behind my back.

I look over to our commander as I wait for her to speak. "Well, you've done your mission," she says. "Are you free now?"

Tali nods. "Yes," she replies. "I'll be able to assist you on the ship, Shepard. And I'll be more than happy to."

Iya glances over at the other female quarian. "So you're not coming back to the Fleet?"

"No, Iya," she replies. "You can take the data, though..."

"Kal and I can take it," she corrects. "And we'll also ask them to grant you leave to serve on the Normandy."

Tali seems taken aback at this. "Kal is alive?" she asks.

"The geth haven't gotten me yet, ma'am." Ah, there he is! We all turn to Kal as he limps into the room just behind us, his visor pointed straight at Tali. "I'll be fine with a little bit of medical attention."

The engineer regards this with what I can only assume is a smile hidden under that visor. "Good," she says. "At least it's nice to know this mission wasn't a total disaster."

I don't miss the hint of bitterness as she crosses her arms. "I hope the admirals find this data useful," I reply. "If they don't... feel free to call me up so I can unleash a can of whoop-ass on these guys."

This gets a chuckle from Kal. "I'd like to see you try, kid," he says mirthfully. "That would be something to see." Oh, Kal, you have no idea. It'll be all the more satisfying when they get a possible verbal beat-down towards the end of her loyalty mission, the uncaring political machinist bastards. "You're not coming?"

"No," she says. "I'll be joining Shepard on her mission. You can tell the Admirals, I trust?"

Kal nods. "You can rely on Iya and I, ma'am." says the male quarian politely. "And if they have a problem with it, they can all go to hell."

"I couldn't agree with you more," she says, looking over to Shepard. "I'd like to have a moment alone with Art, if you don't mind."

Shepard simply nods at this, gesturing to the team. "All right," she says. "Come on, everyone. There's nothing more to see here."

With this, the commander turns and walks out of the room. Thane, Iya, and Kal follow wordlessly, with Madison and Garrus both looking on briefly before turning and walking out as well. I think Tali took note of that too, but I'll get to explain myself soon enough. For now, I look back at the quarian as soon as they leave the room, and I can feel her beaming at me. Well... I'm glad everything turned out all right with this after all! It's great to see she's alive, and with one extra person on her squad having survived, no less!

I advance towards Tali rather quickly, and before we know it I have my arms around her. My hands rest against her shoulder blades, and I smile softly as she returns the gesture. I nod as we hold it for a few seconds before we part. I step back, shaking out my shoulders as I look at her.

"It's good to see you again, Tali," I say. "A lot's happened since we last talked."

"I can see that," she says. "I received your message, just so you know. About your friend from your universe?"

I nod. "Good, you got the implication," I say. "He's an old man, and a very dear friend of mine. I looked up to him almost like a father on my bad days and a god on my good days. I still have so much to thank him for... namely, being a musician. I wouldn't be what I was today if he hadn't helped me realize my love for music was deeper than I initially realized."

She simply looks at me rather happily. "I'm looking forward to meeting him, then," she says. "In the meantime, however..."

The quarian looks over to where Madison and Garrus stood. "Garrus looked at you strangely when you mentioned you didn't know anything..." she says. "That..."

I let out a sigh, crossing my arms. "Garrus knows about me now, Tali," I reply. "He... didn't take it too well. We made up recently, but I'm sure he's not totally happy about what I've hidden from him."

She nods. "I see..." she says. "How did he find out?"

"Complicated story," I comment. "That human with the brown here? She was his girlfriend. They were in the squad together on Omega and everything. She's also from a different universe, but not the one I'm from."

Tali raises her eye at me. "You mean there's now a person from yet _another_ universe?" she asks.

"Yeah," I comment. "Her name's Madison Paige, and she's from some thriller called _Heavy Rain_. One of my favorite games from back home if you ask me." I look over at the entrance. "I told Madison I knew who she was, and she took it fairly well. She went and told Garrus, and then things sort of just happened." I turn back to Tali. "In short; you're no longer the only person in this galaxy that knows about me."

She glances down. "And I had a certain amount of pride with that..." she says, a light lilt in her voice.

I raise my eyebrow at this. "Pride?" I ask. "That's not something I'd typically assosciate with you."

She gives me a hard look as she holds her hand in the air. "That was a joke."

...

God damn it, my sarcasm radar needs some fixing.

I blink in reply to this, and I look at the quarian. "Uh... right..." I say. "Remind me that I need to read quarian body language better."

"Indeed," she says. "I assume you can show me around the ship when we get on?"

"Of course!" I say. "You'll have to be debriefed, though... But I can show you around afterwards. It's slightly larger than the original Normandy, but that's just more faces that need to be introduced."

She nods. "I'd like that," says Tali as her eyes flash the slightest bit more brilliantly behind her visor. "It's great to see you again, Art."

"Same here, Tali," I say. "I think you'll feel right at home on the new Normandy. Now come on. I've got a lot of people you need to be introduced to."

With this, she nods, and then the two of us walk out, more or less next to each other. I don't know why, but I start to feel a small amount of pressure close around my right hand as the two of us walk out. I glance down briefly and see Tali's hand curling around mine...

Oh dear... I think I can feel myself blushing... I mean, we're holding hands... but we're still... Are we...?

I don't know anymore. Are we more than friends, or...? I don't know. It's wierd to think of Tali in such a way, given how she used to be governed by ones and zeros and all that jazz. Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of this at the moment, even after thinking about it after my conversation with Jenny on the subject...

But if she's content with holding hands, I guess I'll roll with it. After all, if it makes her happy, it'll make me happy too, I guess.

So we walk out into the outdoor area of Haestrom, getting ready to board the Normandy in our minds. Welcome home, Tali. We've missed you greatly up here.


	14. Chapter 13

_A/N: And we're back, this time with one extra female quarian!_

_So yeah, fun times shall be had with that. This chapter will see the founding of a little something that will play a pretty central role in events later down the line. You'll see..._

_Oh, and another thing? MetalDragonKiryu did a commission based on Mass Vexations for me, of one of the scenes from the first one. It's great, it features Art playing his instrument, and you can find it here:_

_metal-dragon-kiryu .deviantart .com/ art/ Mass-Vexations-183857059_

_And in other words... well, there's not a whole lot left to talk about, so I'll jump to the chapter itself. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 13: Around the Normandy

I opted to stay out of debriefing this time, hovering around the door to the Comm room. Tali's in there at the moment, getting her debriefing from Jacob and Shepard. Let the anti-Cerberus hostilities fly!

Although... I can't imagine she'll be too angry about it this time, given how she managed to help stop the attack before it ever actually happened. Maybe they don't dislike Cerberus as intensley as before. There's that hope, I guess, but it's an incredibly slim one if there were ever incredibly slim hopes for anything. Although... Well, she's working for Shepard anyhow, so I think we'll be in good hands. After all... things will be good then.

... Speaking of which... Shit, I haven't told her about Legion yet! I hinted at it back in Feros, but... What if she hasn't thought about it all the way through? Shit... that's kind of a scary thought. But... I can help her get used to it... I definitely need to inform her about Legion sometime in the future...

And knowing me, I'll get to it right before we go into that derelict Reaper. Damn it.

And she still doesn't know about her loyalty mission... how the hell am I supposed to tell her that she's being tried for treason without her taking it the wrong way? I don't know... I just don't want to hurt her, but how do I tell her about the treason...? Maybe it's best if I don't mention anything. I... I don't know... To say or not to say, that is the question... I just don't know how I'm going to break that to her. She'll be heartbroken if she finds out from me, but at the same time we need the shock of her father possibly being dead to make sure we're given a chance to head to the Alarei... I don't know what the hell I'm going to do...

Maybe I shouldn't mention anything at all... Maybe that way it'll be better...

I just hope she doesn't get too angry at me. Especially about her father possibly being dead and all. Speaking of which... I need to start spinning plans into motion to try to avert that...

I hear the door of the Comm room open quickly, and then I raise my eyebrows as Tali walks out.

"Don't forget to introduce yourself to EDI, the ship's AI!" says Jacob's voice from within the comm room.

And just like that, Tali pauses. She looks back briefly, frozen in place as she looks back in the room. The Comm room door closes behind her, and then she looks at me with an incredulous expression on her face.

"This ship has an AI?" she asks.

I shrug. "It's a Cerberus vessel," I comment. "They work with crazy experiments. What were you expecting, a tame VI?"

"Maybe," she comments uselessly, shaking her head. "I don't know, Art. I'm just wary about this AI..."

I nod. "Don't worry, EDI isn't like your average AI," I reply. "She's not out to kill us all, at any rate. It's an improvement over most AI's I know, trust me."

She frowns at this. "Even in your home universe?" she asks.

"Oh, yeah," I comment, crossing my arms as we walk towards the now-empty armory. "Ever heard of the Hal-9000?"

"No..." she says. "What is that?"

I tilt my head to the side. "Right," I comment. "Well, there was this movie called _2001: A Space Odyssey_ that came out in the 1960's in human years. It's about a lot of things, and one of the things is about this AI of a ship that kills its crew because the crew feels Hal is threatening the mission."

"Oh?" she asks. "I didn't think humans thought about such things..."

I cross my arms. "You, my dear, need to get exposed to more human sci-fi authors, then," I reply with a smirk as we enter the armory and head out towards the CIC. "I'd get started with Arthur C. Clarke. Then possibly move on to Isaac Asimov's robot stories. All of them deal with artificial intelligence in some form." Especially _I, Robot_. Now that was a kick-ass book. It's a damn shame the movie "adaptation" of it wasn't actually that good. Fucking Will Smith needed to find better projects than that, I swear. "But we all have our fears of robots. And then, you have Cerberus."

She nods. "I see," she says.

"But don't worry," I comment, looking off to the EDI port as we walk towards the door to the CIC. "EDI isn't at all that harmful, and they do have appropriate measures to keep her from going rogue. So it's better than nothing I guess..."

"It doesn't mean I trust it," replies Tali. "I'll take your word for it for now, but if it does something that threatens all of us..."

"Indeed," I comment. "Good luck hacking into it, though. I hear it's tough..."

Tali chuckles. "I'll only need to disable it," she says. "Besides, my people did create the geth..."

I nod. "Fair point," I reply. "But I don't think you'll need to go around hacking into EDI. So... want to meet new people?"

She nods as we approach the door to the CIC. "Of course," she says. "Lead the way, Art."

I nod, and then hit the control panel. The door opens, and then we step out into the CIC and begin our tour.

* * *

I did a tour of the CIC briefly, running around doing stuff there. Joker was glad to see the two of us, especially someone who had been on the original Normandy. That conversation was pretty snappy, though, especially since he started complaining about EDI and all that jazz. This ended up getting Tali to introduce herself to the ship's AI quite by accident, and I swear Tali was more than the slightest bit disturbed by this. Joker understood her concern, though, and even joked about his own trepidations about having the computer telling him what to do. It was nice to see him doing well, so we went on our way to the elevator...

"Um, excuse me?"

And... we just got stopped by the one and only psych specialist on the ship, Kelly Chambers.

Who I've never spoken to since I entered this ship. Which is odd, seeing as how she needs a profile on me.

"Mr. *********?" she asks. "And you must be Tali."

I look to the redhead, crossing my arms. "Ah, you must be Kelly Chambers," I say with a nod. "Shepard told me you're the yeoman. And the ship's psychiatrist."

"Psychiatrist?" asks Tali, looking over at me. "This ship has a psychiatrist?"

Kelly nods at this. "It's to keep a good tab on how the crew is doing," she replies. "It helps us measure the success of the mission. And plus... it's kind of fun listening to people sorting out their histories, seeing what's going on in their heads."

I nod at this. Yeah, this girl definitely does not remind me of my old psychiatrist, you know? She's... a lot more perky. "I see," I comment. "Shepard also tells me you want to get my psych evaluation."

"Just to know where you all are," she says. Her attention turns to the quarian. "I've heard quite a bit about you from Shepard, Tali'Zorah. You two seem like extremely good friends."

I look over to the quarian as she wrings her hands together. "Yes, we do get along very well," she comments. "Although, you may find me more likely to hang out with Art here."

"I see..." she says. "You two aren't... involved, are you...?"

... Oh hell no... She did not just ask that. Oh, no... If what I remember is true, if gossip reaches her, the whole ship hears about it. Except for Jack, because she never shows her face. But...

"I'd prefer not to answer that question," I comment, glancing to the side.

"Uh... I don't think we are..." says the quarian to add to that.

She nods simply, but I can swear her brows are creased slightly. "Very well, then," she says. "I've been trying to corner you for quite some time, Mr. *********. I still haven't gotten your psych report."

I uncross my arms, my weight shifting on my feet as I stand there. "Well, maybe I'm not the one who should be hunting you down," I comment. "You can always find me in that little room next to life support, you know. I don't really leave that place all that often."

"All right," she says. "I'll find you sometime in the near future, then," she says. "For now, though, I also would like to see Tali in the near future."

"I suppose that can be arranged," replies the quarian. "Although..."

"Don't worry," she says. "Just come up here to the CIC when you have some time and we can find a quiet place to do the psych evaluation."

Tali nods at this. "All right," she says. "I'll see when I can spare some time."

"Of course," says the yeoman. "I hope to see more of both of you in the near future."

"Same here, Yeoman," I say. "I'm going to go around the ship. I'll see you around."

And with this, Tali and I both nod, with Kelly giving a small smile at the two of us as we head to the elevator. It takes a bit to come up, but when it does, we enter, and as the door closes between us and the CIC Tali turns to us.

"I never thought a Cerberus crew member could be so nice," she comments.

I shrug at this. "She likes aliens," I comment. "And she's perky. And she's a hell of a rumor machine..."

I let this sink for a brief moment as she gives me what is undoubtedly a slightly surprised look. "Oh dear..." she says. "But still, she seems very nice. I'm looking forward to the evaluation."

I nod. "Just so you know what to expect, she likes quarians," I comment. "She finds their suits extremely fascinating. And the veils... She likes them a lot if their design is intricate enough. She likes your veil quite a bit."

She looks over at me. "More about how my veil looks wonderful?" she asks. "I still don't see what it is about my veil that is beautiful, as you put it."

I turn to her, crossing my arms. "It fits your suit's color scheme," I comment. "That, and it's a lovely design you have on it there. Say what you will, but it's still a damn beautiful piece of cloth, Tali. And nothing you say is gonna change that fact."

She doesn't reply to this, but I can see her duck back slightly. Aw, she's being sheepish. "I... still don't know about the veil..." she says. "But thanks..."

I smile at her briefly as the elevator moves again. I cross my arms as I look up. Neither of us say anything for about a minute, feeling the elevator go by as we stand inside. Jeez...

"Bloody hell, these elevators still move slowly..." I say, frowning.

"It's always a problem," she comments. "Everywhere I go the elevators seem to be slow."

I nod. "Seriously, Bioware got that bit right," I comment, shaking my head. "I mean, hell the elevators back home were still a hell of a lot faster than this!"

"Was there a reason behind that?" asks Tali.

I shrug. "Well, in the first game, the elevators masked loading times," I comment. "You'd stand in the elevator, and you'd wait for the next area to load. I honestly expected the elevator speeds to be a little faster when I first showed up. Imagine my dismay when I found that not to be the case..."

Tali nods. "And where we are now?"

I shrug. "They sort of said 'fuck that' when the second game came around," I reply. "In that game we just got a normal loading screen instead of an elevator. Shame, though; there was some great squad dialogue that was had on those elevators on the Citadel."

"Well, at least here you get to converse with us," she says.

"Too true, Tali," I reply, crossing my arms. "Too true. Now... I wonder when we're gonna get down there..."

And right as I say this, the elevator stops, and then the doors open out into the crew deck. I look on to the wall where the Life Support and the crew quarters are... wondering briefly about my own room before I shake my head. I blink, and raise one of my eyebrows. "Oh..." I comment. "Well... that was uncharacteristically fast."

Tali doesn't get it, but all the same she steps forward. "It's slightly faster than it was on the original Normandy," she comments, looking at me. "It's good to know this at least..."

I frown at this. "Usually it's not this fast, though," I reply. "I don't know what the hell happened this time, but... I guess I'm damn grateful for it. Let's hope it's that fast in the near future."

"In the meantime, I believe you wanted to introduce me to people," says Tali.

I nod. "Ah, yes," I say, nodding to her as I walk out of the elevator. "I've got an assistant mess sergeant I need to introduce you to, and he's on cooking shift at the moment I believe. Come on."

She follows without another word, the two of us walking past the mess area. We see some of the crew members sitting there talking to each other over trays of food that is slightly more edible thanks to having gone to the Citadel for stuff. I look to the crew members as some of them sit there, eating their food and talking before I turn my attention to the kitchen area. And just as I expected, there is Sturge, presiding over the kitchen and tossing around some greens in a bowl. Oh, boy, salad. Looks like fun there, my good friend. Looks like a lot of fun. I look at him and smile as he notices me. He gives me a nod as I approach the counter, his hands letting loose on the salad tongs as his eyes light up slightly.

"Why, hello there, Art," he says. "How are you today?"

"I'm quite happy today, Sturge," I reply with a nod. "I believe I mentioned I have a quarian friend I'd wanted to introduce you to."

He glances to Tali as he places his hands on the counter. "So... this is a quarian," he says.

"Indeed," I comment with a nod. "Sturge, this is Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya. Tali, this is Michael ************. We call him "Sturge". Much easier to remember."

"I can see why," she says as she approaches the counter. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sturge."

He nods. "Same here, Tali," he says. "Art's told me quite a bit about your species. It's... a little sad, in some strange way. I never thought I'd see a species-wide case of AIDS, but there you have it. Interesting solution you came up with, though it's not the one I would've come up with."

Tali tilts her head to the side. "AIDS?" she asks. "What's that?"

I shrug. "It was this old human disease," I comment. "They found a cure in the middle of the 21st Century, I believe it was. But it was this disease that rendered a human's immune system unable to fight anything."

"Think of it as a less extreme version of what you're in," adds Sturge.

She nods, wringing her hands together. "I see..." she says. "But you mentioned you don't use suits... Why not?"

Sturge shrugs. "Well, first of all, the disease took years to take effect," he comments. "Most people wouldn't know they had it until they got tested for it at least three years after initial contact. And it wasn't so bad that the very air could kill you. We ended up taking pills instead of putting them in full body suits."

Tali's helmet faces down for a second before she turns back to the old man. "I can't imagine what it would be like if that was all we needed," she replies ruefully...

The old man raises an eyebrow as he does this, but I give him a knowing look. Okay... I think we know what this means. He nods, deciding to change the subject then and there. "I think it would be great," he says. "But we shouldn't talk about that. I hear you're quite the engineer."

My companion blinks as she regards this question. "Yes, I am," she replies with a light nod. "I was one of the engineers on the original Normandy..."

He nods. "I see, then," he says. "It's nice to see a race that vests inself in science somehow. I wish more people on our side did that..."

Tali tilts her head to the side, her hands coming behind her back. "Art mentioned you were a physics teacher," she says.

"Ah, yes," he says. "I actually kind of liked being a science teacher." He nods to Tali as he looks at the salad in the mixing bowl. "I like music, but I can't see myself making a career of it now, especially not with my age." Oh, Sturge, I told you 65 isn't old anymore! "But the thing that annoyed me most? I got some extremely stupid people in my class. I'm telling you, I got some of the dumbest students a man could ask for."

"Oh?" asks the quarian. "It seems human students have that problem too."

"In fact, A..." The old man frowns quite suddenly at this, turning to Tali. "Wait, your students can be horrible too?"

"Well..." replies Tali with a shrug. "Some do a little better than others, but they all work as hard as they can..."

Sturge blinks. "Must be a cultural difference, then," he says with a shrug. "The problem with all the idiots I got in my classes wasn't that they were stupid as much as it was that they had no motivation whatsoever. I don't know how it is with the quarians, but back on Earth a lot of the students just had no motivation to do anything. So they sat around doing nothing. And that meant they failed a lot of their classes."

"That, and they wouldn't shut the hell up during class," I add.

"That too," continues the old man.

"Oh," says Tali, nodding. "I see. We have much more motivation on the Fleet. Everyone must contribute to the Fleet in some way."

Sturge nods at this, closing his eyes briefly. "Cultural differences, then," he says. "There were only a few students I knew who were really motivated in any way to try to succeed. I'm glad to say that Art was one of them. He's one of six students I'd like to keep in touch with. With the way things are now... I don't mind it too much."

I nod. "And he was one of my favorite teachers," I comment with a smile. "So it works both ways."

The quarian nods at this. "I see," she comments. "Well..." When she turns her head to the side, I know that we can't really do a whole lot thanks to this being a public area. "I guess there is not much more to say. But it was a pleasure to meet you."

"Same here, Tali," replies Sturge with a friendly smile as he takes his salad tongs. "I guess I'll talk to you again in private?"

I bite my lower lip. Hm... well, it can't hurt. "Actually, could you see if Madison and Garrus can come meet me down in my room over by Life Support in an hour or so?" I ask.

Sturge frowns at this, bringing the mixing bowl back up to his level. "Hm..." he thinks. "Well, I think Gardner should be back from tending to everything by this time... I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks," I reply with a smile.

He nods. "Well, I better get back to work," he says. "It was nice chatting with you as always, Art. And it was a pleasure to meet you, Tali."

"Same here, Mr. Sturge," replies the quarian with a polite bow of her head.

He simply nods as I begin to walk away, the quarian following behind. "I'll see you around, Sturge."

And with this, the two of us walk back to the elevator as I look to her. We pass by the mess tables as she spares a brief glance over to where the sleeper pods are. "What about the gunnery bay?" asks Tali.

"That's where Madison and Garrus are," I comment. "Garrus already knows you know, so I don't need to tell him that much, and I'll get to introducing you to Madison in the near future. Anyhow... we still have more location scouting to do."

Tali nods at this, and I can feel her faint smile on my figure as we proceed to the elevator. "All right," she says as I hit the button. "Where to now?"

I look to her, smiling broadly. This shall be fun. "Well, since you're on this new ship, and you're due in engineering... I figured you could get acquainted with the engineers here on the Normandy."

She seems to rear back slightly as I say this. Oh, boy, she's definitely quite happy about this. "Engineering?" she asks. "I see... Well, I look forward to seeing these two engineers."

Oh, boy, Tali, you've got no idea. "I think you'll quite like the two of them," I comment.

And when the elevator opens, I can sense that she's giddy about seeing them. Oh, yeah, this is gonna be fun to introduce them. Especially to Kenneth. That shall be a really fun thing to watch happen, Ken trying to hit on Tali... not that I wouldn't gut him on the spot with a pencil, but still. It's an amusing thought nevertheless.

* * *

No sooner do we step off the elevator then I promptly bump straight into someone. Literally.

"'Ey, watch we're you're goin'!"

... Oh, crap. I just bumped into Zaeed didn't I?

"Oh, crap!" I say, backpedaling and giving a ridiculously fast bow. "I'm sorry, Zaeed!"

I can feel his stare get a little hard as I come up and see he's crossing his arms. "Ah, Art," he says. "Guess it's likely for you to bump into people when ya least expect it. Especially when you're huddling up at heights."

"Zaeed!" I exclaim quickly, my hands quickly coming up to my face to cover it. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, not in front of my best friend here!" I can feel the quarian's gaze on me as I say this, my face going red a little too fast for my liking.

"What's this about huddling up at heights?" asks Tali curiously.

The mercenary simply looks at the quarian. But before he can open his mouth, I hold my hands out. "No, Zaeed, you are _not_ telling that story," I say. "Leave that to me."

"Why not?" he asks. "It's fun watching ya scramble when it's brought up."

... Is he really...? I simply groan in response. God damn, things have gone downhill really fast with Zaeed... And how the hell am I supposed to climb back uphill after all that, anyhow? And come on, this is in front of Tali! This is freaking embarrasing! I mean, Jesus! I'm just trying to show her around, and then-

"I see you know Art fairly well..."

I look over to Tali then, my eyes opening as the redness in my face is exposed. In response to this, Zaeed simply shrugs. "He's all right," he says. "I've never seen a more badass musician in all my life as a mercenary. Well... discounting his fear of heights. But still, I've never seen a musician do the things he's done. Ya know he took down an entire Blue Suns group with a gunship and the warehouse they were in?"

"He never told me about that, no," comments the quarian, and I can tell her tone is a little surprised. "Recent?"

"While we were recruiting Garrus," I say, my voice low in embarrasment. Jeez, Zaeed, you really couldn't let me wait to tell her on my own time? "Remember the gunship I mentioned? Well, I sent missles after a whole bunch of Blue Suns. And apparently, it made the warehouse collapse."

"Most bloody explosive thing I've ever seen in my life," adds Zaeed. "And I loved every goddamn minute of it. He's all right. Even if he is afraid of heights."

Tali nods. "And I assume you're a new friend of his?" she asks.

"That I am," he comments. "The name's Zaeed Massani."

She nods politely. "Tali'Zorah vas Neema," she replies.

"Ah, ya must be that engineer Art and Shepard are always talkin' about," he comments. "I guess you'll be around here, eh?"

"Yes," replies Tali. "Is there a problem?"

"Not unless yeh take anythin' from my room," he replies. "But from what I hear about yeh, you're not the type. So no, we don't have a problem."

Tali sighs. "Good, then," she says. "I guess we shouldn't be taking too much more of your time, if you have somewhere to go."

The mercenary nods at this, and then I move out of the way as he steps right into the elevator. "I've gotta go eat. Nice ta finally meet ya," he says. He presses the button, but then he looks out. "And don't get like that in front of 'er, Art. It doesn't impress the ladies!"

... What? No! "Zaeed!"

But by then, the door's already closed. I let out a sigh as I shake my head. Jesus Christ, Zaeed, you know no bounds, do you? This is fucking embarrasing!

"You have a fear of heights, Art?" asks Tali, turning to me. "How did you manage to get through the Mako rides on Feros?"

I groan. Oh, dear, how did I know that was coming? "That was different," I reply. "At least there we had guard rails, and it was a really wide area. The other place didn't even have that! It was just this narrow area with no guard rails with the wind blowing at God knows how many miles an hour and stuff. I really did think I was going to fall off!"

Tali seems to blink behind her mask as she crosses her arms. "I see..." she says. "That's something I never would've known about you at all..."

I shrug. "I lived on flat places at sea level my whole life," I comment. "Miami was a bit... strange like that. The only high place I remember seeing there in my childhood was this one hill in some park close to my house. I thought it was the tallest thing in the world, and it was only a hill. I've always been afraid of extreme heights."

"It must be natural for you..." she offers. "I can see where you are coming from in this regard."

"Yeah, I think it's only natural," I reply. "But anyway, that was Zaeed Massani, mercenary extraordinaire, and a pretty cool guy, even if he won't shut up about my fear of heights."

She nods. "He seems a little rough," says the quarian as she wrings her hands together.

"Yeah, well, he's had it really rough for the past 20 or so years of his life," I begin as we move towards Ken and Gabby's side of engineering. "He cofounded the Blue Suns and kept track of it. At least, until his partner in crime put him out of the equation with a nicely-placed bullet to the head. That's why one of his eyes is wierd..."

Tali seems to shudder at this. Can't say I blame her. "He survived a gunshot to the head?" she asks. "I didn't even know that was possible!"

"Rage is a hell of an anesthetic," I supply, moving towards the door to the stairs down to Jack's little hidey-hole. "Those are his words on the subject. He's really angry about Vido. I just hope you don't have to go into that factory when the time comes. He can tell a hell of a war story, though."

"He tells war stories?" asks Tali. "I never would've expected that... Are they good stories?"

"Oh yeah," I comment, nodding my head in affirmation. "Sometimes I just stop by if we want to exchange stories. He usually gets me with the heights, but hey. They're fun war stories, and even if I've heard them all before it's worth going down there again just to hear him tell the same story." I look up as I smile. "There's something about the way he tells his stories that's really awesome. I can't put my finger on it..."

"Great storyteller?" she asks.

"That I think is what is at play here," I reply, looking back to the quarian as we move away from the door. "Anyway, we still have a pair of engineers I'd like to introduce you to. So let's get on with that, shall we?"

The quarian nods at this. "Of course," she replies. "I'm looking forward to meeting them. Do they give me too much trouble?"

I shake my head. "No," I comment.

"Then let's go," she says, and I can feel her beaming at me as she says this.

I nod at her, and then I move closer to engineering. I rap my hand against the green panel, and the door opens rather quickly. And there are Ken and Gabby, working at the console. It seems they haven't noticed my entry here. Yet. But that will change in a split second, as I begin to approach the two. My footsteps sound on the deck rather loudly, and then Gabby and Ken both turn in our direction as their eyes lay on me.

I see Ken shift slightly as he notices Tali's presence there. "Oh?" he says. "I'm assuming this is our new engineer?"

I raise my eyebrow. "How'd you know she was coming?" I ask.

"EDI mentioned something about seeing a quarian engineer down here in the near future," comments Gabby. "I just never expected she'd be down here so fast..."

Tali looks at the two of them. "To be entirely fair, I'm not settling here just yet," she replies. "I'll be heading out soon and I'll be back as soon as I am done with something I need to do with Art. In the meantime, I take it you're the Cerberus engineers?"

"That we are, ma'am," comments the human female as she extends a hand out to Tali. "Engineer Gabriella Daniels. You can call me Gabby, though. And this is Kenneth Donnely."

"A pleasure, Gabby," replies Tali as she shakes Gabby's hand. I can tell she's got just the slightest smile on our face.

"The pleasure's all ours, Tali," replies Ken as he extends his hands out and shakes the quarian's hand as well. "It'll be refreshing to have someone who was on the original Normandy with us here. Means we won't have to work as hard."

The female engineer promptly shakes her head, rolling her eyes. "That doesn't give you the license to slack off, Ken" she says. "You're still being put to work."

"I know, I know," says the Scotsman as he holds his hands up. "I'm just sayin', Gabby. It'll be awfully nice to rest my fingers every so often."

Tali crosses her arms. "I may remind you that on the first Normandy it took several engineers to keep the ship running," she says. "Engineer Adams was grateful for me since I was able to adapt to the new technology so well. So since we only have you two and myself, I'm expecting you to work hard."

Gabby gives Ken a knowing glance, crossing her arms as she smirks. "See?" she says. "I like you already, Tali."

"Not that you won't be catching a break every so often, though," she says. "It seems you two have done an excellent job of manning the Normandy before I arrived. With a third engineer, it shouldn't be as difficult."

"That's true," says Gabby. "But if Ken slacks off, he really slacks off. Just warning you about that now."

"Now that's hardly fair, Gabby," replies the male engineer as he frowns slightly. "Especially now that-"

Oh, no, he is not going into sexism land! "Yeah, we get the point, Ken," I say. "You like your free time." On that note... "Didn't you have some FBA couplings installed in that vein?"

"Yeah," he says. "We did, but I don't see..."

I tilt my head at him, crossing my arms. "Oh, you don't think I'd forget about you moaning in the mess hall about how Shepard kicked your ass during a game of Skillian Five?" I ask, a light smirk dancing on my face.

I wink, and it's all it takes for the Scotsman to groan as he places a hand against his face. "Oh, don't even get me started on that, Art," he replies.

My smirk only widens as Gabby giggles. Tali looks at us with an expression of slight confusion emanating from behind her mask as she looks at all of us. "Well, it's true," I comment. "So yeah."

"I can see you two are a lively bunch," comments Tali. "This should make life... interesting."

"As is having a quarian working beside us," says Gabby with a smile. "I'm looking forward to working with you!"

"Same here," comments Ken. "Even if I'm feeling-"

Oh, Jesus Christ, again with the sexism? "Lucky?" I ask, crossing my arms. "You're being surrounded by two beautiful ladies that are both pretty fun to be around. Especially in Tali's case, so I don't see what's so bad about that."

Ken and Gabby both blink at this as I splay my arms out. Wait... is it something I said? I bring my arms back in, looking at them. I look to Ken as... Oh, dear, I don't like how he's looking at me. This can't be good. I glance at him, afraid for what I hear next.

"I'll keep it in mind, then," he says. "Anyways, great to finally meet you, Tali."

"Same here," says the quarian. "We should get going. We have a whole ship to make introductions with."

"All right," says Gabby. "We'll see you later."

And with this, Tali and I turn around and head out of the engine room. We move on, hoping to get to our next destination with some speed. As we move along, Tali turns to me, her visor facing me as her eyes glow white behind it.

"They seem like very nice people," she says. "Although, you kept on interrupting Ken."

I shrug. "He can get a bit sexist if he's surrounded by too many women," I comment. "Given our Commander's gender..."

"Ah." she nods at this, getting my point. "Still, they seem like good company."

"They are," I reply. "And they're also some of the best engineers in Cerberus, it seems. And not xenophobic, which is a plus."

The quarian nods. "That it is," she agrees. "Is there anyone else on this deck you'd like to introduce me to?"

Hm... Well, Jenny's busy working on the Kodiak at the moment, I believe... So... "Well, there's Jack down in the little hidey-hole, but she can be a bit bitchy when she's not in the right mood," I muse. "Which is a lot of the time. But she'll get over it, I'm sure. As for someone else... there's this other girl that's not from the game that's here. Her name's Jenny, and she pilots the Kodiak now. And we picked her up on Horizon, after she helped us with Garrus." Hm... I don't have her attention yet... "And she has a quarian best friend."

She turns her head to me. Aha! _That_ got her attention!

"She does?" she asks. "Who?"

I shrug. "You probably wouldn't know him," I comment. "He left on his pilgrimage, but never returned to the Fleet."

"She must know something about quarian culture, then..." she comments. "I know my people like to talk about their culture quite a bit."

"They're practically brother and sister," I comment with a smile. "I'm sure she knows quite a bit about it. Hell, she even knew about the whole linking suit environments thing."

"They must be extremely close, then," she says. "I'd like to meet her."

All right, I have her interested! Let's just hope Jenny doesn't start dropping any lines about the two of us. Because that would suck. Greatly. Probably even worse than if some whiny kid decided to wage war against a whole group of haters by threatening them with hacking and all that stuff. I mean, really, who would be stupid enough to do that to a group of people who dislike one pop star?

"All right," I say, smiling broadly. "Come on. I'll introduce you."

And with this, I lead her to the hangar bay, where Jenny's probably busy calibrating the Kodiak again.

* * *

When we approach the Kodiak, we see the shuttle pilot descending down the rope ladder onto the floor of the hangar bay. I look up, placing my hands squarely on my hips as I look up to Jenny. She looks down, and then smiles upon seeing Tali and I standing there. She climbs down the rest of the way quickly, wiping some sweat off her brow as she nods to the two of us. We meet right at the bottom of the rope ladder, the young woman beaming at me and then right at Tali.

"Well, look who's here," says Jenny. "The quarian that Art's always talkin' about. About bloody time you got here, mate. Jenny McKansa."

Tali nods at the woman. "Tali'Zorah vas Neema," she replies with a polite bow of her head. "Art told me about your quarian friend."

Jenny beams at this, leaning against the rope ladder. "So he told you a little about Nogond, eh?" she asks.

"Not much, though," I reply. "Other than that you two are practically like brother and sister, that is."

"Oh," she says, looking towards Tali with a smile. "Well... I guess I can tell ya a thing or two. He's still kind of on 'is Pilgrimage, but I don't think he'll be finishing it."

Tali nods. "That's unfortunate," she says. "I hope he is happy, though."

"Oh, you bet 'e is," comments the colonist. "He's in a bit of a tough spot, though. Bein' chased by Blue Suns mercs does that to one. He was in Garrus' squad, if ya must know."

I can feel the expression of surprise behind the face mask. "So Garrus knows him too?" asks Tali. "I see... Do you know if he's safe?"

The human female nods in reply, crossing her arms. "He's movin' around on Invictus right now," she says. "Ya know, that turian colony with the band of turian-killing diseases in the middle? He's hangin' out there now, hiding from the Blue Suns..."

She nods. "It must be difficult to be in hiding."

"Not as tough as wandering the galaxy without a real home," replies Jenny, her expression getting more serious. "I'll be honest with you; I've always wondered how homesick ya people must be flyin' around in the stars all day. I mean, ya get to see new places and that's great... but you don't have anywhere ta return to. That's gotta suck, to not have anywhere to go after your journeys."

I bite my lower lip. Oh, dear, the conversation got solemn pretty quickly. I look over to Tali as she looks down at the ground. I'm sure she understands Jenny's implication of home... I hope...

"The Fleet is our home," replies Tali. "But I'll assume you're talking about a homeworld... I never thought I'd see someone who sees it the same way we do... We're hoping to get our homeworld back soon. But while that wait is going on... it's painful to think about the fact that we have no true home..."

Hopefully, you'll have your homeworld back by the time we have the Reaper threat taken care of. I can't say that in front of Jenny, but hey, you know how things are. I'll let her know when I tell her about Legion... which I also need to tell her about, now that I think about it. She'll flip the fuck out when she sees Shepard activating Legion, but hopefully I can prepare her for it a little better. Anyhow, here's hoping that goes well...

"I hear ya there," says Jenny. "Nogond kind of feels that way. He was born on Mindoir, you know?"

The quarian blinks at this, and I can tell she's quite surprised by the way her hands come up. "You mean, that human colony?" she asks. "I think I may have heard of him in that case. Nogond'Viraliz, if I remember correctly."

The colonist nods. "That's the one," he says. "But... I think he's found a little something he can call home. So I think he'll be fine."

Tali nods at this. "May the ancestors watch over him," she replies.

Jenny nods. "May they watch over 'im indeed," she comments, a lopsided smile coming on her face as she shifts slightly. "But anyway, that's enough about 'im. And enough about all that depressing stuff, ya know? I hear a lot about ya from Art. You two are really close it seems."

... Oh, Christ, this isn't going where I think it's going, is it? "Oh, yes," says Tali, and I can feel the slightly higher amount of mirth in her voice. "We have been quite close ever since the first Normandy... If you're asking about having linked suit environments, I don't think that would be possible given the species difference..."

I blink. Oh, dear, Tali... "Really?" she asks. Oh, no, Tali, you just made it worse! "Well, I can tell ya somethin', Tali. Ya might-"

"O-ho-hokay..." I interrupt nervously. Okay, the less we say about that, the better for my sanity. "We're not talking about that anymore."

"Why not?" she asks, crossing her arms. "I'd think you'd make a great couple!"

... Did she just...

"_Jenny!_" I shout out, covering my face with my hands. Jesus Christ, this is embarrasing!

Tali simply looks on, but when I uncover my hands from my face I can see she's a little nervous too. "What are you talking about?" she asks. "I mean... there's nothing that could... I mean, I... And he... and..."

In reply, the colonist simply bursts out laughing, closing her eyes as she beholds us getting all flustered. "You two'll figure it out eventually," she says. "You people typically do. But trust me, it'll get to that point eventually."

I shake my head. "In the meantime, we're never bringing this up," I say. "_Ever_. Again. Understood?"

"Of course," says Jenny with a broad smile. "But anyway, all that aside, I take it you're getting used to the new Normandy."

Tali nods at this. "Oh, yes," says the quarian. "It's so strange to see a Cerberus ship with very few xenophobes on it..."

The colonist nods in agreement. "You're telling me," she observes, taking her weight off the ladder as she begins to walk away from us. "It's strange, really. I don't think I'd ever have seen myself workin' on a Cerberus ship, much less with a friendly Cerberus crew. Never in a thousand years, I said."

"And yet here we are," says Tali. "Strange how things can occur."

Jenny nods as she looks back up the hatch of the Kodiak. "Indeed," she says. "I was gonna go off and take a break over in the rec room. You guys want to join?"

I shake my head. "No thanks, Jenny," I reply. "We'll be fine. You take care of yourself."

"You too," says Jenny as she walks past us. "And ya better sort it all out, 'cause I'm not gonna stop yelling at ya for it until ya do!"

Oh, god damn it, Jenny! My face is still red! "Jenny!" I shout.

With this, she giggles slightly as I look to a rather nervous Tali. "I'll see you two later!" she says. "And it was a pleasure to meet ya, Tali! If ya ever need anythin', feel free to come down here!"

By now, the quarian is so nervous she doesn't have the throat to reply back. Or something. I dunno. I just wish Jenny would stop doing that every time Tali is brought up! I mean, my god!

I shake my head and look to Tali. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, I wish she'd stop doing that," I comment. "She's a nice person to be around right up until she starts embarrasing you in front of your best friends."

"You and me both, Art," replies the quarian. "You and me both." She looks over to where Jenny is currently walking over to the stairs. "Why is she on this ship anyhow?"

I shrug. "Her brother was one of the colonists taken away on Horizon," I comment. "She wants to help us any way she can to see her brother again..."

Tali nods briefly at this. "I see," she comments. "She certainly manages to be quite jumpy even with that."

"I know," I reply, placing my hands on her hips. "She's naturally jumpy like that. She wouldn't be Jenny McKansa if she wasn't so damn cheery all the time. Of course... that always works against us..."

She looks to us. "Do you think she's being serious about what she mentioned just now?" asks the quarian. "I mean... I don't know, but... Maybe... I don't know if we can get this to work. You know how my immune system is, and you know how dangerous it can be, and how I can never even feel the air, and... Do you...?"

I blink, looking to Tali. "Honestly, Tali, I'm not entirely sure what they're seeing between us..." I mean... we are just best friends, and I only have a crush, right...? "So... I dunno. Something to think about?"

"Maybe," she says. "But honestly? I can't see how this would work... Could you...?"

I blink. Well, I mean, I can see it working between her and a male Shepard... but... "I don't know, Tali," I say. "That's... something we'll have to think about. But not now..." Probably when your loyalty mission comes around. But... I dunno.

"Yes, let's think about it," she says. "For now, though, we're friends."

"Yes," I agree. "Until we figure stuff out. It's getting awfully close to the hour. Let's head up. Garrus, Madison, and Sturge are probably waiting up at my room over in the crew deck..."

With this, she nods. "Of course," she says. "Let's go over there."

And with this, the two of us leave the hangar. Hm... Well, it is only a crush, right? It has to be. I dunno, things like this never really pay off for me in the end. I dunno... I guess I'll figure it out soon enough.

In the meantime, though... I have something that I need to start with everyone that knows about Sturge, Madison, and I. So yeah.

Let's get to it.

* * *

We both arrive to my little room on the crew deck to find Sturge, Garrus, and Madison all standing in front of the door waiting for me. I smile as I behold them all, and gesture to them.

"So the gang's all here, then?" I ask.

"Pretty much," says Madison. "What are you here for?"

I look to the side to make sure that nobody's listening in. Okay... nobody's there. I don't see anybody, so I think we're good. All right. I think it's time we got this done.

I open the door to my quarters, and then gesture into it to the four of them. "Why not enter and find out?" I ask.

Okay... good thing I checked for bugs before I went to bed before Haestrom. They're all more or less destroyed at the moment, and I've also rooted them out, thanks to a small favor from Mordin. Speaking of which, isn't it about to approach that time where he's all 'Maelon needs my help'? Ah, whatever. I'm just glad I got his assistance in getting that done. So now they're sitting on the desk that my terminal is sitting on, and then I see Sturge looking at them with a slightly confused expression on his face. We all file in, and as the door closes behind us Madison and Tali both see it fit to sit on the bed. Sturge follows shortly afterwards, and then Garrus comes along and sits in the chair in front of my desk.

Okay, the gang's all here... I bring up my omni-tool and lock the door behind me, the display going red. Okay, that should take care of that. I look at them all with a nod as I cross my hand behind me.

"Uh... hate to distract you, but what're these?" asks Garrus as he gestures to the bugs.

"Bugs," I say with a shrug. "They would've been listening in on everything we said before Mordin helped me find them and helped me take them all out."

Sturge leans forward. "You mean, these people are listening in to all of us?" he asks.

I bite my lower lip. "All over the ship," I comment.

Sturge shakes his head. "Damn," he mutters. "This is almost worse than the Patriot Act... I mean... they're listening in to all of us on this ship!"

"That's dangerous if you're talking about the alternate universes, too," points out Madison.

I nod at this. "Which is why I removed the bugs here," I comment. "Cerberus may already know something about it, but I won't give them enough information to figure it out. If they're concerned about it, we'll find out eventually."

"I hope you're right, Art," says Garrus. "So, why'd you bring us all here?"

I shrug at this. "Well, to the best of my knowledge, you four are the only people in the entire galaxy who know about Sturge, Madison, and I," I begin. "So... we're the only ones who really know that secret."

"And your point is...?" asks Sturge.

"Well," I comment. "I was thinking we could stick together on this, you know? Maybe form some kind of society around that whole bit where some of us aren't from the same universe."

"Oh..." says the turian as he shifts in his chair. "So... in other words, we could get together and talk about what's going on in relation to how you remember it?"

I frown, crossing my arms. "Not totally," I comment. "I'd think Madison should get some things to say every so often about her home universe, right? And what about Sturge?"

"So it's for general secrecy purposes," replies the turian.

"Well, pertaining to the alternate universe stuff, anyway," I comment. "The 'Brotherhood of Secret Keepers', I say. You know? Fun times abound, yeah?"

I see Sturge frown slightly at this. "That's the best title you could come up with?" he asks. "I think I could come up with a better title in my sleep..."

"You must admit it is slightly generic..." adds Tali.

I shrug. "It's the best thing I've got at the moment," I reply. "But yeah, it's this kind of secret society where we keep each other's extremely dark secrets. Whatever is said in our meeting places, stays in our meeting places, and goes nowhere else."

Madison seems to be deep in thought at this. "Hm... Well, it's not a bad idea," she says. "I'd definitely be all right with that."

Tali agrees with a simple nod. "I would be behind it as well."

Sturge glances to the other occupants of the room before holding his hands out in front of him. "It doesn't really sound like a bad idea," says the old science teacher. "Just one question, though; are you planning on turning this into some really wierd secret society where we have to do rituals to gods that don't exist?"

... Did he seriously...? "No, Sturge," I comment. "This is a support group for people not of the _Mass Effect_ universe to share secrets I'm founding here, not the next Church of Scientology. Jeez, why the hell would you even think that? You know me better than that!"

"Just making sure," says Sturge with a dismissive hand wave. "It's good to see you still haven't completely lost your marbles from when you came over here. I probably would've flipped out if you had taken after all the televangelists that were all over the place when we left."

This leaves Tali and Garrus understandably confused, and the quarian shifts on the bed slightly. "Church of Scientology?" she asks. "Televangelists?"

Oh, dear... "It's a bit of a long story," I comment. "We'll talk about it sometime soon. In the meantime...?"

"Those were my only concerns," he says. "It's nice to get a good line of who I can trust with the fact that we're not from this dimension. I'm in."

"And it'll mean you have to be honest with us," says Garrus, pointing his talon at me. Yeah... I kind of deserved that... "So I'm all for it."

I clap my hands together, a broad smile forming on my face. "Great!" I say. "So... let's put it this way..."

I clear my throat and then hold my hands out in front of me. Okay... well, there was all that stuff during all the times I had to get together with the brotherhood during my PM period. That was interesting stuff, and I think I've picked up some nice speech language from it... So let's see if I can get my bag of tricks from this...

"Let it be known that on this day of October 30th, 2185, the Brotherhood of Secret Keepers was founded next to Life Support on the Normandy SR-2, with founder Art*** ********* and cofounders Madison Paige, Michael ************, Garrus Vakarian, and Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya. Our mission is to provide support for those who have no place in this universe, and to allow for the open exchange of secrets between parties caught in such a predicament. The exclusivity of this brotherhood is absolute, and all that is said within the walls of this chamber shall never be mentioned beyond the portal to the rest of the world for any reason. This is our mission statement, our solemn oath... Let us never violate this for any reason."

Ah, yes. That works beautifully. Sal would be proud, even if he probably still can't spell the title of his own position right.

After this, I look to the others as they nod. Sturge looks up to me and crosses his arms. "I never knew you had a flare for making that kind of thing up on the spot," he comments.

I shrug. "I joined a fraternity shortly before I came here," I comment. "It's all part of being a Sinfonian, you know? Secret societies have secret rules, and all that jazz."

"Secrets that you can tell now, right?" asks Madison as she leans forward on the bed she's sitting on.

Oh. It's not that easy, Madison. "No, actually," I reply. "I may not exactly be a Sinfonian anymore, but I'm still obligated never to talk about fraternity secrets. So I won't be saying anything about that. Sorry to disappoint, Madison."

The journalist shrugs at this as she looks over to the rest of us. She shifts on the bed as Garrus leans forward. "Well, now that that's out of the way," he says. "Is there anything we should talk about?"

"What's coming next?" Tali says this almost immediately, and I raise my eyebrows at her as we all look to the quarian's direction.

Hm... Well, I suppose it isn't too much to ask at this point. "Well, it all depends on Shepard at this point," I comment, holding my arms around. "Our next stop was Illium, right?"

Madison nods at this, crossing her arms. "It was," comments the journalist. "Why?"

I nod. "Well, we still have two really big missions to take care of there," I comment. "The first is Miranda's loyalty mission, where we have to rescue her sister from being returned to her father."

At this, all three of the occupants of the room were taken aback. Tali isn't surprised, and she shouldn't be; I told her about the loyalty missions before. "Miranda has a sister?" asks Garrus.

"I never would've thought," says Sturge as he leans forward curiously. "Older or younger?"

"It's... complicated," I comment. "Technically, they're twins, but the sister is younger than Miranda. Hopefully she hasn't picked up the same annoying pride that Miranda has."

I can hear Garrus scoff at this. "I hear you there," he comments.

"It's a good thing I rarely ever see her," adds Madison as she scratches the back of her head. "Although she really doesn't seem as bad as you two are putting it. Maybe you should give her a chance?"

"Maybe," I say with a shrug. "But anyway. The other thing we can do on Illium is to recruit an asari Justicar into our merry band of misfits."

Sturge isn't as surprised as the rest. I've already told him about the order of the Justicar as well as everything else referring to asari culture when I managed to get him alone. I even did mention Samara to him, as I did to Tali. However, it throws Garrus and Madison into a bit of a loop, and I see Garrus lean back slightly.

"We get a Justicar on our team?" he asks. "That doesn't bode well. I mean, look at who else is on the team. We have an assassin, we have a mercenary..." A mercenary that allows the innocent to die so he can exact his revenge, but that's besides the point. "Hell, we have Jack! How's she going to react to that?"

I shrug. "It's better than you'd think," I reply with a shrug. "She swears an oath to Shepard, so she won't be trying to kill Jack or Zaeed or any of that crowd in the near future."

"Well that's good, I guess..." comments Madison. "I don't know what a Justicar is, but from the sound of things they sound like ridiculously trained vigilantes."

I frown. "They're more like a knight-errant," I correct. "But anyway... there's that... And those are all the major things we can do on Illium at this point." Unless something happened back home that I don't know about, in which case... yeah.

"And after that?" asks Madison.

I shrug, crossing my arms and smiling wickedly. All right, there shall be good times had with explanations! So... let's get started with that...

"We get to hijack a Collector ship."

That's all I really need to say, but I continue anyway. And now... I feel a bit better about telling it. Here I have four people who've solemnly sworn never to tell anything about what we're talking about right now, and we're all getting along nice. And now we can tell each other anything about our universes and we'll know it'll be safe with someone. That feeling is quite great.

I just hope this brotherhood doesn't fall apart. I think it might help in the long run, after all.


	15. Chapter 14

_A/N: And we return to business._

_So last time saw the founding of the brotherhood of secret keepers. We'll refer to it as "The Brotherhood" with all the lame X-Men references thrown in too. They will become very plot critical in MV3 for various reasons._

_And, Christ damn it... I wasn't originally going to write this eventage for the chapter, but... Things change, apparently, and fast. So you guys better be thankful I'm actually writing out Miranda's loyalty mission!_

_Fun times are had. Let's get going!_

* * *

Chapter 14: Joanna

I'm strapping my armor onto my leg. God damn it, I thought I wouldn't be needed now. But no, Shepard wants me to go do stuff on Illium. I don't think I'll like what she's doing, because I know she told me she wouldn't take me to recruit the Justicar or anything. Dear God, I hope she doesn't have me running around doing that other Liara quest with the Observer. I swear, if I get thrown on that, I'm just spilling my secret out to Liara and telling her that the Observer is her own fucking secretary.

I mean... it's not like Liara won't believe me, right? Well... she might not. But she can meld with me, see into my past. I think that'll mean that she'll see the truth. Or something.

Or is it a really good idea to tell her...? No, I wasn't the greatest friend with her; we just chatted more than anything else. Nah... I'm probably better off telling Wrex first before I get to anyone else on the original Normandy. He was a sort of bro for me, and we still kept in touch after we kicked Saren's ass, so maybe he'll take it better. Plus, we have to stop by Tuchanka anyhow, so that'll be my chance to tell him... if I can get him alone for enough time to tell him about it.

Anyhows... I guess I better go see what Shepard wants.

So I make my way to the elevator, take it to the CIC, and walk to the airlock. Okay, Shepard, you called me in, now-

...

Oh no. Oh _hell_ no.

I see Thane and Grunt standing by Shepard as they prepare their weapons. Behind her is Madison and Garrus, the both of them also tagging along behind the Commander. She gives me a raised eyebrow, and then I see Jacob standing there as he looks to me.

But... dear Christ... You're pairing me up with the cheerleader?

"Ah, Art," greets Miranda a little crossly. "We were wondering when you'd show up."

I frown, looking to Shepard. "Shepard, you're seriously not-"

"I am," she says, crossing her arms. "I've heard quite a bit about the hostilities between you two." Oh, Christ... "I figured putting you in a mission with her would help you out. Particularly this mission."

I blink at this, shaking my head. "Seriously, Shepard?" I ask, not hiding my disappointment.

"Yes, seriously," she replies. Oh, God damn it!

"I have some business I need to take care of with my sister here on Illium," says the genetically perfect woman. "Perhaps I should-?"

"That's all right, Miranda," says Shepard with a small nod. "I'll take it from here. See, Miranda has a sister she's trying to save from her father. I figured you could help her out with overseeing the transfer that Cerberus is working on for her. You just need to make sure she's handed off safely and you're good to go."

... Oh no. I have to go be Miranda's pet labrador now? Oh _hell_ no. "Shepard, you're not... I mean, this couldn't... I don't think..." I take a breath. "I mean, with Miranda? No! Just-"

"Art." Her stern voice interrupts me. "You're going with Miranda. No questions."

... Damn it!

I grumble, shaking my head as I give her the nastiest frown I can muster. "Fine," I say, making no attempt to disguise my distaste. "I'll go with the fucking cheerleader."

I look to Shepard as her team goes into the airlock first. And as if that wasn't bad enough, she takes Garrus and Madison with her. Great, now I have to put up with the cheerleader for an entire mission, and without the help of two of the Brotherhood members. Just my fucking luck. At least I get on reasonably good terms with Jacob, but Miranda? No, fuck this. I can't believe I'm going on a mission with this bitch. I glare back at her, crossing my arms as I bite my lower lip.

It's too bad I can't actually skip out on this mission, because if I do, Shepard will know, given that Miranda is the official XO and can raise concerns. Even if she doesn't have as much power as she'd like.

"Just so you know, I'm only doing this because the Commander is making me," I say. "I wouldn't be doing this for any other reason. Whatsoever."

"Suit yourself," she says, crossing your arms. "I just hope you're ready to help my sister out when the time comes."

I don't know if I ever will, you prideful bitch. I shake my head, grumbling rather softly as I cross my arms and shake my head. God damn it, I have to work with this whore.

"Art, it'll be all right," says Jacob. "Hell, you may even learn something. Just give her a chance, all right?"

I let out a breath, letting it go up to my hair. Well... "If you say so," I reply nonchalantly.

I shake my head as the airlock opens for us. Oh, great. Here we go into Illium, where I get to tag along with Miranda as she handles some family issues. Whoop-de-fuckin'-doo.

I can't wait for this mission to be over. That's less of the cheerleader I'll have to deal with, anyhow. But for now, my frown stays constant in the airlock as it goes through its decontamination cycle. Yes, this is the one where we save Oriana and Niket betrays them. But I don't really care as much as I used to. I really don't, and I could care less about what happens to Oriana at this stage.

Oh, well. Might as well grin and bear it...

* * *

We make our way through the Illium Trading floor. Man, this place was actually pretty crowded from what it was like in the game. I mean, we have enough leg room in the game, but here it feels like the Tokyo subway all over again; it's packed with people. I guess I shouldn't have expected any less of one of the galaxy's major trading ports, but thankfully we won't have to be here too long. After all, it is across here to get to the bar where her informant is.

Yeah... this won't be so bad, I guess. I mean, this is the one where we save her sister, right? I guess I could bring myself to care a little bit about that. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt for now. The body language between Shepard and Thane when they first met was extremely different from the game, so maybe she'll react slightly more emotionally to all this.

With these thoughts in mind, we turn into the hallway where the bar is. We move along, hoping to-

"Hey, you! Yes, you! What the hell is this?"

... Oh, Christ, don't tell me the asari bouncer is here about who I think she is...

I raise my eyebrow as I step up to them, Miranda by my side with Jacob hanging back. Oh, dear...

I cross my arms. "Excuse me," I say. "Is that any way to greet a group of heavily-armed people?"

The bouncer isn't too pleased at this. "It is when one of them is in the bar at the moment!" she replies angrily.

... Yep, it's who I think it is.

Miranda and I look to each other, the both of us giving appropriately confused glances at each other before Miranda turns back to the bouncer. "I don't believe we understand what you're talking about," says the cheerleader as she shifts her stance. "What is this about?"

"Someone with Commander Shepard is harrassing our barkeep about the deeds to this place," says the bouncer. "He's saying something about a red sand dealer?"

I blink, shifting slightly. "Do you know his name?" I ask.

The asari raises her eyebrow thingie. "I don't know why you'd ask that, but whatever," she says. "His name is Conrad Verner, and he's been harrassing the barkeep for at least two days now."

... Yep. Cue the annoyed groan!

I let out the annoyed groan, slapping my forehead audibly as Miranda and Jacob both turn to look at me. I shake my head biting my lower lip.

"Do you know something about this?" asks Miranda.

I nod. "I wish I didn't, too," I comment. "I was never there when she was dealing with him, but apparently Shepard ran into Conrad Verner while we were fighting Saren and the geth. He was typically just standing around on the Citadel, from where I stand."

Miranda nods at this as Jacob comes forward. "It sounds like he's dangerous," says Jacob. "Do you think we can handle him?"

I look over to the male Cerberus operative as I place my hands on his hips. "The only person Conrad Verner is a danger to is himself," I reply, my tone clearly conveying how not amused I am that I have to deal with Conrad Verner. "The only thing he has going for him is obsessive fanboyism over Commander Shepard." Miranda looks to want to say something, but I hold up my finger. "You know fanboyism is dangerous when it's inspiring people who are about as dangerous as a piece of cloth being thrown at you to become Specters."

This shuts Miranda up, and then the genetically perfect woman nods her head. "In that case, he is a danger to himself," she says. "What makes him think he can become a Specer with no training?"

"I dunno," I reply with a shrug. "Either way, the guy was a freakin' idiot. I say we handle it and get him to see how far over his head he is."

The official XO isn't convinced though. "But we need to transport my sister," says Miranda. "And I'm not sure we should be taking time from that to take care of this. My father could be on her any minute, Art."

I shrug. "It'll only be a couple of minutes, tops," I comment. "Hopefully things won't completely go to hell in two or three minutes."

Miranda shrugs, shaking her head... is that a hint of concern I'm seeing in her eye? "I hope you're right, Art," she replies. "If you're not, I'm blaming you."

... Well, to be fair, I kind of deserve that. But Oriana can wait for two minutes. After all, she could wait the entire bloody game to get her ass rescued if you played it a certain way. I mean, I know technically she's not all right in the real world, but still, I think she can wait for two minutes. Hopefully that dock worker will keep Niket and Enyala distracted long enough to help us handle Conrad Verner over here. I mean, there's more to the quest, but we'll take care of it on our own time. We just need to get Conrad to stop bothering the barkeeper and we'll be good.

I nod and look back to the asari bouncer. "We'll take care of it," I comment. "We'll have this son of a bitch off your back in no time."

"Thanks," says the bouncer. "Make it quick. The patrons are complaining that their ears are hurting from the idiocy."

I wouldn't be surprised. Conrad was annoying enough during the games, so to see him in real life is going to be a bit more annoying. I'm just glad I had Shepard shoot him in the foot the second time around. That's always hilarious. Hell, I might do the same thing.

The three of us enter the club to see it pretty quiet... except for Conrad Verner shouting at Aethyta over in the corner. Ah, yes, those two. All eyes are on them in some form or another... even that bachelor party over there. Huh, I never would've thought.

But... they're all trained on Conrad Verner, who's standing in front of the matriarch as he's throwing his hands in the air.

"You're really holding out on me?" he asks. "I'm a man on the edge! I've got nothing to lose!" Except a wife, credibility, and your life. But I digress.

"Uh huh," says the matriarch as I approach the conversation. Heh. I love how she's nonchalant about the whole thing.

"I'll do anything to get the job done!" he says. "I'll go all the way without a second thought."

Aethyta isn't amused at this, and she indicates that with another 'uh-huh'. I look back to Jacob and Miranda, and I can see Jacob facepalm at this. I can tell Miranda is also a little annoyed at Conrad's behavior in front of the barkeeper. You and me both, Miranda. You and me both.

I step up to the bar, nodding to the two of them. "Is there a problem here?" I ask, leaning against the bar as I look over to Conrad and Aethyta.

"Oh, there's no problem here," says Conrad, looking at me. "I learned how to shove a gun in people's faces from Commander Shepard!"

... Great. He's delusional, an idiot, and in way over his head. I'll bet Sarah Palin is his wife. "Really?" I ask. "I know Commander Shepard personally, and she's not the kind of girl to shove a gun in people's faces." Although in your case I'd make an exception.

"You mean... You know Commander Shepard?" he asks.

"Hey, if you know this idiot, can you rein him in before I slap his ass with a singularity?" asks the bartender.

I look to the matriarch briefly, giving her a knowing wink before I turn back to Conrad. "Yes," I reply. "And she's alive."

"Oh, then maybe you'd like to tell her how much ass I can kick," he says. "I met her on the Citadel? I wanted to be a Specter! I've learned a lot from the Commander since she told me not to. Maybe I should show you how it goes. I can kick a lot of ass now, I can tell you that much!"

... This is getting on my nerves. My hand reaches for my pistol as I frown at him. "Conrad Verner, was it?" I ask. "Let me make something perfectly clear."

I draw my pistol and aim at his foot, which is firmly planted on the ground. With a single pull of the trigger, the gun goes off. Conrad lurches briefly, the shock on his expression absolute as he crumples over. He sits there in shock for a second as blood begins to seep out below him.

"This is unacceptable."

He looks up at me and then cringes in pain. "Gah!" he shouts. "You shot my foot! Ow!"

"That shot barely grazed you, you big baby," comments the asari behind the bar as she wipes some blood that got onto the bar with a rag. "Sorry. My father was a krogan." I shrug, not hiding the smirk on my face to her as I turn my attention back to Conrad.

"It still scared me," he says as he stands up, his pose shaky on his newly shot foot. "I'm new at the badass mercenary thing."

"So new that you'll storm into a bar and ask for their deeds?" asks Miranda. "You're quite headstrong for that."

"It's not my fault!" he says. "There's an illegal red sand operation being run here! I was called on by an undercover cop to look into it!"

"I don't know what he's talking about," says the bartender. "If there was a red sand operation here, I'd know."

At this, I hear Jacob and Miranda groan at exactly the same time. "But red sand is legal on Illium," she says.

"I think it's a little suspect that you're investigating into perfectly legal activity in this part of the galaxy," adds Jacob.

"Yeah," I comment. "You're just being duped."

"What?" he says, rearing back at me. "But... it was an undercover cop! She's really good!"

I shake my head, rolling my eyes. "You want to know why she's just pretending?" I ask, looking to him. "Because if she is an undercover cop, she's not doing an especially good job of it. If it really was an undercover cop, she wouldn't be so open about trying to uncover the red sand operation, because then _her operation would be compromised_ and _they'd have found ways to hide the evidence of red sand dealing by now_. On top of that, why the hell would she need the deeds to this place? She can just produce a search warrant and plant bugs all over the place, right?" I shift slightly at the bar as I frown at him. "And all that is _very_ besides the point when she's hiring people who cry like a baby when they get shot in the foot when she should be doing her own fucking police work. Why the hell would an undercover cop need to hire lackeys to do her dirty work?"

Conrad glances at the ground at this, wincing slightly when he unintentionally puts pressure on his injured foot. He looks to me then. "I never thought about it that way..." he says.

Of course you didn't. "Yeah, see?" I comment. "She's just trying to get the deeds to this place for some other reason."

"You should really get out of this bar while you can," says Miranda.

The man seems to consider this, and for a second, it seems like he's finally got it. But then... oh, hell, there's a glimmer in his eyes...

"That's okay then!" he says. "I'll just storm her with guns and take her out!"

Oh, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff. This guy just doesn't get it, does he? Oh, fine, you want it bluntly, I'll give it to you bluntly. If even Commander Shepard won't have the balls to tell you you're not cut out to be a badass mercenary, I'll tell you you're not cut out for it.

I instinctually facepalm, groaning. He really doesn't get it. I shake my head. "Conrad, have you had any actual combat training?" I ask.

He looks to me with a perplexed look on his face. "I'm saving the galaxy," he says. "I don't have time for training! Why do you have to ask?"

Oh, the nerve of the son of a bitch! I grab the edge of his false N7 armor and stare him down, a frown on my face as I pull him in. All of a sudden he's intimidated... yeah, he's about as intimidating as Deuchey McNitpick.

"I'll tell you why, you dumb fuck," I comment, leaning dangerously close to him. "You want to know something? Two years ago, I was in your position. I was literally nobody in the Alliance. I had no military training, I had no military history, and I had no ambitions for being a military man. And then I joined Commander Shepard's squad because of one thing leading to the other. And you know what? I wasn't even permitted on the fucking ground team until I learned how to fucking use weapons! And even then, I sweated my _balls _off to get to anything approximating a great soldier on the battlefield! If I were to let you on the battlefield in your state, you'd get fucking _butchered_ out there." My frown hardens as I stare right into his eyes, my hands clinging tighter to his N7 armor with my index finger digging into his neck a little. "If you think you've got what it takes to own up to Commander Shepard's repuation, you're either ridiculously delusional or a fuckin' dumbass. I'm betting my money on both as it stands right now. Your lack of military training and this... this obviously fake N7 armor are not going to help you in a hail of gunfire. So do yourself a big fucking favor and drop the badass mercenary act, because it will get you _killed_ one of these days."

I clamp my mouth shut, my eyes boring holes into his skull as I let go of his armor.

... Oh, Jesus, is that a dent on the neck part where the helmet is supposed to go for sealing the suit off? Jesus Christ, man, even the replica is bad!

"I..." says Conrad, his voice small compared to what I've just given him. "I don't... I..."

I frown, pointing with a thumb to the door. "The space port is that way," I say. "Buy yourself passage to wherever the hell you live and go back there. Now. Or the next time I shoot when I run into you, it _will_ be to kill."

He blinks in shock, and then he hobbles away slowly, wincing as his foot comes into repeated pressure with the floor. He moves past Miranda and Jacob as the two of them look after the wannabe mercenary. I shake my head as Miranda and Jacob come forward. God, it's good to finally tell off the spawn of Sarah Palin and Bill O'Reilly for his stupidity.

"Art, was that really necessary?" asks Jacob as he comes to sit close to me on the bar.

"Yes," I reply, crossing my arms. "Look at the son of a bitch. He's not cut out for being a soldier, no matter how hard he denies it."

"That I'm not willing to deny," says Miranda. "But I think you could have been a little less... blunt than you were."

Oh, Miranda... "Sometimes, you have to be freaking blunt," I reply. "With idiots like him, he won't budge otherwise. Trust me, hang around the extranet sometime. You find all sorts of crazy loonies who don't budge even if you're as blunt as I was just now."

The cheerleader shakes her head. "I disapprove of your methods, but I can see your point," she says. "Still, there must have been a way to break it to him in a nicer way."

I shrug. "Sometimes shock is the best way to go about things," I say. "Also, because I had had just about enough of him spewing out crap, you know?"

The woman pauses at this, looking over to Jacob and I. "To be perfectly honest?" she asks. "I was tired of it too."

"Yeah, he was acting a little crazy," says the male operative. "I still don't see what the point of being so blunt to him is..."

"Forget about that; I wish I'd get to see more staredowns like that these days," says Aethyta. We all turn to the asari matriarch as she says this. "That was pretty epic, kid."

I shrug. "Well, what can I say?" I ask as I lean my elbows against the bar. "I learned from the best." Namely, Urdnot Wrex.

"I'll drink to that," she says with a smile on her face. "How about a free round of drinks on me?"

I look to the matriarch with raised eyebrows. "Well, I'd like to take you up on it, but we have things we need to do," I say, glancing over to Miranda. "Namely, things that need to be taken care of right the fuck now."

The matriarch nods at this. "I'll keep it in mind," she says. "But when you're done with whatever it is you're doing, feel free to stop by here for that free round of drinks."

"Anytime," I say with a smile. "Take care, and I hope nobody else tries that."

The matriarch nods her appreciation, and then we walk away from the bar. Miranda checks the clock on her omni-tool, and nods.

"Three minutes," she says, her voice betraying a sense of happiness. "You were right; it didn't take terribly long."

I nod, a smile coming to my face. "See, what did I tell ya?" I ask. "Now, let's go take care of that, shall we?"

"Yes," says Miranda, looking to a room in the side of the bar. "This way."

Jacob and I both follow Miranda into the side room where the asari informant is waiting for us. Okay...

We're standing in front of her, and Miranda iniates the conversation.

Pointless exposition, go!

* * *

Okay, so after that bit of pointless exposition, we're now heading straight for the docks. Miranda looks to be the slightest bit on edge as we take the cruiser over to the docks where the loyalty mission takes place. I mean, I expected that...

But I didn't expect her to look so pale after what her informant told her about the Eclipse mercs that are on the scene. I knew it was coming, but still... Her face is white, way more so than I would've expected her to be. I look over to her as I sit next to her in the cruiser heading to the dock where things are about to go down. Jacob sits in the back, and the both of us are looking to Miranda.

And this ride is awkward. None of us have said anything ever since we left the taxi port, but there hasn't been a whole lot we can say anyway. But... the silence is kind of stifling...

I think we need to break it.

"So..." I say, looking around. "You think we can do this?"

"I think we can, but I'm worried about my sister," says Miranda. "What if something's gone wrong?"

I shrug. "We'll just have to adapt," I comment, turning to face her as the cruiser speeds along. "You know, there's something I don't exactly get about all this."

The genetically perfect woman doesn't turn to me as she keeps her head forward. "What don't you get?" she asks.

"Well, I don't know you as well as the commander does..." Well, actually, I know you better than the Commander does, but I can't tell you that or you'll ship me off to Cerberus. "So I don't see why we'd have to defend your sister from your father. I... don't really get why you'd say that." I shift where I sit, my legs crossing over. "But I can tell from how much involvement there is with Cerberus here that he was probably a terrible father."

"That isn't too far from the truth," says Miranda, shaking her head. "It's a fairly complicated story, and I can't tell you everything, but... I was engineered from my father's DNA. I have no mother in that sense, and I was engineered to be excellent."

I nod. "So you're a lab baby, in other words," I comment, furrowing my eyebrows. "I can see why issues pop up already. Why'd he do that?"

"I was engineered to be perfect," says the woman, her Australian accent wavering slightly. "My father wanted a dynasty, not a daughter. He gave me everything I ever wanted, but I never had any friends. And he always pushed me to be greater than I was. He didn't care... he just wanted a successor."

I smirk. "Looks like you shot that idea out of the water," I comment. "What with joining Cerberus and all, that is."

Miranda chuckles dryly at this. "Indeed I did," she says. "But I know I wasn't the first to be like this... and now I'm not the last."

I nod. "I see..." I say, crossing my arms. "You know, I had daddy issues of my own as well before I joined Shepard's crew. My father was a bit of an ass sometimes, you know? He was good enough in helping me pursue my musical career, but he was a bit oppressive towards the end. I couldn't say anything to him that would piss him off, you know? I grew to dislike him because of that, even if he did care."

"At least your father cared," comments the Cerberus operative, and she finally turns to me with a slightly morose touch to her features. "That's far more than I can say for my own."

I glance down. That's true... "I guess you've got a point there," I say. "But still... I know a bad father when I see one. Maybe this won't be so bad, knowing I'm keeping someone else from falling into the same dilemma you were in."

Miranda looks at me briefly before looking in front of her. I can see the color return to her face. "It's good to see you've found a reason to care," she says.

I frown. "Yeah, well, don't get your hopes up," I say. "I'm still not technically doing this for you. I'm doing it for your sister, 'cause God knows that terrible fathers need to be put in their places."

"You could theoretically work it to doing it for me by proxy," she points out. "But I appreciate that you care now."

I shrug. Oh, whatever. "You're welcome, I guess," I say shortly.

And soon after, the cruiser reaches its destination, and Miranda looks over as she guides it to the ground. Oh hai, Eclipse mercs. I see a bunch of them standing up, looking right at us. Without a whole lot of fanfare, I see them aiming their weapons directly at us.

... "Oh, crap, this isn't good..." Well, granted, I knew it was coming, but still, better to play that role than not.

Miranda looks on at the display as I suddenly see some gunships rise up. "Indeed it's not," she says. "Brace yourselves; this may get a little rough."

And indeed it does, for then I hear the sound of stuff striking into the body of the cruiser. Gah, Jesus Christ! We start to lose slight control of the cruiser as I grab the edge of the car. Crap crap crap! Where the hell is that engineer who tells them to stop firing on us? Jeez, this is a little frightening...

I look over to the Eclipse mercs, who haven't stopped firing... Wait... where the hell is the engineer?

... Something's very wrong with this picture. I don't know what it is... but... Seriously, the engineer doesn't stop us

And then, we get hit. It must have hit in a very critical place, though, because then something starts beeping like crazy here. And before we know it, the world's beginning to turn around us.

"We've been hit!" she says, and slowly we see the cruiser spin out of control. Ah, crap, it's just like a first-person shooter! We never end one of these things while conscious! Shitfucker!

I grab a hold of the sides of my chair then as we see the ground rush up to us. "Well, this is great!" I shout as we continually get peppered with fire. "What do we do now?"

At this, the pane of glass immediately to my right shatters, and the glass rains down on me as we spin out of control towards the ground. I look to the thing briefly before I look up and look through it. Wait... I know what we can do now! I lean towards the window as I nod to Miranda.

"Bail! Bail!" I shout out.

I don't wait to see if she got wind of my command before I grab the window frame and then haul myself out. I pull quickly enough that I manage to get enough force to come out of the vehicle, and then I look at the ground about ten feet below me. Wait... shit, I'm falling! Fuck!

I don't get to ponder much as I hear a monumental scrape of metal as the back of the cruiser seems to hit against a wall. Shit... I hope Jacob and Miranda make it out all right, because I am _not _doing the rest of this mission by myself! Not at all!

A few seconds later, I actually hit the top of a crate. Oh, okay, that'll help the fall a little... I promptly roll off of the crate and fall to the ground, and I roll a little more before I come to a stop on the ground, facing up as I take in a few breaths to calm myself. Jesus Christ, I just ended one of those sections conscious... Thank Jeebus for that. It's good to see that certain shooter tropes can be averted every once in a while in real life...

I then hear a whole bunch of rounds impact against my shields, and this causes adrenaline to course through my veins. With my hands, I quickly jump into a standing position, and rush straight for the nearest piece of cover I can find. Which, so happens to be the crate I just fell behind. Hm... I grab out my pistol, weighing in my options.

"Art, are you all right?" Oh, thank God Miranda's still conscious.

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine," I say. Good, I won't have to fight this alone. "How're you and Jacob doing?"

"We both managed to bail," says the male Cerberus operative. "That was a pretty bold move you pulled there."

I shrug. "I've been known to do that," I say. "What do we do about the mercs?"

"We're behind a rather large majority of them," says Miranda. "This is a bad strategic advantage; we can get surrounded this way..."

Well, we did have three squad-mates in the game, so... "Right," I say. "So I have to find my way to you guys. What can we do to keep ourselves from getting overwhelmed and still get to Oriana in time to see to the safe relocation?"

There's a brief pause as I peer past cover. Oh, dear, these people are already advancing... I grab my pistol and fire at one of the closest mercs, who's armed with a shotgun... Too bad a few pistol shots take him down before I retreat back into cover. "I can see an elevator from our position," says Miranda a few seconds after the merc goes down. "Art, give yourself a space to move as soon as you can and make your way to us. When you get there, we can make a break for the elevator as soon as we've taken care of enough of these mercs!"

I nod. "Gotcha, Miranda," I say. "I'll see you two soon!"

And with this, I look at the pistol. Hm, this isn't going to do a whole lot. Time to see what's up with the shotgun.

I pull it out, cocking it once and checking the ammo. Okay... There should be enough here for me to really take care of people with. And as soon as people are thin enough, I make a break for Miranda.

I come out of cover and look to see a trooper rushing towards me. Hm, these guys don't have shields, right? Okay... I fire my shotgun, and the man goes down. Almost immediately, though, I see another man rushing towards my position. Wow, you must really want to do today, don't you? I fire my shotgun again at the coming trooper, letting out a satisfied grin as the guy falls. I cock my shotgun once again, looking at another trooper that's approaching. Okay... this might be a good time to scout my options...

Okay, there's nobody else really coming up... Well, there's a vanguard that's very far away from where I am, but I can outrun her hopefully. Let's just hope she doesn't send a biotic shockwave in my direction. There are a few troopers approaching, but there are only three that are close enough that they can deck me while I'm running. Right...

I look to the three troopers rushing my position, and frown as I fire my shotgun at the closest one. He goes down quickly, and then I finish off the other two as quickly as I can. I see the vanguard approach, and she's glowing blue...

I look over to see that she's doing the biotic charge thing Shepard can do...

Shit!

I jump away from cover at this, landing on my back. Barely a second later, I see the blue streak by me as the punch plants itself where I used to stand. Jeez, I thought htey went faster than that, but whatever, I'm still alive. A second passes as she finds her hand lodged in the wall, and then she starts struggling to get her arm out. Damn, the force of that biotic punch really is strong, but I don't see the point of the... Okay, you're getting distracted by the Falcon Punch!

I scramble to my feet as she attempts to pull herself out, but for good measure I pick up my shotgun and fire a few shots at her. Her biotic barrier goes down after a few shots, and then she herself dies pretty soon after. Okay... the troopers are far enough away that they can't hit me all too accurately from where I am. I guess this is it!

I pretty much bolt in the opposite direction from there, rounding a corner as I see Jacob and Miranda hiding behind a piece of cover close by. They're doing a very good job of fending off the Eclipse mercs, I must say, and Jacob's shotgun is only making things easier. I rush in there, swapping out my shotgun for the assault rifle as I go. I fire a bunch of shots into the crowd before I find a crate that's close enough to where Jacob and Miranda are situated, and then I rush up and plant my back behind it. I look over to Jacob and Miranda.

It's Miranda who turns to me and gives me a nod that she knows I'm there. I nod back, and then she comes out of cover and tosses a biotic warp at a merc. I come out briefly and finish it off with assault gun fire as I look behind me... Hopefully those troopers aren't here yet.

Fortunately for me, though, I don't have to wait for too much longer, because then I glance to Miranda and see her nod. "All right," she says. "We've got an opportunity! Let's make a break for it!"

And with this, I see her rush out of cover. Okay, I better follow along!

I come out of cover almost as soon as she does, Jacob following behind as we all run after the genetically perfect woman. I see a merc come up trying to shoot at us, but I see it first. So I grab my assault rifle and shoot at the merc as we pass by, Jacob finishing him off with a shotgun blast behind me. We continue to rush forward, our shields being battered by fire.

Miranda's hand is already flying over her omnitool as we approach the elevator, and barely two seconds later it opens on us. I take this as my opportunity to make a break for it, and as the last of my shields dies out, I literally dive into the elevator, nearly crashing into Miranda as I do so. Jacob rushes in very soon afterwards, and then Miranda hits a panel there and the doors close behind us. We move up another level, and I'm left panting on the ground as we all take a moment to catch our breaths.

Slowly, I sit up where I lay on the floor of the elevator, and take a breath in and out as I climb to my feet. I shake my head. Jeez... I don't know what I'm supposed to make of the fact that the engineer didn't stop them from opening fire on us. Either it's a good thing and they're behind schedule, or things will go wrong. Either way, our little interruption will probably buy us enough time to get to Niket and Enyala.

But for now...

I come up to a standing position, leaving my hands on my knees. "Well," I say. "That was... extreme."

"I don't think I'll ever do anything quite like that ever again," says Jacob as he nods his agreement.

"Let's hope we never have to," I add as I turn to the genetically perfect woman. "What do you make of this, Miranda?"

"I'm not sure," she says. "The fact that the Eclipse mercenaries are disrupting the transfer isn't hinting at anything good. I just hope the transfer is eventually successful, and I hope Niket is doing all right at the moment."

I blink, frowning to stay in character. "Niket?" I ask. "Who the hell is Niket?"

The woman looks over to us. "You weren't listening to my informant?" she asks.

Wait, did she just ask that? Hm... how to fuck with her... "I couldn't exactly hear the two of you over the sound of Varèse within my mind," I reply, smirking.

Miranda greets this with a frown as her hold on her pistol tightens slightly. "Art, I'm not in the mood for putting up with any of that," she says. "This is extremely high tension for me, so please, don't get started with this."

Oh, great. Granted, I did have that coming, I guess. I mean, she's probably even more tense than usual over the fact that this is her own sister we're talking about here. "Oh, fine," I say, shaking my head as I shrug. "That doesn't answer the question, though. Just saying."

"You're right, it doesn't," she says. "I'm just surprised you didn't catch a mention of him then." Her gaze goes over to the ceiling then, and she crosses her arms. "He's... a friend. He was my only friend from when I was still under my father's influence. He helped me escape when the time came. I trust him more than anybody else in the galaxy."

I nod at this. "I see," I say. "I take it he's got something to do with this transfer?"

"He's helping look over it," she says. "With the new complications, I can't help but worry, though. I wonder; what if Niket's hit a snag?"

Oh, I don't think that's the case, dear. "I dunno," I say, shrugging. "You shouldn't worry too much, though. One way or the other, we'll get Oriana off Illium and to... wherever she's being transferred to."

"I hope you're right," says Miranda. "I'm worried enough about all the Eclipse mercs."

"I think the fact that they greeted us by shooting us down means they're not here to help," says Jacob. "We better put some hustle into this."

"I plan to," she says. "Let's just hope the transfer goes as planned."

And without further ado, the elevator door opens out to the area beyond us. I nod, and then the three of us exit, taking cover as more Eclipse mercs start shooting at us.

* * *

Okay... another hectic warehouse full of people to shoot at, and we finally arrive at the elevator on the other end of the warehouse.

But of course, that's not before we hear that infamous transmission from Enyala where it mentions Niket helping the Eclipse mercs. Okay, it looks like everything is going according to plan, but... without that initial engineer to tell us... I don't know what's going on...

... Wait, what's with the elevator music?

... Oh, shit, it's the Citadel jingle, isn't it? Fuck my life...

We look to Miranda, who's holding her head slightly as she shakes it. Hm... She looks a little concerned about something. I know it's Niket, but... There's something about the whole deal, I think. I don't know why, but she looks unhappy about something. I know it's Niket, but... how does not seeing the engineer gloat about how Niket won't be helping her affect Miranda? It's... a little strange.

I cross my arms as I look at her. "You all right, Miranda?" I ask.

The woman looks over, a surprised expression on her face. Hey, wait... did I actually sound like I care? Well... I dunno, this is getting hella convoluted. "I... I don't know what to make out of that last transmission," she says as the elevator moves along. "This isn't right... Niket wouldn't do something like that. Maybe they're feeding us misinformation about Niket? I just..."

I frown, crossing my arms. "Something tells me that might or might not be the case," I say. "Can you think of any reason why he might turn on you?"

"I don't know," says Miranda as she looks at the elevator's progress on the little side thing. "But... if he did turn on me, I think I might know one reason that he might have."

I raise my eyebrows, glancing to Jacob. He's staying out of this... Hm, I'll bet Shepard said something about this, and ordered him to stay out of any conversations like this. Hm... it seems pretty likely at this point, though I don't know if that's the case. I'll ask Shepard about it after a while. I'll bet this is all some gambit on her end to get Miranda to get on my good side.

Well... I do have to admit, it is working to a certain degree. She's still uptight about everything, but at least it's for something other than the mission. And the fact that she's stressing out about it more than usual? It's a genuine concern of hers, I can see. I think the fact that she can have genuine concerns is better than nothing. Looks like she's being melted slightly...

But that's not the issue right now. "Really?" I ask. "Do tell."

"I... I never told him that I was escaping with Oriana," says Miranda. "Until very recently, that is. In a way, you could say I stole her..." She frowns. "But he would have contacted me first before doing something like that. Wouldn't he...?"

I blink at this bout of uncertainty. "I don't know," I say, looking up. Well, Shepard can encourage her to have faith in Niket. I might as well do the same. "One thing's for sure; we won't know where he stands on the whole issue until we get there. Maybe he hasn't betrayed you."

She nods. "Perhaps not," she says. "It's only one transmission. Perhaps it's just intentional misinformation."

I smile at her as I shrug. "We'll see when we get there," I say. "You know what they say, Miranda." I adopt a goofy pose and then look straight at her. "_Always look on the bright side of life!_" I whistle a tune immediately after I start singing, and then she looks at me with a perplexed expression on her face.

"Art?" she asks.

"_Always look on the light side of life!_" I whistle the tune again... Oh, come on...

"Oh!" And just like that, she gets the reference. "I see... Well, I guess it would be to my benefit to look on the 'bright' side of this situation, I guess..."

I smile, throwing my arms out. "That's the spirit!" I say jovially. "We'll get Oriana out of this all right one way or the other."

She nods. "I guess we shall," she says. "We're here, and we can take action in case things don't go completely according to plan."

There we go! Finally got her to stop being so uptight about all this! It's nice to see a slightly cheerier side of her after all her uptightness that she's displayed on the Normandy. That's a good thing... It's too bad it'll probably be shattered when we get upstairs. But in the meantime, she's still feeling a little better about it for now. That's always a plus, I think.

Speaking of which, she hasn't hacked the elevator to go faster for some reason. I'm taking that as a minor victory, I think. I got her to stop worrying and love the bomb, anyhow, and I'll take my victories where I can get them. She's not overly worried, I guess.

I'll have to thank that engineer later for not showing up and making her even more worried than she is right now...

Wait...

How'll that affect her reaction to seeing Niket with Enyala at the dock...? Fuck...

And no sooner do I think this then the elevator doors open, and we're both looking straight at Enyala and Niket. They're both talking to a dock worker who has a datapad in hand. The three of them look over to us... yes, it's that same dock worker that Enyala shoots as she runs away. Okay, good, we're on the right track here. Oriana is still safe from Miranda's bitchface father for now. I just hope things don't get too bloody with Niket.

I see Niket stand there, squinting at Miranda as the asary dock worker runs. Enyala is non-plussed at this, and simply shoots the poor girl with her shotgun as she retreats. She falls to the ground lifeless shortly after, and I frown as I look at that. Jeez, way to be a heartless bitch, Enyala. I'm gonna have a fun time watching Miranda fling you half-way across the room in a couple of minutes. I look back to Miranda and...

... What...? Damn... Shit, this isn't good. I can see her eyes getting a little misty about this. I glance to Niket, who stands there.

"Miri?" he asks.

"This should be fun," comments Enyala almost instantly.

I glance back to Miranda, who I notice swallow. She blinks briefly, and the slight shine vanishes as her expression takes on a half-hearted frown. Oh, dear, this isn't good...

She draws her pistol out at Niket almost instantly, causing the male to raise her hands up. Taking a cue from her, I decide to pull my own assault rifle up as I see Jacob doing the same for his shotgun as well. Enyala's outgunned, but she's about as affected as nothing.

"Niket," she says simply, looking over at him.

... Wait, nothing about "you sold me out"? Shit...

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, he _did _sell you out," I say.

"Why?" she asks. "Why did you do it, Niket? You were my friend! You helped me get away from my father!"

I glance to Enyala, who sits back. She looks like she's about to talk, but I shoot her the nastiest glare I can manage before turning my attention back to Niket. "Yes, because you wanted to leave," he said. "That was your choice! But if I'd have known you had stolen a baby..."

"Steal her?" she asks, and I can hear her voice getting progressively more strained. "I didn't steal her, I saved her!"

"From a life of wealth and happiness?" asks Niket, frowning. "You weren't saving her! You were getting back at your father!"

I glance over to Miranda, creasing my brow slightly as I check on her... Shit... her eyes are a little cloudy, and I can get the sense she wants to cry. But... she's doing a damn good job of staying proffessional about the whole thing. I know she wants to say something, but she doesn't know what...

Looks like I better step in. "Some part of you must've known that something about this wasn't right," I mention. "You should've at least checked with Miranda first when you got that intel."

"You could've told me that you'd stolen a baby," replies the man. "You could've told me you were with Cerberus. But I had to hear it from your father first."

"You still should've checked with me, Niket!" says Miranda, gritting her teeth in anger. "At least I would have been able to defend myself!"

I nod, knowing the feeling all too well. Some DeviantArt users just don't know when to stop blocking people. Right, time to move on to the next question. "How much were you paid?" I ask.

"A great deal," he says.

Miranda shakes her pistol, and I can feel the frustration emanating from her. "Damn it, Niket," she says. "You're the only one I trusted from that life! I trusted you with this, Niket!"

"That's why he turned to me," says Niket.

"So you just took his money..." Damn, Miranda's not happy. I can't say I blame her; I imagine I'd react the same way to my close friend from a past life betraying me.

"Don't get holy with me, Miri," says Niket angrily. "You took his money away for years."

I glance over to Enyala. "I didn't think Eclipse was into kidnapping a child," I comment.

"I'm not kidnapping her, I'm rescuing her," says Enyala. Yeah, with talk like 'package' and stuff, I really doubt that's the case. "Let's take care of this bitch and get going."

I frown at her, looking at her.

"Take your best shot."

... Holy shit, did Miranda and I just say that line at exactly the same time? Jesus Christ... This might not end up well, especially given who's behind us. But I only flinch for a second before Enyala continues.

"Oh, I was just waiting for you to get dressed," she says. "Or does Cerberus really let you whore around in that outfit?"

I glare at her, my grip on my rifle adjusting slightly. "They let her 'whore around' in that outfit for the same reason you're allowed to have such an idiotically garish color of paint on your face," I quip.

This gets her, but I aim my assault rifle at Enyala. Jeez, Mexican standoffs are never fun at all. Except if your name is Clint Eastwood, but still. There's one last question we need to address with Niket, though, and I'll have to get to it fast.

"How did her father turn you against Miranda anyway?" I ask.

"He told me you kidnapped your baby sister," says Niket. "They said I could help get her back peacefully. No trauma to the family, and no trauma to Oriana either."

... My grip on my assault rifle tightens. The nerve of the son of a bitch! He thinks she won't stop thinking about the only family she's ever had in this fucking galaxy? "I told them you'd never do that," continues Niket. "That they could go to hell. And then you told me what you did yourself. I called them back that night..."

"And now we're here," says Miranda.

"Yes," comments Niket. "Your appearance in the cargo bay held us back quite a bit."

I frown at this. "Good thing, too," I say, crossing my assault rifle. "Her father told blatant lies with getting Oriana to him without any trauma to her, you know."

"He can still give her a better life," he says.

I frown, but before Miranda can come in with her spiel about it, I move first. "I highly doubt that," I say.

"And how would you know that?" asks Niket. "Miranda fed you all that information about her father, right? I don't think you-"

I fire a warning shot into the ground, instantly shutting him up. All right, get out my house.

"I don't think you understand something, you son of a bitch," I comment. "She's been with her family for years know." I let down my assault rifle gently and point a finger at him. "Let me tell you something, Niket. I grew up on Earth all my life, with reasonable parents and the best siblings anything could have given me. And then, I lost it all over two years ago over a simple bet about how many stims it would take to get high. There isn't a single day that goes by where I don't think about them. My life really is better now thanks to a whole lot of things, but I'll never stop thinking about my family as long as I live." I look to Miranda. "Think about it, Niket! He's taking Oriana from the only family she's ever known! That should tell you everything you need to know about his motives."

Miranda tilts her pistol at me. "He said it better than I could," she says, her eyes misty as she speaks. "You don't know what he wanted for me. Well, now you have some idea of what he wanted."

I look back to Niket, frowning. "If he knows, your father knows," I say. "And the relocating won't work. Nice job breaking it, Niket."

His face lights up in confusion for the briefest second at my quip, but it's very brief as he then looks at the ground in front of him. "Miranda's father has no information on Oriana," he says.

I see Miranda let her pistol down slightly as he says this. The man comes forward so that he's in between Enyala and I... Shit... this isn't good... Enyala has a clear shot of him... He's a bit of a jerk for betraying Miranda... but how does she react to all this...? I'll find out soon enough.

"I knew you had spy programs in your father's sytem," he continues. "That's why I kept it private. I'm the only one who knows."

I turn to Miranda then as she raises her pistol arm.

"Which means that you're the only loose end," she says. "This isn't how I wanted it to end, Niket..."

... Wait, did her voice just choke up on one of the words?

And as she holds her gun out in front of Niket, I see a tear finally break on her face. It streams down her cheek as she holds her gun out in front of her old friend. And her eyes... they're so infinitely sad at the moment. Normally, they're cold, but here there's a kind of sadness emanating from her eyes.

... She doesn't want to do this. She definitely doesn't want to kill Niket, and that's even more apparent seeing her in real life than it is in the game. I mean, hell, she didn't even cry in the game! The only character I remember that shed a tear in a similar situation was Kolyat... She doesn't want to kill Niket, and if she does, she'll regret ever having done it for the rest of her life no matter how much she tries to justify it with the fact that he knew about Oriana...

I wouldn't wish that kind of regret on anyone. Especially not since I have to live with a very similar regret myself. It's hell... and even if she is a bit of a bitch I'm not about to let Miranda go through that same feeling of regret that I know all too well.

I'll take that Paragon interrupt, thank you very much.

My hand quickly darts out in front of her pistol, smacking over the top of it and rediverting her aim to the ground. She looks at me, a look of surprise etched on her face as I look at her. I blink, shaking my head.

"Miranda," I say simply. "You don't want to do this." I can tell from your actions.

She frowns at me, but I can see in her eyes that it's only half-hearted. "This has to end here, Art," she says. "He'll continue to look for Oriana..."

I glance to Niket. "Maybe Niket can help," I say. "Maybe he can tell your father you got here first, or something." I turn to Niket, who's head is hanging in guilt.

"I'll..." his voice falters slightly as he looks to Miranda. "I'll tell him I don't know where she is. That you hid her before I could get to her."

I nod, looking over to Miranda... Shit, Enyala's gonna shoot Niket soon enough... Fuck...

"I never want to see you again, Nik-!" begins Miranda.

At this moment, I see Enyala raise her gun at Niket, preparing to fire a round into him. But before I can react... she shoots him anyway. And then Niket's lifeless body slumps to the floor, Enyala wearing a rather non-plussed expression on her face.

Well, shit. I guess I can't change everything for the better, after all.

"Done," says Enyala. "Now if you don't mind, I have a shipment to deliver."

... Oh, bitch, you did not just say that to Miranda's face.

And indeed, Miranda seems royally pissed about it, because then we see blue surround Enyala as she gets lifted into the air. "You'll die for that, bitch!" she says loudly, staring down Enyala with a great amount of hate now having taken over her facial expression. I don't have time to flinch before Miranda launches a biotic shove at Enyala, and then I see her fly halfway across the room in a couple of seconds. When she lands, there's a satisfying bump to it, and then I smirk despite myself.

But, we have bigger concerns. Such as the army of eclipse mercs that's starting to pour in. So I rush in behind cover with Miranda and Jacob following suit very shortly after as the first bullets fly right over my head.

Okay... I look over to the two Cerberus operatives that handle the troopers. They're all going down all over the place, but... damn it, where the hell is Enyala?

I'll get to that when I see her, I guess. For now, I look up beyond my cover and see an Eclipse commando rushing at us. I come up briefly and fire the assault rifle, managing to take down its shields enough for Jacob to get a potshot at her face. Yeah, you kind of had it coming, what with you being so close to a shotgun that he can shoot you in the head...

I then look and see an engineer... Hm, so that's where he went. I see. Well, you son of a bitch, you're about to eat it for not being there!

I come up and concentrate much of my assault rifle fire on him. Good call, too, as Miranda unleashes an overload on his sorry ass as well. Well, that makes my job easier...

On the other hand, the combat drone he just deployed doesn't. But Jacob is quick to pull out his shotgun and shoot it out before it can do any real damage. Yeah, combat drones are pretty weak like that most of the time. Yeah, engineers suck sometimes. But hey, what can I do? I fire my assault rifle at the engineer, and I pump my fist slightly when I see him collapse. Yeah, you son of a bitch! That's what happens when-

I feel myself get knocked back by a force that hits me in the chest... and my arms are glowing blue...

Shit, I got hit by something. Fuck. That was probably Enyala. Right... She's probably pretty close now.

I should switch weapons. Right, go shotgun!

I switch it as I come back behind cover, and look up to see that painted bitch rush up to us. All right... Miranda and Jacob are taking care of the others. So this is up to me.

I come out of cover, seeing her glowing blue. Shit, she's got a barrier. Right... just get past that and you should be good. I fire my shotgun once at the approaching captain as she glows blue... Okay... it looks like it's eating away at that biotic barrier, but we'll see what happens.

I fire my shotgun again, but before I can see its effects, I see her stretch her hand out. I suddenly feel a force throw me back quite a distance, and I feel my back connecting with a crate. Oh, damn it, this is like Alesia all over again! Fuck!

Well, I'm not about to get owned by this bitch! I survived an asari commando unit, bitch, I can take you down. I think...

I fire my shotgun again defiantly as soon as I get my bearings, and I don't even hear Enyala shooting at the same time. I feel an impact against my shields, which are very close to having been completely taken out. Fuck... I better be careful...

I come up again, and then look straight at Enyala as I see her standing there. Okay, fire the shotgun again... All right, got it! With this, the biotic barrier dies. Right, now I have to finish the job!

I fire my shotgun again as she waves her arms, and then I'm thrown again. Well... damn it. I just keep on getting thrown. Can she at least get a little more original than that? Although, I think it did divert my aim or something, because I can see my shotgun didn't do a whole lot to her. And I realize all this as I land on my back, right next to a crate.

Okay... that's not too bad... I just have to roll into cover and-

Wait... she just tossed a disc thing...

Shit, it's a pull! Oh, hell, no! I roll into cover as quickly as I can, and I see the blue energy fly within an inch of my arm, and I let out a rather loud gasp as I do this. But fortunately, it flies right past me, and before I can process that I've dodged it, I see it run right into an Eclipse merc. It gets lifted, and... well, Miranda and Jacob take care of it.

Wow... I just made Enyala commit friendly fire! Awesome! I don't think I could've gotten a biotic to do anything like that in the actual games! That's... actually pretty nice to know that I can do that.

But now's not the time to think about that... Because I have to land a final shotgun blast on Enyala, and hopefully she'll die...

Right. Let's do this.

I come out of cover to see Enyala royally enraged about this, but I don't waste time. I bite my lower lip and quickly aim my shotgun at her. Right as I'm about to pull the trigger, though, I hear a blip, and then my shields die out... But wait, Enyala hasn't even fired her...

Shit... the mercs are right behind me, aren't they?

I don't get to think too hard about this before suddenly I feel a very sharp pain in my leg. Ah, fuck! That hasn't happened a whole lot! And if I don't move, it's going to take it's toll on my health!

But right before I can fire again, I feel the force throw me back again, and my back collides with a crate yet again. Ow, fuck! And Jesus Christ, I can see the blood! It's... an interesting trail, actually, but still!

... No, Art, you'll be fine. It's not even a real bullet you're talking about here. Medigel will take care of it. I can feel it wash over my wound, actually, and I feel a little relieved at this course of events. But what kills this sense of relief is Enyala walking right up to me and cocking her shotgun.

Oh, hell, no! You're not killing me! Now while I've still got Collective ass to kick!

I quickly bring up my shotgun, and before she can say anything, I shoot my shotgun at her. She looks at me in shock as the shot connects, and she stumbles back a little. Good, I won't have to shoot through any shields or armor. That's a good thing. I frown at her as I aim another shotgun blast at her. This sends her falling back as it hits again, and I let out a couple of breaths as I frown at the asari captain.

Shit... I got shot in the leg... Better check the wound...

I look over to it, but... Oh, well, it doesn't look that bad. Medigel's already taking care of it, and I won't have to go to the hospital that much. A quick check with Chakwas should be all this thing needs, it looks like. Wow, injuries in the ME universe really can be fairly trivial it seems. Still... I squeeze against the wound, wincing in pain. Just for good measure and to stop the bleeding. Well, what little of it isn't being handled by the medigel anyhow. It should only go with a little more pressure on the wound.

Okay... I don't have anything I can use as a makeshift bandage... except the medigel suddenly seems to take the hint, and I notice the bleeding stop soon afterwards. Okay, great!

...

Why's it so quiet all of a sudden?

I blink, and then look over to Miranda and Jacob. The both of them are in a standing position, and they're both looking right at me. Oh... Well... that was certainly a crazy battle.

Right. I better get moving.

I stand up, and feel myself wince as I stand on my injured leg. Okay, better take it easy on that leg. I slowly walk over with a very slight limp on my injured leg, and I nod to the two of them.

"Well, that was certainly something," I say. "You dealt with all those guys, and I got to get thrown around by a crazy asari bitch. I'll bet it's because I commented on her face paint."

Miranda nods. "To be fair, though, I did have to bite back an insult of my own," she says quickly.

"Can't say I blame ya there," I reply with a hand gesture. "I'd be pretty pissed if someone made fun of my wardrobe by playing the 'whore' card against it, too. Especially when you're not actually a whore."

"I just..." says Miranda. "We have to make sure Oriana's all right. She should be in an upper level. Come on."

I nod, noticing the sadness in her expression. Well, I'm sure we can talk about it on the elevator. I'll just wait until then to ask Miranda how she's doing with the whole 'Niket betrayed me' spiel. I can't say I blame her, either; she got next to no warning this time around, and it was someone who she trusted so much. It must suck greatly; it's kind of like what would happen if Sturge did something similar. Honestly, I don't know how I'd react to Sturge doing that, but I don't think I'd be much different from Miranda if that's the case. I definitely couldn't live with the regret if I killed him... I dunno, I just don't know what to make of all this. I've seen it all already, and yet... I just can't help but think that somehow she had it better in the game when we found the engineer first...

Well... we're in the elevator after a few minutes of walking, and when we're inside, I look over to Miranda. Right, looks like I better go off and ask about Niket. The doors close, and then we're riding the rest of the way up to wherever Oriana is.

"You okay?" I ask. "I mean, after the whole Niket thing?"

She shakes her head. "I can't believe Niket sold me out," she says, crossing her arms dejectedly. "I didn't even see it coming."

I nod. Yep, that checks out. "You couldn't have," I reply. "He was your trusted friend, and you wanted him to help. You're human, just like the rest of us."

"That's exactly it," she says, placing a hand on her face and shaking her head. "I let it get personal, and I screwed up. Why did it have to go down to you pointing the gun away for me not to kill him? Why didn't he run the other way? He just stood there... He knew what I would've done had you not stepped in."

I shrug. "Maybe some part of him felt guilty for what he did," I supply. "Maybe he wanted to make up for something."

"You make up for things by fixing your mistakes, not committing suicide," she replies sadly.

I shake my head, and then I decide enough is enough. I walk closer to her, looking over there. "Don't blame yourself," I say. "It wasn't your fault that Niket died."

"I know," she says. "It's not my fault, or even his, really. My father has some hands in this." She turns to face me. "This is the way it always was. I had everything I ever wanted, but there was always a hook for his long-term plan. I gave up everything I ever got when I ran. Except Niket." She shakes her head. "Weakness on my part."

I blink, taking another step closer. "Not really," I comment. "I don't hold it against you for holding on to the only good thing you had in your previous life. Hell, I still hold on to a lot of things from when I was still living on Earth."

"It's all right," she says. "My father hurt me, but he didn't break me. As much as he tried to control my life... I'm my own person now."

I nod. "All that may be true, but you kept Oriana," I comment. "There's something from your old life."

"My father didn't give her to me," she says. "I rescued her. But... you're right, in your own strange way..." We're silent for a little bit, and I wonder what she's got on her mind. She sure seems a little happier now that we've figured out the whole situation with Niket. But she probably still feels troubled about Oriana. Or something. Either way, she doesn't look like she's totally happy yet. Finally, she turns fully around and brings a hand to her forehead. "I can't believe I'm opening up to you about this..." she admits. "I figured you're the last person I'd be talking about any of this with. There you are on the Normandy, always having a laugh at my expense or saying this thing or the other about me. It's funny how much we've opened up to each other over the past hour or so."

I nod at this, biting my lower lip. I never did like her all that much, but... I guess seeing her react this way for real is affecting. "I know what you mean," I comment, crossing my arms. "But still, you're not quite the ice queen I made you out to be at first. I've seen that now."

Things are silent between the two of us a second time as I look over to Miranda again. Hm... Well, I guess I have the floor now. Might as well make my peace with her."And... I guess that means that I owe you an apology," I add as I shift on my feet. "So... I'm sorry for being such a jerk to you on the Normandy, both when I showed up and afterwards. You deserved better than that."

She nods at this. "To be perfectly honest... I shouldn't have looked at you so harshly when you first came on. That might have played into your rage a little, I realize," she admits. "Still, you're forgiven. I hope we can get along better throughout the remainder of this mission." With this, I get a nod, and a rather soft smile from the cheerleader.

"So do I," I comment, and then hold out a hand to Miranda. She looks down briefly, and then after a second or so of waiting she takes it and shakes it. As our hands part, I nod at her with a smile on my face.

Well, I guess that puts us on better terms, anyhow. Good to know we're good with all that. Right, I guess we'll wait until we actually see Oriana to speak again. Okay, I'm all for that. For now... we just keep on going where we need to go to find Oriana.

* * *

We eventually come to a stop in the port proper, and I look over to Miranda as she, Jacob, and I all come out of the elevator. Well... it looks exactly the same as it did back in the game. And there, standing and talking to her parents, is Oriana. You know... I wonder what last name she took from her parents... I'm sure I'll find out definitively here. Or not. But still... she actually looks pretty good from here.

And she seems happy. That's important. I can feel her smile from where she stands, and I can feel that she's quite happy where she is. Probably not about the whole relocation thing, but she's with her family. I hope she appreciates it...

I look over to Miranda and nod over to her as she looks on. "There she is..." she says, her voice seeming lost on something. "She's safe... and with her family... And she's happy..."

She's silent for a couple of seconds as she moves her hand so that it grips her elbow joint. Ah, there's the unease about seeing her sister for the first time. Can't say I blame you there, Miranda, but you shouldn't be all that afraid. She looks down at the ground briefly before turning to me.

"Come on. Let's get out of here."

I blink, crossing my arms. Oh, you think it's gonna be that easy, Miranda? Oh, no. You get me here, I'm getting you to talk to your sister. "You don't even want to say hello?" I ask. "Introduce yourself to your own sister?"

Miranda looks over to me, and I can sense the slight dejection in her voice when she speaks again. "She doesn't know I exist," she replies. "Perhaps it's better that way. It would put her in too much danger."

Really? I frown, crossing my arms. "The world isn't gonna end for her if she knows she's got a sister who cares about her well-being," I reply. "Especially one who's gone this far to make sure she's safe. You owe it to her, and to yourself."

She looks down, and I can see her get a little misty at this. "I guess you're right," she says.

I nod. "Go on," I say. "Jacob and I will wait here."

I take a couple of steps back, and then I look over to the genetically perfect woman as she stands there. Well, I can't blame her for wanting to gather her bearings at the moment. I look to her. Come on... After a few seconds of clenching and unclenching her fists, she takes a deep breath before she strides over to where Oriana is with a new purpose in her step. A few seconds pass by as she rounds the corner over to where Oriana is, and then I see Miranda stand in front of her twin/younger sister. The two of them stand there for a second, although I can't tell if Miranda's speaking to her now...

And then I see Oriana's mouth move as her parents both give shocked expressions.

All right, awesome! I got her to talk to Oriana! Yay! I smile and cross my arms as I look upon that scene. Well, Miranda's gonna feel glad she did this later. I can tell myself that much.

I hear Jacob come into step close to me. "You sure that was a good idea?" he asks.

I nod. "She cares about Oriana, whether she wants to admit it or not," I say. "I don't think she should live with asking herself what could've been if she hadn't introduced herself to Oriana, you know? Trust me, I'd know; I wish I could go back to Earth and tell my family how much I care..."

"Then why don't you?" asks Jacob, frowning slightly.

I look to him then. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm on a suicide mission," I reply. "And I've been busy for the past two years, with no real way of contacting them. I'd think it would be tough to do that, yes?"

He frowns. "I don't know, Art," he says. "I'll just say this now. I don't completely trust where you're coming from. Frankly, I'm surprised more people don't."

Oh, dear, this again? This is just what I needed... "Kaidan had suspicions, too, you know," I say. "But he accepted the fact that I only have the best interests of everyone in mind. And that's true; I even have Miranda's best interests in mind, and I didn't really like her all that much. Well, until recently, anyway. But still, I'm looking out for everybody. Isn't that enough?"

Jacob shrugs his shoulder. "I guess that's true," he says. "But something about it still bothers me... I'll have to think about this."

... Shit, he's on to me. And he isn't looking at it the same way Kaidan is. That's not a good thing. What if he... No, I don't think he'd uncover it. He's not that kind of man, anyhow. He prefers to be straight-up with people, so if he decides to uncover it, I think he would go to me first, even if he knows it's not a good thing for him to do so. But that doesn't make me any less afraid of all this. But... I don't think I'm in that much danger. Yet, anyhow. I'll just see how this unfolds.

I nod. "Go ahead," I say. "Nothing's stopping you from thinking."

He nods at this, and then the two of us look at the two sisters talking. I smile, crossing my arms as I watch this. Miranda's talking with her sister, and I get the feeling she's going to feel great about having done so later. I can sense Oriana getting a little more animated as she speaks, and I cross my arms happily. She'll have a relationship with a sister she can really get into, she can send messages and stuff...

And she won't have to live with my regrets. And that, is always a good thing.


	16. Chapter 15

_A/N: And we're back!_

_All right, so last time we took a detour from what I was originally planning to do; I wasn't going to do Miranda's loyalty mission at all, but... due to reader concerns, I decided, 'oh, what the hell'. Turns out, it was one of the more inspiring bits I've ever had for characterisation in Mass Vexations. So to those of you who pointed out Miranda's character derailment: thanks a ton._

_So yeah, a chapter after this and we'll get to the Collector ship. So let's see what goes down with that, yes?_

_But first... We have something to take care of on the Normandy. So let's get some socialization done. Away chapter!_

* * *

Chapter 15: To the Collector Ship

I walk out of the med bay, a newly treated leg wound being all that stops me from having a rather unpleasant day. I really like where Chakwas was going with my leg wound. She's a miracle worker, that one is. Always going about, even if the pressure on my leg is a little tight for a wound like this. Still, I'll be all right. Very minor injury, and I should be up and about by the time we head off to our next mission.

I'm guessing it's the Collector base. We have all our recruitable crew members now, including Samara, though definitely excluding Legion. Debriefing with her was interesting, to say the least. Well, in how little she spoke, that is. Watching her go about doing stuff was a bit 'whoah, she's hot'. And mysterious, that too. Mystery and hotness both come in hand in hand, but... she's a thousand years old, and I'm barely 22. That's a bit of a shock, I think. So I won't be going after her. Especially not if Shepard decides to pull a fast one on us and save Morinth instead of Samara. But... I don't think she'll do that. She's too paragon for that, I think. But we'll see.

For now, I wander around the Normandy... well, Miranda's close by, I might as well check in on her. She's only across the deck, anyhow. Yeah, I'll go check up on Miranda. Because that will be good for the both of us.

I thus walk across the deck to Miranda's office. Hopefully she'll be there. If now, well, I tried. But she's usually in there anyway, given that she has to file reports for TIM about how the mission's been going. I wonder if she's filing a report about me at the moment. Hm... That would be something to see. Although, it would make sense, given how I helped her talk to her sister.

Right. After this thinking, I see the greenish glow of the door panel. Okay, it's unlocked. I come up to the door, passing my hand through it before the panel disappears. With a slight whoosh, the door opens, and I'm left standing in front of Miranda, who's sitting at her desk, typing away on her terminal. She glances up when I step through the door, keeping my distance from the desk as I look to her hair.

"Hey, Miranda," I say. "You got a moment?"

She looks up briefly, and then glances down at the terminal. With a soft sigh, she removes her fingers from the holographic keypad and nods. "I suppose I do," she says, shifting her chair to the back. Ooh, dear, that grind hurts my ears sometimes. I see her stand up, and then she walks over to a window that's in her office. And right there is the chair... and she sits in it. She shifts briefly, the leather moving softly against her as I cross my arms and walk over so that I'm standing a few feet away from the window.

"I suppose I should thank you for getting me to talk to my sister," she says. "A small part of me is thankful that I did."

I nod. "Glad you feel that way," I say. "What'd you two talk about?"

The XO shrugs, shifting her feet slightly on the floor. "I introduced myself," she says. "Her parents were shocked, but she adjusted quickly. She's as smart as I am." Possibly even more so. "She also plays the violin, and likes the Adagio of Nielsen's fifth, like me."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "Oh, she plays violin?" I ask. "I should write a piece for her."

Miranda chuckles softly at this. "I don't know if she'd appreciate the gesture," she says. "But it's definitely a thought."

"Keep it in mind," I say with a shrug. "Maybe I could write a violin and viola duet and I could play with her. God knows we need more repertory."

"She says she really likes it, but it's not what she wants to do with her life," says Miranda. I can feel a hint of happiness in her voice as she continues to speak. "She wants to work in colonial development. Told a few jokes about it. She's funny... that's something the two of us don't share."

I shrug at this. "Sometimes there are a lot of things siblings don't share," I comment. "Take it from me."

She shifts in her chair slightly, and I can see her gaze settle squarely on me. "I take it you have siblings, then?" she says.

I nod. "Two," is my reply. "I have an older sister and a younger brother." I step forward, crossing my hands behind my back as I walk forward. "And trust me, we were so radically different you wouldn't be able to tell we were siblings unless someone pointed out how similar we all look."

"I see," she says, uncrossing her legs. The chair Miranda sits in swivels a little bit, and she looks over to me, a soft smile on her face. "Tell me more."

Oh... this is going to be a tough conversation. Oh, well... She did a tell-all about Oriana, I guess I owe her something similar to that. "Well... my sister was two years older than me," I begin. "She was a social butterfly, and got into all kinds of trouble with mom and dad over her antics with her friends." A smile takes on my expression as I think of her. "She was a good singer, and a hell of a dancer. And I don't mean Omega dancer, either; she did actual dance."

"Ah," says Miranda, folding her hands over her lap. "What was she hoping to do with her life?"

I shrug. "I dunno," I comment. "She was a bit wishy-washy about it. Last I heard, she wanted to go into choral conducting. Hopefully this time she stuck to it..."

Miranda nods. "And your brother?" she asks...

I close my eyes, thinking about my brother as I lean against a wall in her office. "He was... special," I say. "One of a kind. He was a bit wierd; sometimes, he was a pain in the ass to deal with, and sometimes he did things that would make my day. He was a bit random like that..." Should I mention he's possibly autistic? Well... there's Gillian, but... I don't know... I guess I'll keep quiet about that detail.

"I see," she says. "Did he have any ambitions?"

I frown. "No, he did not," I say, opening my eyes to see Miranda still sitting there. "Somehow, I think that was for the best; he was so innocent, you know, Miranda? He always had this outlook on life that brightened my day. I don't think he minded that he would be left at his parent's house. And it was better that way."

She nods. "Possibly dangerous, but sounds like a reliable friend..." says the XO, shifting her feet.

"That he was, Ms. Lawson," I say, closing my eyes again and bringing to mind some of my earlier memories of him. "I'd give anything to be able to talk to him again. Hell, I'd give up my entire compositional career just to see him able to laugh again."

"It must be a great feeling," she says. "I guess that's why you wanted me to talk to Oriana."

I nod. "I... it's a bit complicated on my end," I continue as I cross my arms and slowly move back to Miranda's desk. "I regret never having spent as much time with my family before I ended up on the Citadel as I should have. It's a regret I'll live with for a long time." And if not a long time, forever. "I don't think you should feel that same regret. You should talk to your sister again in the near future."

She looks over to me, nodding as her hand brushes a stray lock of dark hair from her shoulder. "I wasn't sure before," she says. "About speaking to her again, I mean. But after this... I think I might. Thank you, Art."

"It's no problem," I say, looking over to her desk. "I take it you've got a lot of work to do?"

She nods, standing up with her gray eyes looking over to me. "Yes," she says. "I do have quite a few reports to fill out about everything that just happened on Illium. But thank you for all your help with Oriana."

"Don't mention it," I say, looking at her as she walks back to her desk. "I'll leave you be for now."

"Of course," she says as she seats herself at the desk.

And with this, the conversation ends. I simply walk over to the door as soon as she goes back to her desk, and spare a final glance at her. Well, she's buried in her work again, so I guess I better leave her alone for now.

I open the door to her office, and then I walk out of it rather slowly, my head still looking directly in front of me as I hear it close behind me. Okay, the click means it's closed again. All right... Hm... Where to go now...

Well... I haven't checked my messages lately, so I might as well get to that before I do anything else. Right, I'll do that.

I head back to my room on the Normandy, glancing around. I see Thane and Shepard...

Wait... I pause as I head to my room, looking over to the mess hall.

Indeed... Thane and Shepard are sitting together at lunch today, and I can see the drell looking on Shepard. They're both conversing about something, but I can't hear what either of them are saying. But they're both seemingly very content, as implied by the passive expression on Thane's face. A couple of times I can hear Shepard's laughter, and I notice that Thane's eyes seem to shine the slightest bit brighter as they converse.

And then I notice their hands are just touching each other by the fingertips. It's not much, but their hands seem absently laying there, the fingertip of Shepard's middle finger just coming over Thane's two fused fingers.

...

Oh, dear. Now all we need is for him to drop a _siha_ somewhere along the way and we'll be good with that. I mean, Jesus, they're already touching their fingers together! I guess it just means they're falling harder for each other than they were originally. Well... it's going to be awesome. Well, until Kaidan finds out, but even then Shepard doesn't really care all that much. I mean, come on Kaidan! You dumped her! Seriously!

Whatever. Thane and Shepard forever! And I'm just glad things are turning out this way for the two of them. Now let's just hope that she manages to secure Thane's loyalty and we'll be good.

Right... I better get moving. If I start hearing Thane say _siha_, I'm geeking out. Ridiculously. There shall be much screaming like a rabid fangirl from me should I ever hear Thane refer to Shepard as his _siha_, I will guarantee that much.

In the meantime, though, I'm sure Thane's already noticed that I've noticed that their hands are touching by now, so I better get back to my room. I quicken my steps towards my room, and I'm grinning like a giddy school-girl the entire time. I make sure to hide it to the rest of the ship, though, seeing as how it might seem a bit... strange for me to have fanboy moments.

But whatever. Before I can dwell on this too much, I'm at my door, and with a quick tap of the green panel I'm inside my room. I dart in quickly, sitting at my terminal as the door closes behind me.

Thane and Shepard, sitting in a tree, falling head-over-heels for each other! This is going to be awesome!

I boot up my terminal and start whistling a rather happy tune as I go about my business on the terminal. Okay... I wanted to check my messages, so...

Hm... Well, there isn't a whole lot here... Well, that's a little odd. Normally I get a lot more than this small amount of messages. I would've thought ten messages to be a lot back home, but seriously, only ten messages this time? Now that I've taken off with my compositional career, I normally get a lot more. But, it's better than nothing, I guess... So let's see what goes on...

Hm... Okay, well, there's an update on the commission I took... Yeah, apparently, things had to be pushed back a bit. Hm, that's good, I guess. It'll be extra time to write that song on love that I'm still stumped on, anyhow. It's better than nothing, I think, and we'll be good to go soon enough. Right, I guess that takes care of that. Okay, moving on...

Okay... another update from Mangdalar about his life... Yelena saying stuff... The Admiralty Board saying more stuff... A junk add for Blasto the-

Hey, wait a minute! The Admiralty Board? My eyes dart back to that message, and I blink in surprise. Wait, the Admiralty Board sent me an e-mail? Why am I getting an e-mail from them? The only time they sent me an e-mail was to warn me about various stuff when Tali took leave for the film premiere. So why...?

... I'm checking it out.

I open the message, and I skim through it briefly as I wonder what else is news here.

_To: Commander Shepard, Normandy SR-2  
__From: Admiral Rael'Zorah, Migrant Fleet  
CC: Art*** *********, Normandy SR-2_

_Commander Shepard,_

_Per Tali'Zorah vas Neema's request included with her data delivery from Haestrom, the Admiralty Board has approved her transfer to your command. She has been informed that additional duties to the Migrant Fleet may still be necessary on occasion, but has been given extended leeway to determine when her mission with you is considered complete._

_This choice was hers, but your role as de facto captain during her Pilgrimage may have caused her to be more susceptible to your requests. The Admirality Board trusts that you will treat your new crew member with the respect due an honored member of the Fleet. Should any harm come to her due to negligence on your part, this board will take severe and appropriate action._

_Admiral Rael'Zorah,_

_Migrant Fleet Admiralty Board_

_P.S. We have sent this message to Art*** ********* as well; given the strength of his friendship with Tali'Zorah, he should be aware that the consequences of harm coming to her will also apply to him._

Wait... It's the message Rael sends to Shepard after her recruitment! But wait... I'm mentioned here... Unlike the game... and it was also carbon copied to me because of how close we are. That makes sense...

I see... Well, the strength of our friendship implies a lot of things, I guess. And I guess it's up to me to make sure things happen. But... I still haven't told her about her loyalty mission. Shit, this is gonna suck, isn't it? If I hurt her emotionally, the fleet's gonna be on my ass. Or her father. If he's not dead first, that is...

Speaking of Rael'Zorah being dead... Her father sent this e-mail, right? Yes... yes he did... I thought the Admiralty Board as a collective sent it in the game. I can't believe I'm host to yet another piece of broken timeline... But... Wait, if he sent it himself...

... Oh. _Ooooh_... I get it. Providence has smiled on me, it seems; now I have a good opportunity to warn Rael'Zorah about the whole geth thing. I get CC'd something, I can reply back to it! Thank heaven! This means I can do something! All right, so I'll shoot him an e-mail right now... The only question is; how do I break it to him that he needs to be careful without revealing anything about myself...? Hm...

Well... I think I might have something with which to warn him with. Let's see...

I touch reply on the terminal screen, and then I get an empty box to write stuff. Okay, let's write our message!

_To: Admiral Rael'Zorah, Migrant Fleet  
From: Art*** *********, Normandy SR-2_

_Rael'Zorah,_

_Thank you for the message. I can assure you Tali'Zorah is in good hands at the moment, from both the Commander's perspective and mine._

_However, I believe something else may be in order. Tali has told me about how you have been asking her to send you any geth parts she finds; I suspect this may be leading to something occurring within the Fleet that you are overseeing, and I have the slightest suspicion it might not turn out exactly the way you think it might. I recommend caution, then; perhaps you should have some kind of contingency plan in case something occurs beyond your control._

_You mention that if any harm comes to Tali, you will take appropriate action. Allow me to reciprocate the sentiment; should you ever do anything that hurts Tali in any way, you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee._

_-Art_

_P.S.: Try not to take that last sentence too seriously. I'll explain it should we ever meet in person._

... Okay, I think that'll work. Not too vague, but not too specific either. Tali hasn't actually told me about the geth parts, but I take it if I mention it, she would play along anyway. Plus, she knows I already know about it, so she wouldn't be so shocked, I think. And I managed to throw in a reference to stuff, too. So I think I'll live. Somehow. Anyway, best not to think too hard about it, I think. Right...

I send the message, and let out a breath. Okay, I've warned Rael to come up with a contingency plan. I think that's all I can do to help Tali at the moment without actually heading to the Fleet or revealing what I really am to him. It's all up to him what he does with that. I hope to God he does something so that he can survive the Alarei. If he doesn't, I'm kicking his ass as soon as I can find him in the afterlife. And it shall not be pretty.

Now that that's taken care of... I'll just do other stuff here before I go off to socialize my way around the ship again.

So I skim through the rest of my messages and get to composing soon after I do all that.

* * *

Okay, so that takes care of that thing. Right...

Hm... well, I haven't really seen all that much of Kasumi lately, so I guess I best head down to where she's at. She sounds like a really awesome person to hang out with, at any rate. And plus, I don't know her at all from the game, so I should probably go get to know her better. I'd like to get to know her backstory, how much of a master thief she is, and all that other good stuff. It's stuff I missed from the game, so I'll go off and see where she goes from here.

Right... I walk over to the Port Observation... which is only a short distance away from where I am, thank heaven. I move along towards there, my hand hovering over the green panel on there. I tap the panel with my hand, and then in I walk to the Port Observation.

... Hey, I thought it was a crime to make things this fancy! I mean, Samara on the other end of the ship has almost nothing to her credit. But here... not even Miranda has this much stuff! And this is fancier than even the captain's cabin! Jesus Christ on a pikestaff!

I look around the room a little bit... And there, lying on a couch in the center of the room is Kasumi. She's sort of just lounging around... is that an old book in her hand? Jesus Christ... This is... a bit decadent. I definitely wouldn't expect this from a thief, but that's not saying a whole lot given this is a master thief we're talking about here. Good thing she's not drinking a beer and chewing- no, not chewing, popping.

She looks up from reading her book, and then I can see her eyes light up from beneath her dark hood. "Well, if it isn't the musician," she says.

"Hey, Kasumi," I say, looking around the room... Damn, this place is hella fancy! There's a shelf filled with old books over there, a bar over on the other side of the room, a painting up on the wall, a rose on a table by the shelf... And the smell of old paper is in the air as well. Wow, this place is pretty nice. And she's got a nice view of the stars, to boot. Yeah, this place is definitely really fancy. I wonder how she managed to accumulate all this stuff over the years.

"Nice place ya set up for yourself here, isn't it?" I ask.

"It's a nice change of pace," she says. "I can't remember the last time I got to stay in this part of the ship like this. Usually I'm in the cargo hold, waiting."

I nod, looking around as I place my hands behind my back. "It must be nice to be able to do this stuff," I say, walking over to the shelf of old books. "And you even have old books!"

I can see her barely nodding out of the corner of my eye as I look through what she has. "There's nothing like the feel of a page in your hand," she comments. "And there's nothing quite like the smell of old paper, either."

"You've got that right," I say, thumbing on a couple of editions of books that I swear to God should be falling apart. Well, except for the fact that all the paper I smelled was all new and stuff, but 170-odd years after the Kindle came out can change a lot of things, I'm sure. "It's just interesting to see someone with so many old books. Hell, I didn't even think anyone kept actual paper books anymore!"

"Well, I do," she says.

I nod. "I can see that," I say, looking at all the books she has on the shelf. "Got any T.S. Eliot?"

"I don't think I do," she says. "I take it you're a fan?"

I roll my eyes with a slight chuckle as my hand begins to move out over the books. "That's kind of understating it," I say. "_The Wasteland_ is my favorite poem of all time, bar none. I'm very into modernist and post-modernist poetry, if you know what I mean."

"I believe I do," she says. "I'm more into haiku myself. But that's besides the point." I can feel her gaze on me as I trail my fingers over her books... "Anything catch your fancy?"

Hm... well, a lot of it is trashy romance novels... which I'm not into, given that I work by testosterone, not by estrogen. So yeah, that throws a lot of the items on this list out the window, methinks. Which doesn't leave a whole lot... Yeah...

"Not really," I say, taking my hand off her books and stepping away from the shelf as I look around the room. "Nice art you've got."

I can feel Kasumi's smile as I look at this. "It's almost all stolen," she comments. "Some of it is extremely valuable. In more ways than one."

Hm? "In more ways than one?" I ask, walking up to a large painting in the room as I look at it. "That's... interesting. I didn't think you were the overly sentimental type."

"I used to be very sentimental," she says. "I used to leave a red rose in place of anything I stole. It was silly, sentimental... I grew out of it, but I like to hang on to anything that has some significance."

Huh, a rose as a calling card. Where have I seen that before...? "Of course," I comment, crossing my arms. "I've never heard of a thief being so sentimental about stuff." Well... yeah, there's a rose sitting on the table, so I guess she still likes to hold on to that kind of thing. "But it seems you still get sentimental about a few things..."

"Well, I guess it's part of who I am," she says. "Ask me about any object in the room. I'll tell you what it means."

Okay, I guess I'll do that. Thus, I walk up to the painting on the opposite end of the room just by the door. It's a pretty grey painting, but it still looks really nice. I walk up to it and cross my arms. Hm... looks like a representation of a building in grey. I wonder... why would she keep this around?

"This painting is rather nice," I comment. "What's the story behind that one?"

"Ah, that one," says Kasumi, and I turn around to see her swing around so her legs came off of the couch. "That painting has a special place in my heart." She approaches the painting, and I can see the faint glimmer of a nostalgic smile tug at her lips. Hm... This one probably is really significant for her... I wonder what it is...

"I was hired by an art dealer to steal that painting," she says. "When I got there, the painting was gone. When I was leaving, I saw it being hauled off by another thief. I chased him down, tackled him, and took the painting." The master thief looks up, her smile gaining a hint of sadness as she does this. "That's how I met my partner, Keiji Okuda."

I raise my eyebrow at Kasumi as I step back to look at her. "Keiji Okuda?" I ask. "You were working with someone else?"

"Well... if you want to put it that way, yes, I was," she says, walking over to some of the other objects. Her hand comes to rest on a bust of some guy that I don't really know all that well, and she smiles at it. "This bust was stolen on a dare from Keiji. It was in some big show in Illium, and he dared me to steal it. I replaced it with a fake, and nobody was any the wiser."

I nod as Kasumi moves around the room again, and I can't help but smile at this display of nostalgia. "I see..." I say. "Keiji must be pretty important to you."

The thief pauses briefly, her hand trailing the desk as she turns to look at me, the eyes sparkling behind her hood with some kind of something... Oh, Jesus, I hit a nerve. "He... was..." she says. "He died recently."

Oh... Ouch. I did hit a nerve. "Oh..." I say, biting my lower lip. "I... I'm sorry..."

The thief nods slowly, crossing her arms in front of her. "You don't have to worry about it too much," she says. "I have quite a few things to remember him by. And I may have a lot more to remember him by when Shepard does a favor for me."

... Oh dear. "Really?" I ask. "What sort of favor?"

She looks over at me as she returns to her place on the couch. "Keiji used to have this greybox," she says. "I take it you don't know what that is...?"

Greybox? "I can't say I do," I reply. It's true, too, I really don't know what a greybox is. "What's a greybox?"

"It's a piece of technology that you can store memories in," Kasumi replies, sitting down on the couch as she turns to look at me. "Very illegal stuff. Keiji had one. When he got killed, his greybox got taken away from him by a rich man named Donovan Hock. He has the greybox stored in his vault; I need Shepard's help to break in and steal the greybox back. It has all his memories, and it might also help me find out why he got killed..."

"I see..." I say. Well, I guess that's Kasumi's loyalty mission, then. "Well, I'm sure Shepard will help you out with that. I hope you get that greybox."

"I hope so too," she says as she picks up the book she was reading. "It's great talking to you. Come back later, I'm sure I'll have more to talk about."

I nod. Right, I'll take that as my cue to come back. "Right," I say. "I'll see ya later, Kasumi."

"Seeya," she replies a little cheerfully as I walk towards the door. I touch the panel to open it, and then it whooshes open in front of me.

As I step outside, I can't help but wonder about Kasumi. So we got to do a heist for her loyalty mission, I take it... That sounds pretty damn awesome. Wish I could be there to see it, but it looks like Shepard is the only one who can help her on this. Watch; it'll be some crazy _Ocean's Eleven_ kind of thing; all we'll need is nine other people to participate in the heist and _Claire de lune_ somewhere and we'll have everything in place. Well... except for the time period, but it would still be interesting to see how we get around modern technology.

After all, Kasumi is supposed to be the best thief in the business. I guess she'll have quite a time taking care of Donovan Hock's security. And knowing the game, it probably results in a nice little firefight at the end there... So it won't go totally according to plan. But still, a heist loyalty mission sounds awesome. I just hope Donovan is an asshole, because that would really justify all the thievery the commander normally wouldn't get herself into...

Well, also, because Kasumi is damn awesome to be around. I wonder what the dialogue wheel for her was like. Although... Zaeed didn't really have a dialogue wheel, and he was a DLC character like Kasumi was supposed to be. I hope they gave Kasumi a dialogue wheel; she seems like too cool a person to not have a dialogue wheel. Either way, she's a really fun person to hang around.

I really do hope she's got more to talk about when I talk to her next.

For now... where should I go on the ship...?

* * *

Hm... well, I haven't hung around Grunt too much, so I think I'll go chill with him for a second. Unless he starts wanting to beat me up. In which case, I'll promptly leave.

I step into the cargo hold opposite Zaeed's side of the ship, and see the young krogan there, standing around with a slight bit of unease in his step. I look to the lab-bred krogan as I enter, and he frowns as I look in.

"It's the squishy thing," he says. ... Oh, crap, I think Shale posessed him for a second there. "You're not afraid of falling out of a tree, are you?"

Gah! "No!" I shout, facepalming so fast the slap of my hand against my face resounds in the small room. I let out the loudest groan I can manage shortly after, and I shake my head as I take my hands off of my head and shake my head with a dismayed expression on my face. "We are never bringing that up. _Ever. _Again."

"Heh," he says. "I'd like to see what you're gonna do about it."

I frown, crossing my arms. Oh, that's how you wanna play, eh? "I'll find a way!" I say. "You'll see!" We'll see how hard you're laughing when I help take down that Thresher Maw, you son of a bitch!

He simply looks at me. "Is there any reason you're down here?" he asks. "Other than to bother me?"

I frown, crossing my arms. "If you must know, I don't like to "bother" anyone," I reply. "I just like to get to know people more. I take it you're not too fond of me."

The perfect krogan simply approaches me, and points a finger at me. "You're weak," he reiterates. "The tank would have rejected you in my position." He shifts. "I envy you, though."

Ah, yes, his emo phase. Still, gotta stay in character. I blink violently, looking at him. "You envy me?" I ask. "That's something I never thought I'd hear a krogan say. What's up with that sentiment?"

"Effort," replies Grunt.

I raise an eyebrow as I cross my arms. "I don't believe I follow," I comment. "Elaborate, please?"

I see the krogan give me a once-over before nodding briefly. "You may be weak, but you have earned your right to battle."

As Grunt says this, he turns to the window in the room that looks out into the hangar bay. As he looks at this window, he paces towards it, his steps echoing off the floor rather loudly as he eventually stands about a half a yard away. "You worked tooth and nail to get to where you are," he continues. "I... was made to be great. As were my brethren, but they were all rejected by the tank. I was the only one to be given the title of 'pure' krogan. And with that, they were all damned."

He turns back to me slowly. "I don't deserve what I have," he says. "I may be strong, but it is strength not built from effort. They had a chance to prove their worth. I just am. It's not fair that I am automatically better than my bretheren."

I nod at this, moving further into the room as I come to lean against the tank he was bred in. Right... What do I say next? "It's..." he says before I can think of this. "I don't want to think about it. I'm supposed to be something great. But I don't feel great at all, knowing they were cast aside to make me stronger."

I nod, pushing myself off the tank. "I'm sure we'll find something for you to prove your worth in," I say. "You'll see. Maybe it'll be some kind of big fight where you have to kill stuff."

"That sounds fun," he admits. "But... it may not prove my worth."

"We'll see," I say. "But anyway, I better get going before you start calling me weak again. I'll see you around, Grunt."

Wow... I almost just said Urdnot Grunt. I'm going to go mull on that now.

"Art," is his simple reply.

With this, I turn and head out of the cargo hold. Yep, Grunt is in his emo phase. And pretty soon he'll be entering into his hormone phase if my memory serves me correctly. And that will be when he gets violent and starts destroying stuff.

I'll steer clear of him when he enters that phase. I want to keep my face the way it is, thanks.

Anyhow, that wasn't so fruitful. So who should I speak to next...?

* * *

Well, I haven't bothered Mordin in a while, so I'll go do that.

I go over to the tech lab, and right as I step inside, I see Mordin flitting about the tech lab, holding all manner of tubes and stuff as he's frantically moving about inside the lab. I blink as I behold this. Damn, for an old fart he sure does move fast. But then again, he's a salarian, so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. I look at this as I step in, making sure to stay away from where he's running around.

And he keeps this running around up for about a full minute, his hands moving fast as he keeps muttering stuff to himself. Wow... And I can't even hear what he's saying, he's speaking so fast. Must be exciting work he's doing here... He expertly lays all the tubes in his hand on the other side of his typical station with dexterity that would put a lot of people to shame, and especially me. He seems so careless, but... somehow, nothing breaks. He runs around the room again, doing other things as he finally goes to his end of the table.

I watch the salarian as he comes to a halt in front of his station, typing away. He's muttering madly to himself, looking at his console and typing away as quickly as he can with his fast salarian fingers. I hear the console beep, and I hear him curse briefly before he shakes his head.

I decide now is as good a time as any to step into Mordin's space. I look to the salarian as he types a little slower on his terminal.

"Mordin," I say simply.

"Art," he says simply. "How may I help?"

I glance back to where he was handling the test tubes. "What the hell was that you were just doing?" I ask.

"Ah, experiment," he says quickly, still typing. "Was trying to cure Joker's disease. Wouldn't work, though; would cause liver damage. Irreversible. Would not do."

I nod. "I see," I say. "That was pretty frantic."

"Salarian mental process faster than human mental process," he replies. "How I am in this lab. Nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, but you're old," I point out. "I don't think I've ever seen an old guy move so quickly, you know?"

"True," he comments. "Still, nothing odd about speed at which I work. Am healthy, still here... *sniff* Will do good work here."

I nod at this, looking at him as he continues working on the terminal. "You got a minute?"

"Of course," he says, still working at his console. "Ask what you will."

I nod. "I heard you were in the Salarian STG," I say. "Along with a Captain Kirrahe."

"Ah, yes," says the scientist as he pauses his typing from his console, looking up. "Kirrahe. Always gave big speeches. Great speeches, too! Young and brash, but a great leader. Shame he died on Virmire."

I nod. "I know," I reply. "Kirrahe was actually a pretty cool guy. Even if he was a jerk when we first met. We show up with one ship, and he's all 'what the hell' to the Normandy being the only people to arrive."

"Again, young and brash," he says. "Was older than him when I served with Kirrahe. He was in charge, but I was like... mentor. Knew great deal of leadership. Paid off quite well for us. Worked well with group."

I nod. "And what mission were you with him on?"

He frowns as he says this. "Cannot say," he says. "Classified information. Only certain people can have knowledge."

Hm... I'll guess it's your modified genophage, you son of a bitch. It's too bad your classified info can only get you so far when I know a lot more than I let on. But... I can't gloat to your face, or tell you that you made a ridiculous mistake. But I can rub it in your face once we hit your loyalty mission, so...

"I see..." I say, crossing my arms. "I get the feeling I'll find out sooner or later. If you must know the Normandy, nothing stays a secret from me for very long."

"That so?" asks Mordin curiously. "How?"

I shrug. "I have my ways," I say. "I have many, many ways, Mordin."

"Intriguing..." admits the salarian as he turns back to his console. "Would like to see your ways. Maybe I can foil you. Challenge is great."

"Oh, trust me Mordin, my ways are a lot sneakier than you think," I reply crossing my arms and giving him a wink and a smirk. "You'll see what happens."

"I will win," the doctor replies self-assuredly. "Still, will be interesting to see you try."

Oh, I don't think you'll get that along... And I can understand your self-assuredness, so I'll play that game. "All right," I say, stepping away from his console. "I'll see you around later then. And be prepared!"

He nods. "Will do," says Mordin simply as he begins typing away at ludicrous speed on his console.

...

Heh. Ludicrous speed. I exit the lab as I begin to think about this.

Seriously, ludicrous speed. I'm surprised we don't go into plaid during a relay jump. Guess we're too classy for that, especially given that it's not exactly the seventies and eighties anymore. Although... I wonder how George Lucas would've reacted to seeing actual FTL travel. I bet that would've changed a lot of the effects of _Star Wars_. Oh, well, they're still cool effects.

And ludicrous speed still looks a lot like an effect Stanley Kubrick would use. And that's part of the point, I think. I mean, come on, it's ludicrous speed! I'm half surprised Darth Helmet didn't turn into a baby from hanging on to that rail for a minute straight. But then, that would be too obvious, and there's no random images of landscapes either. It's all fun and games when you throw Mel Brooks into the mix. Especially if Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane are involved, although I still think that remake of _The Producers_ was pointless. I mean, come on, it had a freaking stage musical version! Couldn't those two just stick to that?

Oh, wait, yeah, they had that production of _The Odd Couple,_ didn't they? Ah, yes, that's right. I wonder whatever happened to them. I only heard of them for _The Producers _and _The Odd Couple_, yet they sort of disappeared off the map... at least, until I watched _Ferris Bueller's Day Off._

...

How the hell did I get from Mordin typing on his console to thinking about a John Hughes movie?

...

Yep, I'm going clinically insane.

I think I'm going to go talk to Kelly now.

* * *

"You know, this isn't the first time I've sat on a couch going on and on about various things.."

"Oh? When would that be?"

"I had a psychiatrist from when I was about thirteen to just before I left my hometown to study at the conservatory. I had a pretty tough time with bullies way back when. In a way, I still kind of do if I'm hanging with the wrong crowd."

"I see..."

"Granted, I never spoke about it at all. I usually went off on these tangents about stuff I was really, really into at each individual appointment."

"Ah. I guess it didn't turn out too well for you, then."

"On the contrary. I think they all went pretty well."

I lay down on the couch, preferring to look up at the ceiling as my fingers repeatedly flick and fumble around with the corner of the cushion in my hand. Kelly asked if we could use Miranda's office for my psyche evalutation, so here we are. It's a good thing Miranda decided to give us the space; she was off to get a meal anyhow, so I think that worked out well. Kelly is currently sitting by the window looking out into space, her arms crossed in front of her as she looks at me. Her expression is a little difficult to read, but that's the way it should be.

"So you never mentioned the bullying?" says Kelly.

"I didn't like to," I say.

The psychiatrist simply looks down at me as I take another breath. "I hope you at least attempted to tell someone..."

I shake my head. "I never did," I say. "I was afraid of getting in trouble too. I don't know why, but it's one of those irrational fears I've got. And I've got quite a lot of 'em. I used to be afraid of elevators for the longest time because I was always afraid they would break down and we'd all go plummeting to our deaths, you know?"

Kelly simply looks at me, raising an eyebrow as her arms uncross. "I see," she says.

I shrug. "But yeah, the bullying only got out of hand a couple of times," I comment. "But there are a lot of times where I just stood there and took it, and wanted to grind their heads into some kind of strange paste, you know?" ... Wait, I didn't just say 'paste' to Kelly, did I? Shit... I done goofed big time...

Fortunately, she doesn't get the significance of this, and so she nods. "Would you mind recounting one of those times, Art?" she asks sweetly.

I nod. "There's a reason I tell people not to call me 'Artie', you know," I say. "I hate that nickname. Being termed 'Artie Fartie' by all the fat kids tends to make that kind of thing happen. All sorts of shit went down." I shrug. "I think the worst of it came in high school, though." One of my hands left the pillow as I began to move it in the air to gesture. "There was this senior. His name was Sergio, he played the trumpet, and probably played some of the most boring jazz solos I've ever heard in my life. He thought it would be funny to purposefully walk into someone and apologize about it as soon as it happened. And I was unlucky enough to be his target. So whenever we were in the same building or heading to it, he'd shoulder-bump me on my way to class. He said it was unintentional, but there's no way that it could've been unintentional with the fact that it always, _always_ came from behind, and that he always bumped into me too hard."

The yeoman regards me with a non-chalant expression. "I see," she says. "What did you do about it?"

"I tried to grin and bear it," I reply. "I kept it in, trying to hold my anger against this guy every time he did it. But after a point, I couldn't take it anymore. So... I think it was the tenth or so time that he did it when I finally had enough. So when he bumped me that time? I reared back, and sort of bull rushed the son of a bitch. Our bodies collided, and then I pushed against him straight into the wall with my body before I proceeded to throw a fit and start doing stuff." I can hear Kelly hiss slightly in concern as soon as I finish saying this, but... "There wasn't any serious injury, don't worry. Worst he got was probably a bruise, and that's highly unlikely given that he was at least a head taller than me. It stopped pretty much immediately after that... well, and after disciplinary action was taken, anyhow. But neither of us got in that much trouble."

I bite my lower lip before I turn my head to look at the yeoman. "Funny thing about that incident," I say. "I think that was the incident that made me realize just how powerful music could be."

"Really?" she asks, looking at me with a great deal of interest. "How so?"

I shrug. "Well, to get to my high school, I had to take public transportation every day," I continue. "It took about half an hour to get home from school." I shrug as I look at the ceiling. "I was... really depressed after that incident. I don't remember why now. But I think I cried a little. Friends checked on me, but that didn't soothe much, I thought of other things, but it always came back to that... And then, as I was sitting in the transportation, I started humming this melody to myself." I look back to Kelly as I begin to think back. "You don't know the music of Guiseppe Verdi all that well, do you?"

"I don't believe I do," she replies.

I nod. "Well, he wrote this requiem," I continue with a hand gesture. "Lovely piece and all. I played it after Shepard died as a sort of vigil kind of thing." I bite my lower lip, closing my eyes and letting the black take over. "There's this tenor thing in the middle where he sings by himself. It's a lovely part of the requiem. Well, anyway, I sort of hummed that tune to myself as I was riding home. And as I hummed it, I actually began to feel a lot better. I didn't mention anything about it when I got home because of that; they didn't find out until the next morning when a friend of mine had called to check up on me. But that's when it got through my head that music means a lot more than pleasant sounds to me."

"And here you are, with a film score to your credit," Kelly comments soon after. "I see."

I nod. "It's the kind of thing that makes you think, you know?" I ask as I turn my entire body. The couch's cushions shift under my weight. "I couldn't stop thinking about it for a week afterwards. So yeah."

Kelly gives me a small look as I shift my feet against the material of the couch. "Many people can't stop thinking about that kind of epiphany once it happens," she offers, still staying where she is in the room. "We like to dwell on it, think about what realization we've come to. An epiphany is... a very beautiful thing, I think."

I snort, smiling as I give a light shrug. "Tell me about it," I comment. "Anything else you want to ask?"

"Well..." she says, looking over at me. "I think that answered my next question, actually. So... I'll go ahead and ask you this. How was your relationship with your family prior to unintentionally leaving for the Citadel?"

I snort at this, a smirk crossing my face as I look at Kelly. "It's a long story, but..."

And then I give her the lowdown of what I thought of my family when I left.

* * *

Well, my psych evaluation with Kelly went well. I managed to not talk about where I'm actually from, which is always a good thing, I think. She says I might still have a slight temper problem that could surface at any time, so... we'll see what happens with that.

And Kelly seems like a real sweetheart. I never talked with her much because I didn't want to initiate the romance with her, especially since I was afraid it would sidetrack one of my other romances. But she seems like a nice girl. I'll just have to hope we can get her and the rest of the crew of the Normandy out in once piece. I don't know if I'll be able to forgive myself if I leave what is essentially a really nice group of people to get ground up into genetic paste.

Eh, I'm sure we'll all have our stuff done by the time we get to the Omega 4 Relay. I think we'll be fine in that regard. I just have to hope things will go well.

In the meantime, though, there's an order of business I have to put together before I go to sleep cycle tonight. Mainly, bothering Tali down in engineering. I wonder how she's doing at the moment.

So I head down to the engine room, and when I get there I see Ken and Gabby typing away at their usual stations. I nod to them briefly, and Ken gives me a nice wave as his head turns slightly. He looks like he's smiling, so I think he's quite happy about something. I look to Gabby to see her flash a soft smile at me, though I can tell she's probably annoyed at Ken's banter again. Ah, well, best not to think of it. Tali's looking at stuff as she works at her console. I smile as I see her work, and approach. Ah, Tali, you always were one to admire all this work. I'm glad you're back here. Because honestly, this is where you belong, I think.

I walk over to the quarian, whose head turns slightly as I approach. I can feel her smile as I approach, and then I look over to the engine.

... Something about her expression and the way her hands are moving seems... distracted, somehow. Huh... I didn't think Tali was one for being slightly distracted. It... Has she found out about her loyalty mission yet?

"Hello, Art," says Tali. "What can I do for you?"

... No, her body language would be more indicative of fear. No, it's not her loyalty mission. Phew. "Oh, I just wanted to pop down and say hi," I reply, smiling in turn as I look at Tali. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Oh..." she says, her hands returning to the panel. "I'm just running some subroutines here to clean out the engine. It's taking a bit of time to clean today..."

She trails off as I move closer to the panel she's working in. Hm... All this is gibberish to me. But... it seems like it's going off to a good start, I guess.

"I see..." I comment. "Why's it taking longer than usual to clean?"

She shrugs. "I... can't seem to pinpoint the problem," she says, looking at the panel. "I don't know if I'm missing something, or because I haven't worked with these subroutines for a long time, but... I can't seem to get the full subroutine to run properly. I just... I don't know..."

Hm... "Is something distracting you?" I ask, crossing my arms. "If it is, you can let me know about it..."

Her visor turns to me, and as I see the light behind her visor disappear briefly, I know she would like to. Eventually, she nods, and then steps away from the console, gesturing for me to follow. Huh... This is a bit strange. I follow the quarian out to the drive core, our footsteps echoing off the metal as we eventually come to the platform directly in front of the drive core. It leaves a strange glow on the both of us as she moves along. I look to her with a puzzled look on my face, but she opens her omni-tool as soon as we're in front of a panel.

"I don't know if this was ever spoken in the game, but I think you should see this anyway," she says. She keys a couple of things on there, and then holds her tool out to me.

I squint and kneel down to see something on a small piece of text. Is... this is an extranet message? I see... Well, it shouldn't be that hard. But she seems a little nervous about this... And perhaps a little disappointed?

Hm... This is probably important. I should read what she's got here...

_To: Hesesh'Jorin vas Moreh, Migrant Fleet  
From: Tali'Zorah vas Neema, Migrant Fleet_

_To the parents of Myr'Jorin,_

_My name is Tali'Zorah vas Neema, and I led the unit on Haestrom where Myr'Jorin died. I only served with Myr for a short time, but I was impressed by his bravery and his commitment to his people. He gave his life to get data that will one day bring us back to Homeworld, and we all honor his sacrifice._

... Hm... I look up at Tali then, my eyebrow arching curiously. "A condolence message?" I ask.

She nods. "I've been trying to write it ever since we left Haestrom," replies the machinist, closing the message as she looks at me nervously. "It's been eating away at me for some time now. I know I have to write this message... but I just don't know what I can say to them... I've been writing in circles trying to figure out what to tell them. Myr'Jorin was a good soldier; it only feels right to give his parents condolences."

"But you can't word it right," I continue for her.

"Exactly." Tali's gaze is trained on the ground. "But I don't know how to finish the letter. I figured you might know something about all this..."

I frown, shaking my head. "This message was never mentioned in the game," I say, glancing up at the drive core. "So... I didn't really know about it. Why didn't you say anything to any of us?"

The quarian hesitates slightly as she stands there, her glance seeming to go towards the engine room itself before turning back to me. "I... don't know, honestly," she admits, looking back up at me. "I... I didn't want to burden anyone."

Hm... "I see..." I say. Well, I'm in a position where I can help... Okay... Think think think think...

Ah! I know just the thing!

I open up my omni-tool and go through my files. "Tell me something, Tali," I begin as I scan my files. "Have you ever head of the Bixby letter?"

Tali's hand comes up in a confused gesture. "Bixby letter?" she asks. "No, I don't think I have."

I nod. "Well, let's get started on that," I say. "There was this president of my nation way back when. I think he was in power at the same time you were waging your war with the geth. His name was Abraham Lincoln, and he was actually fighting a war within his country."

"A civil war?" she asks.

"We call it the American Civil War," I comment. Ah, there's the letter. "Fought between a whole group of states to the North and a whole bunch of states to the South that had seceeded from the 'union', as it was called. There was supposed to be something about slavery in there too, but yeah." I pause as I open the letter and prepare to send it to Tali's omni-tool. "But that's not the completely important part. There was this widow by the name of Bixby who supposedly lost five sons in the war. So someone within the White House wrote to the widow, offering their condolences. There's some dispute about who actually wrote the letter, but a lot of people think good ol' Abe Lincoln wrote it. So... I'll hand that off to you."

With this, I send her the file to the letter that I keep on my omni-tool. Hers pings very soon after, and then she opens the letter and reads it briefly. I can see the light of her eyes grow a little larger as soon as she finishes reading, and then she looks back up to me. "Such a nice letter..." she says. "I..."

"Some food for thought," I mention with a tilt of my head. "I figure it might help you finish that message."

Tali nods. "I think it will," she says. "I have an idea of how I can say what I want to say now. Thank you, Art."

I give her a smile as I close my omni-tool and nod to Tali. "Hey, any time," I say. "And if you need any more help, don't be afraid to pop your head into my room to tell me about anything you might need. If I'm busy, I'll stop what I'm doing to help."

The quarian nods simply. "I will," she says.

And with that, the two of us begin walking back to Tali's station in the engine room. I look back to her as we walk along. "You know, Tali," I say. "I've got a good feeling about things."

"Even given what'll happen on the Collector ship?" she asks.

"Even that," I comment, smirking despite myself. Those bugs will love all the double meanings the Brotherhood will be throwing at it. Fortunately, it will not include extracted iron from someone's blood. "I mean, life is good right now. We're here on the Normandy, Shepard is alive, Garrus is with us..." My head turns forward as we both move along. "It's just like old times, Tali."

"I don't know," says Tali. "I think... some part of me wants to think that it'll be better than old times."

I smile. "I think so too."

And we walk the rest of the way to her console. And then she goes back to work on that cleaning subroutine, her fingers gliding over it with a slightly more noticeable air of confidence in them. I see something go off on the panel, and then she looks up at me. I can swear she's smiling.

"There we go!" she says. "You're right. I was just a little distracted. Thank you, Art."

I smile in turn, placing my hands behind my back. "Any time Tali."

Ah, the good virtues of friendship. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, especially when I think about Tali. It's nice to know that I was able to help her out on something. After all, it makes me really glad to feel her smiling, even if I can never see it from behind that fucking visor. But, that's the best part of everything. With Tali, you know when she's happy with you. There's no real veil, despite the fact that we can't see her face. And I think that says-

"Well, will ya look at that, Gabby? I'll bet ya anythin' they're gonna start the more... squishy stuff soon."

...

"_Keeeeeeen..._"


	17. Chapter 16

_A/N: And we're back!_

_Okay. This time, we go onto that Collector ship. And stuff shall happen that will deviate a little bit from canon. It won't seem like anything major, but trust me, it will result in one of the most important developments in MV2. You'll see what I mean, but if you don't get the hint immediately..._

_And ah, the Tali shiptease. I shall have much fun with that._

_I think I owe you guys some sort of apology; the next two chapters will be later than usual. I've been having a bit of a stressful week lately, what with trying to organize octets and all this stuff. I've been having a whole lot of drama heaped onto me, but hopefully with Thanksgiving break coming up I'll be able to get back to our semi-regular update schedule._

_Anyhow, I think I've held up enough of your time with the A/N. So I'll jump straight to the chapter now._

* * *

Chapter 16: Discoveries

I suit up, shaking my head. Jeez...

We're getting closer to the Collector ship... And somehow, my dream was more intense than it usually is... I don't know what could've caused that at all... But it was so wierd...

It flowed the same as always. I walked down that wierd hall, felt gravity pull at me strangely, arrived at the door, tried to open it, and got beaten by that crowd.

But... I've memorized that dream back and forth. So then... this one time was slightly different.

Because right as I got to the door, one of my fingers twitched. I swear to God, that finger has never twitched in all the times I've had that dream. I could've sworn that my eyes also got to move a little more freely than they did before... I... I don't know, it felt like I was only just realizing how shackled I was to some strange kind of forward movement. I don't know what the hell is up with that... It's like I was being led by a train with all the previous times I've had that dream, yet in a way that I wasn't aware of before...

But the most disturbing part? When I began to be beaten, I actually felt pain. Normally, it was only faint, and then it was only two or three blows before I woke up. Here... it took me at least a full minute of being beaten over the head with God knows what before I woke up.

That... was actually really shocking to me. I thought I wasn't supposed to feel pain in a dream. Well, apparently I was wrong about that. When I woke up, there was nothing on me, but I could still feel the lingering of the blows on me...

What the hell happened that this one time the dream I had was different from all the other times I've had it? I swear, that finger never twitched. Ever...

I shouldn't think about it now. We're almost at the Collector ship. And I'll need to concentrate, especially seeing as how we'll be doing a whole lot of fighting off the Collectors later in the ship. Fucking TIM leading us into a trap...

It's best not to think about it for now. I'll just go along and meet up with Shepard.

I tie the cloth Ash gave me all those years ago to my arm, and then nod before exiting. As soon as I get there, though, I look to my right and suddenly see Thane walking to the elevator too.

I nod to the drell as he crosses his hands behind him, his sniper rifle strapped to his back. "Oh, Thane," I say with a smile. "What's up?"

He pauses for a second, but I can see his secondary eyelids nictate briefly. "I am no worse than ever," he says. "Yourself?"

I shrug. "I'm feeling fine," I say. "I feel pretty good about this mission. It's gonna be pretty... odd, but we'll live, right?"

He nods. The elevator doors open, and the two of us step inside, turning around as soon as we're inside. He is silent as we both stand there, and I shrug. Well, I guess I can understand his reticence on the mission. He is prepared for anything, it seems. The doors close in front of us, and then I feel the slow downward lull as the elevator goes down towards the Kodiak.

I look over to Thane, and then... wait, he's looking at me with an impassive expression. Wait, why would he be looking at me? I mean, unless he wanted to...

... Oh my God... He actually wants to start a conversation with me. Again!

"There is something I wish to ask you," he says, uncrossing his hands from behind him as his second eyelids nictate again. "And yet... I am afraid of invading any potential privacy."

... Oh, dear, don't tell me... "Oh?" I say, crossing my arms. "Well..." Ah, what the hell. If he knows, we'll just induct him into the Brotherhood and that'll be that. I guess we are kind of next-door neighbors, anyhow. "Ask me anyway. I'll be the judge of whether it's too private or not."

With this, he gives a slight nod. I can swear he's smiling slightly as I give him this. Well, I'm glad he approved my answer, anyhow. So...

"What is your relationship with Tali'Zorah?" he asks.

...

What?

Well... that's... rather out of the blue, I think... I mean... Thane? Asking about relationships? I didn't think he'd go there... I mean, there was Irikah, but the game never made one mention about how close Thane and Irikah were to each other. I know Thane considered her his salvation, but... how did he act around her? That was never... I don't know... Why would he take interest in my relationships...? I don't...

Ah, hell, I better just answer the question.

"Well..." I say. "We're... friends. Really, really good friends." I shrug at him as the elevator moves up. "That's... kind of a strange question. Coming from you, I mean. Why do you ask?"

"I was simply... curious," he states. "From the way you act around her, I imagine you two will be much more than friends when all of this ends."

"I..." I say, frowning. "I don't know how you have enough information to say that, but I don't care. That's... I don't even know how I'm supposed to reply to that..."

His gaze turns back to the elevator doors in front of him. "You will find words for a reply in the future," he says, his voice rasping as he speaks. "Treat her well." This comes almost as a warning. "Leliahna does not look kindly on those who would betray the development of love for others. I shall look forward to the day you acknowledge your true feelings for her."

With this, the elevator door opens out to the hangar bay, and then I blink as the doors open. Well... That was... I'm not sure what to think as Thane makes his exit shortly afterwards. I mean, I knew he was a thinker, but I didn't think he was a good observer either... This is a bit much to take in. Especially since it was never exposited on in the game. This... I don't quite know what to make of this. Well... I guess I'll figure it out eventually. Right...

I better get off this thing before I unintentionally take it up again.

I step off the elevator to find Jenny doing some last-minute preparations on the hull of the Kodiak with something as she stands there, looking over at Shepard and Tali as they both converse with the mechanic. I see Madison off to the side, regarding the shuttle with a hand on her chin as she's thinking of something. I dunno, but... Well, it's good to see Tali and Madison are both with us on this mission. It means I can give details about the mission changes that we run into. I guess.

I look over to Jenny as she finishes doing some final things, and then she gives me a big wave from where she is. I can't help but wave back, and then Shepard looks as Thane and I approach. She gives us a brief nod as I make my way over, and then before I know it she's telling us all to board the shuttle. We nod at this, and then I walk over to the shuttle as Shepard gets in first, followed very shortly after by Madison. Tali and Thane both jump in next, and then I pull myself inside as Jenny falls in and closes the shuttle door behind her. I grab my helmet as she nods to us, stepping into the cockpit and running some final diagnostics before she turns to us.

"I hope you're ready," she says. "Last chance before we go right to the heart o' the enemy, ya know?"

"We're ready," says Shepard.

The shuttle pilot nods. "Then here we go," she says.

Right... to the Collector base!

* * *

I put my helmet on, fixing it over the seals just right. I close the clamps on my helmet, and take a deep breath to make sure the systems are working. Okay... I hear that hiss, we're in good hands.

... God, I hate having to work in vacuums. Seriously, it's bad enough that we have to wear these fucking helmets, but now? I really don't want in on the helmet action. I know I have to, but still. I hate the confined space my head is in. Personally, I don't know how quarians can deal with this every waking day, but I guess that's something I'll never find out.

I look over to Thane as he nods. He has that black mask with the red eye things, and he seems to be all right where he is at the moment. Thank Jeebus for that, I guess. Hopefully he won't die on us before he falls in love with Shepard. That's highly unlikely, but at the rate they're being glued together at I can't take too many chances, I'm afraid. I turn to Shepard as she finishes fixing her own helmet. Her hands seem extra meticulous about it, running over the seals again and again. Can't say I blame her; she got spaced to death, and I'm sure she's going to take as many precautions as she can against being spaced again. It must be a terrible way to die, not being able to breathe. I don't think I could stand it. As she quadrouple-checks the seals on her helmet, I look back to Madison and nod at her. The Journalist nods back with her helmet on, the black glass looking out at all of us. I swear, I'll never get used to seeing her in that helmet in the future. It looks a lot like the biker helmet she wore in _Heavy Rain _to me, but power to her for that, I guess. I don't think I'll be able to stop thinking of Adrian Baker now that she's wearing that helmet. I swear, her motorcycle skills would come in handy here if there were any actual space motorcycles to be seen. Oh, well...

We don't have time to ponder that. I look to Jenny as she seals off her area of the shuttle, and then she nods to us. Shepard simply nods back, and we all look out to the shuttle doors as they open out to reveal the place we're going to be investigating for however long it takes us to find what we need.

And... here it is. We're in the Collector ship. Shepard is the first one to step off, and I follow very close behind. Wow... this place is as depressing as it was in the game. Brown walls, brown floor... all of it looking like a strange insect hive, of course, but it's still brown. I can see the dust particles dance in the air in front of me, and it's not a very well-lit place, now that I think about it. I look around as I fall into step behind Shepard. It's eerily quiet because of the vacuum we're in, but I can sense Tali, Thane, and Madison all fell into step behind the two of us. I glance over to the side, and see Tali has fallen into step next to me. I nod to her, blinking and allowing her to get a look at my eyes.

She acknowledges this. "You look a little nervous," she points out.

I glance up, smirking under the helmet. Well, nobody can see my mouth, so I might as well indulge in a bit of smug behavior. "Things look like they could get... interesting," I say as I cross my arms.

"This ship is supposed to be derelict," says Shepard. Ah, Shepard, you'll see how wrong that is in a bit. "But you're right, we could find some very interesting information here. Let's move."

And we do so, walking through the base as we all keep our eyes in front of us. Our weapons aren't drawn as we go through the base, seeing the dreary brown. We come across a few pods that are empty now... Okay, we approach them, with Shepard at the front as Madison moves forward and kneels near the pod. Her hands grip the edges of the pod, and she leans in. I can't gauge her reaction given that helmet, but... her hands don't seem to be in too good of hands.

"This must be where they're holding the colonists," she says, looking inside.

Shepard nods. "There are still people on the ship..." she says.

Madison leans forward, and her hand sifts lightly through the... ew, we're getting the genetic paste already? I can see her shoulders visibly cringe as her finger sifts through it. She manages to rake up a clump of the paste against her finger as we look, and I cringe as she rubs it through her fingers. The black material looks disturbingly like soil... Shit, if this is what I think it is, things just took a turn for the ridiculously shocking...

Fuck, I don't like where this is going...

"This definitely isn't like anything I've ever seen before..." says Madison. "What did they do to the colonists?"

"Whatever they did, it wasn't pretty," comments Shepard. "But still... what is that?"

I shake my head. No, I won't say anything. The less I say, the better for my sanity. I really, really don't want to think about how they turned people into genetic paste. I really, truly don't.

"I don't like this," says Madison. "Whatever they're doing to the colonists..."

I shake my head. "This is looking more and more grim by the second," I say. "First the colonists are put into these pods... and what then?"

I feel slight pressure on my shoulder, and when I glance to the side I see Tali standing there, her hands on my shoulders. I blink before turning back to the pod in question. We both look as Madison stands up, shaking her head as her arms come around her.

"I don't know what to think of this," she says. "Let's get going. Maybe there'll be an answer later."

Shepard nods in agreement, with Thane silently standing by. Slowly, we all turn towards where Shepard is going, Madison and Tali both hanging behind me as we move along. They both tilt their heads to the right at exactly the same time.

Ah, there's our cue. I turn our comm channels to the private channel I've decided to set up for Brotherhood use. Man, I feel even more like a covert agent like this. This will get very crazy, I'm sure. I turn to Tali and Madison as they do the same thing.

"Seriously, what was that stuff?" asks the Journalist.

I blink, biting my lower lip. "I'm not sure, but I think I might have an idea on what that stuff is based on what happens later," I comment. "When we take the fight to the Collectors, we'll see a bunch of people in those kinds of pods. I think one of them gets whittled down into that stuff right in front of Shepard."

Tali and Madison both cringe at the same time. "So that's...?" she asks.

"It could be one of those human milkshakes, yeah," I say. "It's all of their genetic material, ground up into that paste."

"That's _awful_," says Madison, shaking her head. "Why are they doing that?"

I blink, looking ahead. "You really want to know why they're doing it this early?" I ask.

"It's just..." begins Tali as she spares a glance back at the thing. "I can't believe anyone would do that to an entire species."

"It's the work of the Reapers," I say, crossing my arms in front of me. "You can't have forgotten that, can you?"

The journalist and the machinist both shake their head at exactly the same time. "We didn't," replies Madison. "What with the Collectors being repurposed Protheans, right?"

I nod. "Yeah," I comment, looking at the two of them.

"It's still horrible," replies Tali, giving a hand gesture indicating her trepidation. "I just don't understand what they would need that for..."

I nod. I probably shouldn't tell them now, so... "I'll tell you when we're closer to entering the Collector base," I reply. "But know that the Reapers are involved, and it's probably something that's not very nice..."

Madison nods, shaking her head. "I'm not looking forward to seeing what they do with that paste..." she says.

You wouldn't be, I guess; you've always come to expect the worst, I think. Fucking Leland White and his taxidermy expertise. Seriously, that DLC got creepy as hell when I discovered the room with the stuffed women. What was even more disturbing? The fact that we could use that room to hide from him. Yeah. I wasn't feeling all that well after I played The Taxidermist... Especially since I accidentally got her killed the first time I played that DLC.

Well, for her credit, Madison can take things all in stride without too much problem, so I think she'll be fine. And knowing the Collectors will ambush us within their home base at a later point... That only means we have to be more focused than we normally would otherwise. I just hope things will go well with that... If they don't, I don't know what we're going to do.

Just take a deep breath, Art. Everything will be fine.

I nod, tilting my head to the left. We turn our comm channels back to the agreed-upon channel as we venture deeper into the ship.

* * *

We end up coming across a lot of things on our way through the ship. We find a pile of dead human bodies, to which Madison simply shook her head in lament. Thane could only comment on how sad it was before Shepard expressed some form of regret about the bodies that were laying there. We all agree that there's nothing we can do about it now, so we give them one last look before we move on.

We continue moving, coming a cross a control panel soon after the bodies. It's a wierd thing, and it's next to this pad. Shepard walks up to it with a curious tilt in her head as she goes up and activates her omni-tool. As she's standing in front of it, Ah, this is where the Collector that was experimented on is, right? Yeah, yeah, this is it. The area is a lot more dimly lit than I'd think. As Shepard works on her omni-tool, though, the lights come up very shortly after, and it illuminates the dead Collector sleeping in the pod.

Ah. There it is.

"It's a Collector," says Thane, looking over to it. "It seems it was tortured."

Madison jerks violently at this. "Why would they torture one of their own?" she asks. "That doesn't seem right."

I walk over to the Collector pod as I raise my eyebrow. "Who knows?" I ask.

Shepard nods from the distance as I tap my fingers against the pod. I look over to her as she waves her omni-tool in front of her. "EDI, I'm uploading the data from this terminal. See if you can figure out what they were up to."

I look over at the Collector corpse as EDI suddenly mentions something about analyzing the data from that terminal. Hm... I never got a good look at this Collector corpse in the game. It was kind of hard to, given I could never reach it. That, and I was afraid to; the game always glitched out on me at those kinds of spots. So I walk over there, looking at the thing as Tali and Madison stand a short distance away. I look down at the body...

Yeah, four eyes... The arms... The insect-like structure...

Wait. Something doesn't seem completely right about this Collector.

"The Collectors were running baseline genetic comparisons between their species and humanity," says EDI.

"Are they looking for similarities?" asks Shepard as she glances at the Collector in the pod.

... Hold on... There's something there that I'm pretty damn sure wasn't there before...

Yeah, there is something there that wasn't there in the game! What's that grey metallic glow over there in the Collector's left hand?

"I have no hypothesis on their motivations," continues EDI. "All I have are the preliminary results. They reveal something remarkable."

"Really?" asks Tali. "What do they reveal?"

"A quad strand genetic structure, identical to traces collected from ancient ruins." continues EDI. "Only one race is known to have these structures: the Protheans."

I look up from my reverie to see Tali and Madison both stumble back at the same time, as Thane barely moves in his surprise. I see Shepard's eyes widen in shock from behind the glass of the N7 helmet as she steps back from the terminal.

"My God..." she says. "The Protheans didn't vanish. They're just working for the Reapers now."

Ah, revelations are nice, eh, Shepard. Sucks about the fate of the Protheans. The only thing that mitigates it is the fact that, well, I already knew about it. But... I walk around the Collector, looking down on its corpse as I pass its feet. This is a little-

... Wait.

Why is that light shining brighter than before? I just walked over, and it got brighter...

Hold on a second... Which side of my armor did I put Orange in...?

... That's right, I put it on the left side, where I used to put my wallet when I still lived on Earth. My left side is also brushing up against the pod where it's close to that shining object. So if it's getting closer to the object and making the light brighter...

That can only mean one thing...

"These are no longer Protheans, Shepard," continues EDI. "Their genes show distinct signs of extensive genetic rewrite. The Reapers have repurposed them to suit their needs."

... And yet they couldn't stop a Prothean divination device from being stored inside their vanguard for 50,000 years. Meaning they must have had another way to work around everything else... If they had found a way to resist indoctrination, maybe... Yes, this Collector probably still had some facet of his will left. And that's why they used him for these experiments or whatever. It's a stretch, given that I don't think they would... Well, unless it was genetic. But how did they engineer that with the short time they had during the Reaper wars? But...

How did that technique get passed down? I doubt it's possible for these things to have survived for such a thing... It might be the only solution there, but I don't totally believe it. I guess we'll see what happens with that in the near future.

If all this is true... there's only one solution to that light getting stronger on the approach. It must be what Orange is for. It's the only possible explanation for seeing the light there when it was never in the original game. If I see the light, it's something I'll need for my journey. If they managed to stash Orange away to build resistance to indoctrination, perhaps they managed to find a way to make sure this shining facet would be kept in the right hands. And if they figured out how to do all that...

The Conduit was only the beginning. That was their way of buying us time to figure out what else is new. They've got other plans that are bigger and badder than this.

And it's up to me to lead everyone to those plans.

I'm the keeper of secrets, for I shall know what must be done to save the galaxy. I have knowledge of the future shared by no-one else... And that knowledge has to be kept secret, because I would never be believed, much like I can't tell anyone about Orange lest the Reapers find out about the Protheans' contingency plans...

But Sovereign must have found out somehow, seeing as how Saren really tried to kill me when the device came out...

No. They only know about the orange device and the shiny thingamabob. They had to get an organic to find the Conduit for them, so they don't know everything about the Protheans' plans. And they have no way of knowing unless I pipe up.

I understand what I have to do now... I have to look for more clues about any possible plans the Protheans might have thought up. And then I have to nudge the right people in that direction. I still don't understand why I have to be of another universe to do all that, as I can see anyone like Shepard doing the same thing, but... All things considered, I at least have a couple more answers. With about twenty more questions, granted, but still.

Okay... so look for Prothean clues about stuff... Right... Well, that one mission in that one planet with the Prothean Beacon held by the Blue Suns probably isn't it... So...

The only other Prothean construction I can think of where there'll probably be a few clues is the Collector base... that's it! Maybe there's something there that they've left behind. Something that I can use to help me fulfill my end of the prophecy. Something that can stop the Reapers, even, which might be a bit of a stretch, but...

I nod, biting my lower lip. I look to Shepard... shit, I missed the rest of the convo, didn't I? And I missed the part where she picks up a new toy to play with too, I bet...

Well... hey, she's got an assault rifle on her back now! I guess I would've gone with that too if I already had a shotgun and all that beautiful jazz. She's nodding to the rest of us, and then I look at the pod briefly before glancing up at the rest of them. They're all giving me perplexed looks, I can tell. Even if only one of them is wearing a mask I can actually see through. But what can I do about that?

I glance to the side before shrugging. "I thought I saw something," I say. "Give me a minute."

"Art?" asks Madison. "Are you sure it's safe to stay for a minute?"

I shrug. "I won't take much longer than a full minute," I reply. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up as soon as I've sorted things out."

"Well... all right," says Shepard. "Be sure to catch up!"

"Of course," I say. Well, I already know where to go anyway, so that's not much of an issue, now, is it?

Tali and Madison nod at this, and they both hesitantly follow Shepard. I give them a nod. "Don't worry, I'll be fine," I say. "It's not like the Collectors can ambush me from here, right?"

Which is funny because it's true; the Collectors really can't touch me. They don't move until they get onto that platform, so until then, I'm in good hands.

Right... I see them walk off, and then look to the Collector's hand. Okay, the object is inside. And here goes nothing.

I bring my hands over to it, reaching into the pod and feeling around. As I move the fingers of the Collector's hand, I find them surprisingly easy to open. Huh, you'd think something that's been dead for a long time would be more rigid. Well... technically it should've been impossible for Strahm's hands to grip the top of that wall trap as tightly as he did.

But I digress. Besides, I'm just glad I don't need a pair of pliers to pry his hands open.

I gently open the fingers, seeing the light still emanage. I look to the left part of my armor before my hand fishes through to find that damn pocket where I have the orange paperweight. I find it after a few seconds of fumbling around, and manage to remove the orange paperweight from there. I blink in surprise when I see it's glowing as well.

So my theory was right. Well... it's time to see what happens when the light from the two objects gets a little closer together.

Gingerly, I feel for the object in the Collector's hand with my fingers. Okay... it looks small, but made of very durable material... Damn, I wish I could feel it through my armor. Oh well... I guess I'll see what it is once this light finally expires.

I grip the object lightly in my hand, and then quickly bring it up to the level of my eye. I do the same thing with the orange paperweight barely a split second later, eyeing the strange lighting that it's giving off.

And then, it glows brightest for the smallest fraction of a second before suddenly the light dies from both the paperweight and the new object I've picked up. I blink, finding the lack of lighting suddenly getting to me. Wow... That was rather sudden. I don't know what the hell brought _that_ bout of darkness on, but... I guess I'll find out what this object is soon enough.

I blink, and then look at the object in my hands as it slowly comes into focus.

...

It's a cube. It's all grey and stuff, with the light glinting off of it almost like it was made of something strange. It gives off an aura of all-mighty motion, and...

Huh. Apparently the All-Spark was Prothean, and is more the size of my thumb than it is the size of my viola. Very interesting... Sam Witwicky has a lot to explain now that I've actually seen the All-Spark like this. I thought he destroyed that thing!

Well, it didn't pay off completely, if sequel mechanics have anything to say about that...

Seriously, though, why am I getting a small cube? I can understand the significance of the orange thing now, but this? I don't get it at all... What secret is this supposed to hold for me...?

I guess I'll find out soon enough. For now, I'm lagging behind everyone else.

I come around the pod, following where Shepard went, stashing the cube and the orange paperweight in the same sort of pocket. I close it off soon afterwards, breaking off into a run to catch up to Shepard and the rest of the group. Well, I know where to go from here, so I'll just continue down this way and catch up with them.

* * *

I rejoin with the group soon after, and before we know it, we're in the open space where the trap is supposed to be sprung. All I have to say about this space: damn. Just damn. This place looks really grand and all that, what with all of those pods embedded in the walls. It almost looks like gold from where I stand, what with the reflection of the glass in the very minimal lighting. I'd almost say it was grand if not for the fact that I know people are being turned into genetic goop up there. That tends to make things a little less amazing-looking. But still, all this hollow space.

It kind of makes me wonder where the hell they store all the fuel to keep these pods alive.

Okay... I hang back with Tali as Shepard, Madison, and Thane all approach that console. Granted, the two of us are still on that platform, but we're not that far. Okay... we're just getting to that information, and that convo is going on and on and on with Madison and Thane both standing by the Commander's side. Okay, yeah, you're scanning things for information, there's the IFF, blah, spring trap.

I watch this with disinterest. Yada yada ya, I've heard this all before, there's no need to tell me that stuff is going on there, blah blah blah...

Before I can contemplate about the fact that I still haven't heard much, I feel a slight nudge on my arm. I look over to the source to see Tali standing beside me, tilting her head to the right.

... Oh, dear, private comm channels, go!

I turn it to the private comm channel, raising my eyebrow at the quarian as I turn to face her. "Tali?" I ask.

She briefly glances down before looking up. "You seem a little distanced from everything that's going on," she says.

I shrug, looking at the pods all around us. "I've heard all this before," I say. "And unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of a space bar to skip to the next dialogue wheel, you know?"

She wrings her hands together slightly. "That's not exactly what I'm worried about," she replies. "There was... something else that bothered me."

I blink, looking back to where we just came from. Oh... "Let me guess," I say, chewing on my lower lip very softly. "You're worried about why I stayed behind."

"Yes," says Tali, looking directly into my eyes. "Is there something you're hiding?"

I blink, glancing to the left and right. Well, I assume you're not talking about my loyalty mission since we're here in this Collector ship, though I imagine that will be a non-issue soon enough, what with the loyalty mission probably coming soon. Speaking of which, I still haven't figured out how I'm going to tell her without breaking it to her that her father might possibly die. They need that shock factor to do stuff, but how the hell...?

Okay, yeah, I've spent more than enough time thinking about that. I'm assuming she's talking about other things. Well... I trust her with everything. So... I guess I can tell her about Orange. Wow, even within the Brotherhood we've got secrets... What's wrong with me?

"Well, there's something I haven't told anyone," I say, walking away from the platform. "It's something I've been hiding ever since I met Matriarch Benezia on Noveria."

Tali seems to frown as she looks at me. "That's an awfully long time to keep something from me," she comments.

"Well, at first I didn't say anything because I was ridiculously confused by stuff I found there," I reply as we come to a stop just a few feet away from where we were before. "So mostly, I was all 'wait, what the hell', you know? And it basically stayed that way for two years."

"Oh?" she asks. "Are you going to tell me in the near future?"

I nod briskly at this. "I plan to, now that I have a couple more answers," I say. "I'll... give you the sparknotes version of what I think I can divulge here. I've got the feeling it's not safe to talk about stuff in the presence of the Reaper's servants."

The quarian nods. "Fair enough," she says. "What happened on Noveria?"

I blink before my hand darts to the vacuum pocket where the paperweight is being held. I glance briefly back at where Shepard, Thane, and Madison are before I face Tali. Wow, this is taking a while. I can't help but feel that the time it's taking to get that info on the IFF is a little too convenient. "Well... I met Matriarch Benezia, as you know," I say. "Words were exchanged, the location of the Mu Relay was given on an OSD... But then something strange happened right before Sovereign managed to overpower her mind."

At this, I pull out the orange paperweight and reveal it to the quarian. "I don't know how the hell she did it," she says. "But somehow, she managed to freeze time. Trust me, I don't know why either. But she gave me this..."

She glances at the paperweight, and I can swear her expression is shifting as the orange paperweight gives a softly undulating glow. She looks down on it, bringing a finger up to it. I can sense the hesitation in her hand, and she looks to me for reassurance.

"You say she stopped time?" she asks.

"I still can't believe it even two years after it happened," I reply. "That's not the point. The point is that somehow I got this thing in my hands." I look to her as her fingers gingerly hover over the device. "Don't worry, it's safe."

The machinist regards me briefly, and then her hand comes down on the paperweight softly. I feel the extra pressure as she moves it around, even lightly taking it from my hand. I let her handle it, knowing she'll keep it safe as she briefly inspects the object. The inspection takes about ten seconds, and she holds the paperweight in all sorts of directions. When she's finished with the inspection, Tali turns back to me and holds out the paperweight for me to take. I nod, and then slowly take the object away from her.

"This..." she begins, not sure what to make of it. "What is that?"

"Good question," I say with a shrug. "That was actually a big part of my confusion. I figured I'd find out what it was eventually, you know?" I shrug. "I don't even know what it is; it never showed up in the game."

"Ah." Tali nods at my admission. "Have you gotten any answers?"

I shrug briefly. "I've managed to get my answers where I can get them, but it's not a whole lot," I reply. "This thing is still hella wierd, even with the stuff I have found out. I'll tell you what I know when we're back on the-"

And then, We hear a very loud clank. I jolt at this, the two of us looking back to...

Oh, shit! The platform's taking off without Tali and I! Fuck a duck!

I quickly turn my comm unit back to Shepard's channel, and look up at the platform as it flies off with Thane, Madison, and Garrus. Shit... Oh my God, I missed the platform! I rush forward instinctively, but come to a very quick stop a second later when it becomes all too apparent that I can't jump onto the platform in question. Oh, Jesus...

I look to Tali, and her body language is all I need to know she's as shocked as I am about this latest development. I open my mouth in shock, knowing she can't see it behind the helmet as we both look back, watching the platform vanish from our sight. For a few seconds, I stand there, seeing the platforms that are undoubtedly filled with Collectors heading towards her.

Gah, shit!

"It's a trap!" I say out loud.

...

Damn it, Admiral Ackbar! "Shepard, are you okay?" I continue after the momentary pause.

"I'm fine, Art," says Shepard.

"Yeah, you might wanna put some andale into whatever it is you're doing," I say. "There are a whole bunch of hostiles headed your way!"

"I noticed!" said Shepard. "Are you and Tali all right?"

I nod. "We're fine," I say. "I think the better question would be, are _you_ all right?"

"I'll be fine!" replies the Commander. "Art, Tali, stay right there! We'll be back down in a moment!"

... Uh, no. That will not be a viable option. I mean, you get dropped in a completely different place. "Shepard, maybe that-!"

"Commander!" Oh, shit, it's Jenny! "We've got a big problem! There are Collectors amassing all around the shuttle! I don't think they've detected me yet, but they're blocking all your routes to the shuttle! It'll be any minute before they get me 'ere!"

Oh, shit! Damn it, I figured bringing Jenny along on the shuttle was a bad idea! No no no no...

Wait. I'm not on one of those platforms! I can get to her! And that'll solve the problem of Shepard not being on the same platform as any of the rest of us!

I pull out my assault rifle soon afterwards, looking to Tali and nodding. "Hang in there, Jenny," I say. "I'm in a position where I can get to you! Just sit tight and we'll get to you!"

"Thank ya, Art!" she says. "I've got my gun ready. If they come in, they'll only have one place ta come in from!"

"Right," I say. "Get your breathing mask on and wait right there!"

I cut out the comm link as I hold my assault rifle in my hands. Tali takes out her shotgun, and with a flick of her omni-tool I see a glowing purple sphere come out. I glance at it, raising an eyebrow.

"Chikktika?" I ask.

"You bet," she says. "Art, are you sure about running through the ship to get to Jenny?"

"I'm sure," I say, checking my assault rifle as the two of us run back the way we came. "If the Collectors get her, we might not have a competent enough pilot to get us out of here. Come on!"

The two of us take off without a word after this, Chikktika following behind shortly afterwards. Oh, great, the trap was sprung, and we weren't even on that platform! Now we're fighting for our lives here, hoping the Collectors won't kill us on the other way to the shuttle!

Well... there's only one thing we can do about that. And that is to keep going. And we need to get to that ASAP, I believe, so here's hoping we can survive!

* * *

Tali and I rush past everything we've seen before, and I give the dead Collector in the pod a final glance before we move on. Well, we're making good progress here, I think. They haven't blocked our way back out yet, so I'll take that as a good sign of things to come. Okay... I hold my assault rifle out as we move around quickly. Damn, this ship is big.

And then, just as we round a corner, I hear a round go off somewhere close to Tali and I.

"Ah, shit!"

The two of us dive into cover as Collector fire whizzes overhead. Chikktika flies past us as I look to Tali and bite my lower lip. I nod, peering over cover.

Okay, there are only four Collectors. Okay... We just have to hope Harbinger won't take over the mind of one of those things and we'll be in good hands, I think. Right... just be careful, and you'll be all right.

I peer over cover with my assault rifle in hand, looking at the small amount of Collectors there are. I see one approaching us quickly... Jesus Christ, he's close! Gotta take him out first!

I pepper this Collector with assault rifle fire, the creature letting loose quite a bit of blood. Okay, they don't have shields yet. Okay, that's a good thing. I look to Tali just as I finish unloading bullets into said Collector, and with a blast of her shotgun the thing goes down.

No sooner do I behold this when I hear the crack of lightning go off. I blink, a little surprised at this, before I notice Chikktika off to the side. I think it's just released a lightning charge at one of the Collectors, and... yeah, it's reeling back slightly from that. I think I have my next target.

I accordingly bring up my assault rifle, and look through the sights at the Collector as it rears its head on Chikktika. Well, we can re-summon it in the game, but I'm not going to find out if it's actually possible in real life. So I accordingly fire a few rounds of my assault rifle into the Collector, and it goes down as Chikktika seems to stay suspended in midair. All right, that's two down!

Well... one down, now. Tali switched to her handgun to pick off a Collector in the distance, and she manages to take it down from where we are. Right... This leaves that one drone, and I see Chikktika already flying towards it. It's only one Collector, so I might as well-

My shields beep, and then I see it has that laser cannon thing.

Crap! I almost instantly duck back into cover as the laser passes over me. I take in a few deep breaths, looking over to Tali as I take in a deep breath. Okay, yeah, just wait for the laser to pass... It'll be all right... Right?

... Shit, what about Chikktika? When it gets there the Collector particle beam is gonna be all over the drone... What then?

... I shouldn't worry about it. After all, we do have a shuttle to get to, right?

I hear it cut out very soon after, and then I frown. Okay, that's my cue!

I come up, and then see Chikktika fly over as I level assault rifle fire at the Collector. It takes a few hits, and I come out of cover quickly as Tali adds her own firepower to it. Eventually, I see the combat drone come into the Collector's range of sight. Before it can so much as raise that fucking cannon, the creature is given an electric shock by the circular drone. This manages to put the Collector down, and then I look over to Tali as she comes out of cover.

I nod to her briefly. "Come on," I say. "The Collectors aren't going to wait forever."

"Right behind you," she says.

And the two of us advance, with Chikktika following alongside us. We don't encounter too much resistance most of the rest of the way there. Huh, looks like they're saving their big guns for Shepard. Either way, we don't see too much of the Collectors. But when we do run into a few units, we manage to take them down pretty easily. Tali, Chikktika and I make a pretty good team, it seems. I just hope Chikktika has enough self-repair protocols to cover every situation that can be covered when we get over to Jenny...

Speaking of which, aren't we getting close to-

... Oh, crap!

Tali, Chikktika, and I come across a gigantic door, and I look at it. Fuck!

"It's locked!" I say, banging my head against it. "Crap!"

Tali looks over there at the door, her face expressing her surprise. However, before she can comment on it there is a loud sort of hiss behind us. When we turn to look, we see the door that we've just passed through close shut behind the two of us. We're plunged into near total darkness, with only the faint glow of Chikktika to provide any light for us. And when it slams shut, there is a loud boom that reverberates in the small space.

...

Oh, shit...

"Shepard, this is Art! Do you copy?" I ask.

I wait for a few seconds for a reply. But there's nothing. The only reply I get is static. I look over to where I think Tali is, and I'm greeted with the very faint light that is her eyes from behind her visor. I can sense fear in them, even as she looks around for us.

... "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff..."

I open my omni-tool, the orange glow breaking the darkness slightly as I hold it out.

"We're trapped," says Tali, shaking her head.

"Thanks for stating the obvious, Tali," I reply, barely able to hold back the frustration in my voice. "They're preparing something... We've gotta find a way out."

Okay... we're the only life forms in here... Which means we can probably be in good hands until they decide to do whatever it is they want with us. So we're safe for now, though it definitely won't last long. They're off doing stuff right now, I take it, and we can't wait for Shepard to show up since they probably have plans for the two of us... Now what was that about something...?

Oh, wait!

"Tali, can you hack this door?" I ask.

She looks over to me with a slight look of surprise on her face. "Art?" she asks.

"We're going to need to hack it," I say, looking all around us. "There's no way we can let the Collectors to come and collect us, and without Shepard knowing about us there's no way we can prevent that sort of thing. We need to get ourselves out."

She nods. "I could try, but I can't promise anything," she says. "We haven't been exposed to this kind of thing before!"

I shrug as I look at her. "Think of it as practice, then," I say. "We're going to need someone to do this exact thing when we hit the game's final mission. So this is a way to get used to the Collector tech, you know?"

I see her glance up at me in slight hesitation before she nods. "All right," she says. "I'll try my best, but I can't guarantee anything."

The orange glow of her omni-tool brightens the cavern a little more, and then she works at it as Chikktika glows a little brighter. A few seconds after she tinkers with this, I see an interface sprawl out across the door. It's got a door lock, as well as some other, smaller thing that Tali's gaze immediately turns to. It's flashing red at the moment, but it's got the green underlines at the moment. Hm... It considerably brightens the dark space between the two doors, so we have a little more lighting in the small space. I look over to Tali, and then her fingers come up to what I assume is the hacking interface as she blinks.

"Here goes nothing," she says.

And her hands enter the hacking interface very slowly, and I see the smaller window flash a bright green in response.

As I watch, her fingers begin to move deftly in the space, her gaze intent on the green interface as she goes through it. I watch, kneeling next to it as she shakes her head.

"This is really hard to crack..." she says. "There are so many firewalls... And I've found a subroutine that can erect a new firewall every few seconds. I need to disable the subroutine first, but I won't have much time before it repairs itself. This is really hard..."

I look over to the quarian. "Can you do it?"

"I could try," replies Tali as she turns her head slightly to me. "But I don't know if I can hack through all of them."

"What happens if you can't?" I ask as I look up at the interface.

Tali turns her head to me fully. "I don't know," she admits. "We're playing a dangerous game here, Art. I know it's our only option, but still..."

Wow... There's a lot of fear in her voice. I can sense it in her body language, too; her arms seem to droop slightly, her hands almost coming out of the hacking interface. I bite my lower lip at this, wishing she could see it under my helmet. Oh, dear...

I slowly bring my hand up, and with a very light gesture I place it on her shoulder. I can feel her jolt slightly under the touch, but she doesn't pull away. I give her a kind look as I lay my hand there, giving a kind expression from behind the helmet. She glances down briefly... is she flustered? I dunno.

"I have faith in you, Tali," I say. "You can do this, because you're the best god-damn hacker I've ever met in this galaxy. I know you'll get us through this."

The air is still for a few seconds as Tali contemplates this. I look at her as she looks down at the ground, her hands faltering slightly but never leaving the green space they occupy. I gaze on her, letting her process this as she gathers her bearings.

Finally, she nods, and then looks back up. I see some new strength come up in her arms, and then she prepares her hands.

"I'll do my best," she says.

And with this, her hands begin to move again. I look up at the interface as her hands seem to fly in a strange kind of dance. I watch intently, seeing all sorts of lines of miniscule text pop up like the hacking module in the game. They're moving incredibly fast, though, and she's busy trying to capture a lot more pieces of text than I would think is savory. But the fingers are flying across, and I can see her concentrating on this.

With a few seconds, I hear a rather loud beep come from Tali's omni-tool. I then see the display on the interface Tali is working within change.

"Okay, I've disabled the sub-routine," she says. "Now for the hard part..."

I nod, and almost as soon as I do so she's off.

And here the play of her fingers with the interface gets more precise. It's less about hitting things frantically here and more about precision, it seems. Her fingers dart at various places, and at very precise times as well. She concentrates fully now, looking at the module as certain things of text go by. Okay... It looks the same way it did in the game, I guess, but she's working through a couple more firewalls.

Damn, why do things in the game always have to be so much easier than in real life? I'm just glad I'm not the tech expert here; I would get us killed faster. But Tali... she's got damn fine skills if she can do that kind of thing really fast. And especially with what limited time we probably have thanks to the fact that there's probably a large group of Collectors amassing outside the door on either side...

Now there's a thought: what do when we finally open the door? I guess we'll find out soon enough. Either way, I hope it's nothing too bad. Because that would suck. Greatly. Tali can get us through this, I know it.

I hear another beep from her omni-tool, and before I know what else is up the panel on the door turns green. A second later, her hands leave the module, and then she taps the green door panel quickly. The door opens very quickly, the speed that it opens at shocking me.

"I got it!" says Tali, her voice inflecting in great jubilation.

I smile, nodding as I place my hands on my hips. "See?" I ask. "I told you you could-!"

And then the door opens behind us as well. I turn to-

Holy shit! Seekers! And there are a ton of them! And they're all ready to descend on us! Fuck!

"Ah, fuck!" I shout, grabbing Tali roughly by the arm as Chikktika begins to move into the swarm. "Let's move!"

With this, my feet hit the floor, and I'm away from where we just were in a heartbeat.

I don't care to look back as I begin to sprint forward, the quarian stumbling a little as she loses her footing. I keep my hold on her arm as firm as I can, however, and so sprint while holding my assault rifle. I can only spare a glance back as Chikktika begins firing electric shocks into the swarm. It's affecting the little buggers greatly, but it's one little globe versus a whole bunch of bugs. Shit, Chikktika is going to get destroyed in there... and there isn't a whole lot I can do about it...

I shake my head, turning back in the direction I'm running in and pulling Tali along. I find it less of a task as we go, however, as she's running as fast as I am now. We both fly down the corridor, hearing the seeker swarms approaching us as we get closer to where we started along here... Damn it...

My feet pound against the floor, my hand refusing to let go of Tali as I nearly trip over something. I stumble a little, but manage to regain my footing right before I have to hurdle over a chest-high wall. I look over to Tali, who seems to be giving off so much fear with the way her arm is moving as she runs. I only reply with my eyes before we're facing forward again, moving as quickly as we can.

And then I hear the typical signs of bugs moving about. Oh, shit... I glance behind me to see the seeker swarms are coming up behind us, and fast. Literally, it's like a black cloud is descending on us... and it's after us...

God, I hate weather analogies. Fucking seeker swarms remind me of a tornado. A tornado that doesn't stop at anything. Damn... I'm not too keen on being turned into genetic paste at the moment. Because that's what's going to happen if I get caught... Fuck...

Just keep running, just keep running...

I hurdle over a few more chest-high walls as I hear Tali's footsteps move as quickly as my own. Come on... I spare another glance behind us as I hear the seekers move.

Fuck... They're gaining on us! Knowing that a pack of bugs can catch up to us at any second... And we can't run forever! Crap! Okay, calm down, just start thinking about ways you can do stuff... Okay...

Shit... we don't have a biotic with us! And even if we did, Thane wouldn't be able to do it as well as Jack or Samara, so... No, no no no! Okay, there's gotta be a way...

Wait! What about doors? Yes... Yes! If there were other doors, there's gotta be another one somewhere we can trigger to stop the seeker swarms from following us! I just need to see if Tali can do that kind of thing...

"Tali!" I shout frantically. "Can you get any doors closed so we can lose these seekers?"

The quarian scans the area quickly, and I start looking too. Okay... okay... door... where the hell is there a door... Come on, show us a freaking door! At about the same time, we both look in front of us to see a doorway right in front of us. Why the Collectors haven't closed it on us is beyond me, but it's right there. I can see the pockets in the ground, as can Tali.

She briefly looks over to me before she nods, bringing up her omni-tool and working with it. She looks over to the door, and then I feel her speed pick up.

"We're going to have to jump through the doors as they close!" she says.

I nod, and then we approach the doors. I can feel the swarms descending on us already... Fuck, we've gotta move! I pick up my sprinting pace slightly as we approach the door. Okay, we only have one shot at this. I fuck this up, it's all over for us.

Okay...

Tali hits something on her omni-tool's interface. I see the doors slide shut almost immediately. Oh, no you don't! Tali and I jump at exactly the same time, though through it just as a seeker touches down on my shoulder. We both jump through the door, and it slams closed almost immediately after our bodies pass through. I can hear a light squish of things being crushed, and then Tali and I are left to roll over.

As I roll to a stop on the hard ground, I blink at the feeling, and then look to my-

Holy shit, it's a seeker!

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, get it off!"

And so my hand swats the seeker, and I feel the wet crunch of something against my suit as it vibrates through the shoulder.

... Did I...?

I take a deep breath and move my hand so I can see what-

Ew! Okay! That's really fucking gross!

I very gingerly bring my hand over to my leg, brushing my hand off on the piece of armor on my pants. I grimace as I lay there, not bothering to catch my breath as Tali stands up and makes her way to me. I look over to the quarian as she helps me to a sitting position. Okay...

"Ew..." I say as I brush the last of the seeker blood and guts off my hand. I gingerly wipe at my shoulder as Tali looks over to the door. I don't hear the seeker swarms anymore as I look over to the door, and I see that there are a few crushed seekers in the door. But they're not keeping it open, and they're all just sort of dead.

I release a very long exhale in relief as I stand up on rather shaky legs and look to Tali. I nod to her as I bite my lower lip. I glance to my shoulder and shrug.

"Art?" she asks.

"I'm all right," I say with a shrug. "I almost got stung by a seeker, but I'll be all right."

She nods at this, and then very shortly after, my comm unit crackles to life for the first time in what feels like forever. I look over to the side as I bring my finger up.

"Shepard?" I ask.

"_Art, there you are!_" she says, her voice laced with relief. "_What happened?_"

"I don't know," I reply. "We were heading to the shuttle, and then we got trapped between these two doors and getting chased by one of those seeker swarms!"

"_Oh, it's just as I feared..._" she mutters. "_We just got off the moving platforms! How close are you to the shuttle?_"

I glance around us, Tali already mapping the place out with her omni-tool She comes up to me and points it out to me, and I lean over to... Okay... yes...

Ah, okay.

"Yeah, we're pretty close," I say after a small bit of hesitation. "We should be there in no time."

"_Got it,_" she says. "_We'll work our way around._"

"Right," I say, looking ahead as I pull out my pistol. "Be careful."

"_I will, Art,_" she replies.

And with this, the comm link cuts out, and I glance at Tali who stands there glancing back. I turn back towards the door, and then... Oh, right, Chikktika was left behind. I turn back to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" I ask. "I mean, about the combat drone?"

She nods. "I can manufacture another one," she says with a shrug. "It'll be refreshing to have a new one anyway." The quarian turns over, looking down the corridor that lays ahead. "We should get going," she finishes. "Jenny's still in danger."

I nod. "That she is," I say. "Come on. Let's get moving."

With this, the two of us move forward, albeit not as breath-takingly fast as before. After all, we're not getting chased by seeker swarms right now, so we don't have to move that fast, I don't think. But we'll be all right, I'm sure.

Right. Gotta get down to the shuttle, make sure Jenny is all right.

* * *

When we get to where the shuttle is, we find the Collectors facing the outside of the area. Tali and I are sidling against the wall slowly as I keep my pistol in my hand. She does the same, and we both edge up and get a good look at the amount of Collectors there...

"Hm..." I say. "It doesn't look too bad."

"Keelah, Art..." says Tali. "That does not look too bad?"

I shrug. "Ten collectors is better than an entire seeker swarm, you know."

My companion shakes her head, clearly not convinced by this. "I don't know, Art," she says. "I'm just worried we won't come out on top here."

I frown at her, tilting my head to the side. "Tali, we can do this," I say. I peer out from behind the wall again, and... wait... they're all facing us... No... It's probably best to wait for Shepard to show up here... I better just check on Jenny for now.

My hand goes to my ear, and I blink. "Jenny, are you still in the Kodiak?" I ask.

It's silent for a split second before it comes alive again. "_Yeah, I'm here,_" she replies. "_Those things haven't attempted to board yet. It's like they're waitin' on Shepard, ya know?_"

I nod, looking over to the Collectors. "Well, it's gonna take a lot more than ten Collectors to take Shepard down..." I comment. "We'll keep watch over you. If they try anything, we're moving in. Just be prepared."

"_Got it,_" she says. "_Although, I don't know about you comin' all the way here only to stand there watchin' people do stuff._"

I frown at this, shaking my head. "It's the only plan we've got that won't get us killed," I say. "Besides, they haven't noticed us yet."

"_Right,_" she replies. "_Well, mate, do what ya must._"

I nod, and then cut out. Now begins the waiting game...

Hm... Now that I think about it, this seems a little too easy from where I stand. I mean, I'm just standing here with Tali. Behind a wall where the Collectors can't see me, granted, but still. And somehow, they haven't detected we're here, either. I don't know why, but I don't like this set-up one bit. There's gotta be more to what's going on than this...

"Do they have some kind of back-up plan?" asks Tali.

"Maybe," I say. "Either way, they're probably waiting for Shepard to get close."

"Then why take us?" she asks.

I shrug. "Who knows?" I ask. "Maybe to force her hand or something? I dunno. Either way, it didn't work. We should wait until Shepard shows up before we do anything..."

Tali glances at the Collectors, shaking her helmeted head as she looks on. "It's too bad we don't have Chikktika," she says. "We could whittle down their numbers if only we had her here..."

Yeah, we would be able to whittle them down. "I know, Tali," I reply with a soft sigh. "I know. Let's just hope Shepard is making good progress on getting over here..."

And so the two of us stand there, waiting for some sign of Shepard's arrival. Oh, dear... At this rate, she's probably still fighting her way through Collectors in the heart of the ship. And there'll be a firefight erupting behind us soon enough... Oh, if only we still had grenades in this game! Why, oh why did we have to get rid of them last time? I mean, come on, it could've helped us in a situation like this! This would've helped us out a lot! But no, we had to make way for the reload key. Oh, well. It could be a lot worse, I think.

... But it's still not optimal.

So the machinist and I simply wait behind the wall, Tali looking behind to make sure nothing tries to move in on us as I keep my eye on the Collector horde in front of us. Come on, Shepard... Where are you?

I wait it out. My question is this: how come the Collectors haven't noticed Tali and I yet? That would be strange. They've got heat detection stuff, so why aren't they after Tali and I yet? This seems a little strange, I think. Hm... Well, they did try to get Shepard's body from the Shadow Broker, so maybe Shepard is their top priority.

Well, they'll get a rude awakening yet, I'm afraid. Shepard is a lot harder to kill than that, I believe. Right?

I suddenly feel the ship shudder to life, and then my eyes widen. I look to Tali as we feel vibrations under our feet, and despite the near-total vacuum I can also hear the sounds of something else charging... I look behind me, my eyes widening in mock fear.

"Art?" asks Tali.

"It's the ship..." I say. "I think it's moving!"

No sooner do I say this then I suddenly see a form darting around the bend. I see it followed by to other forms, and then I recognize Thane's uniform as well as the N7 armor.

"Shepard!" I shout. "You're all right!"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says. "But we've gotta move!"

I look to her and nod, and then I come out of cover in front of the Collectors. They've already begun firing after seeing Shepard come within range, so now we just have to fight past them. Right!

I come out, holding my pistol as I shoot at the first Collector I can see. Before much else can happen, I suddenly hear a form zip right past me, and before I know what's happened there's a small biotic shockwave that shakes the ground close to the shuttle. I look to the side and see several collectors have been sent flying up like rag dolls, and in the center I see Shepard rising up quickly and taking a hold of her shotgun. She cocks it once before firing it into the crowd that has flown up, and I can see blood fly.

Damn, Shepard! Way to be direct!

I see Tali jump into the fray soon after, waving her omni-tool as the Collectors get ready to fire on Shepard. A few of the Collectors' weapons overload shortly after, and the sparks fly in their face. I take that as an opportunity to shoot two of them in the face as I move to rejoin Shepard. I can see one go down with a single shot, and then Madison comes in with her submachine gun fire.

Thane brings up the rear, and I see him glow blue for a second before he throws out his hand. I see a few of these things fly backwards, and then I glance to my side briefly to see the shuttle door open. The five of us very quickly file up, Tali and I firing shots into the crowd as the Collectors gather around. I look over as we begin to file into the shuttle...

Okay! So we've taken down a bunch of Collectors. Right... Madison is the first into the shuttle, and as more Collectors begin to file into the room she diverts her aim, hiding behind one of the walls. I swear I can see a seeker swarm slowly fly in from above us, and I frown at it. I'll bet it's the same one from before.

As Collectors begin to enter the room, we exchange shots, and before long I'm against the shuttle. I reach out my hand and promptly get pulled into the shuttle by Madison, right as Thane leaps into the ground. I exchange a few more pistol shots with the Collectors, watching as the swarm approaches. Tali and Shepard are the last to get on, Thane and Madison helping them both up as I look to Jenny. She glances back to us, and seemingly does a very fast headcount.

With frantic fingers, she works on getting the door closed as we shoot at Collectors. Shortly after she does this, I look up, and see the shuttle door closing right as the seeker swarm closes in on us.

And then, the door closes, but not before a single seeker manages to get in. As we feel the shuttle take off, I see it land directly on my arm, much to my shock. And before I can crush this one, I feel a light sting in my arm as I look over at it.

Frowning and not caring about the reaction of the rest of the group, I screw my eyes shut as I whack the thing with my hand, hearing the squelch of the bug being crushed as I bite my lower lip. Okay... it's just that. Don't worry about it Art, you'll survive. I'm sure of it, anyhow, seeing as how you're made of stronger stuff than that. And then there's Mordin's countermeasure.

I look to the others as Thane pulls off his face mask, Shepard pulling her own helmet off and rushing over to me. Well... I wait for a few seconds, closing my eyes as I wait for the inevitable paralysis. Well... if the counter-measure doesn't kick in, anyhow.

I look over to Shepard, and realize that even after waiting as long as Kaidan probably did to get frozen, I can still move my fingers. I look over to her and nod, pulling at my helmet seals...

... and yet something still feels very, very wrong.

I take off my helmet and then shake my head... I... What's that strange feeling in my arm...? My eye twitches, and then I get the fairly sudden urge to vomit.

"Shepard...?" I ask.

... Holy shit, when did my voice get so sickly. "Art?" she asks. "Is everything all right?"

I suddenly feel a very dull pain begin to spread across my arm as I feel the Kodiak settle into the cargo bay. "I..." I begin. "I don't feel so well..."

And it's at that moment that I feel a sharp pang somewhere in my abdomen, and then I double over. The world very suddenly becomes a haze, and I spill out my lunch all in front of me. I can briefly make out the shuttle door opening, and I can faintly feel hands groping at my arms trying to hold me up. I can hear frantic shouting, and then I hear footsteps as I'm carried out of the shuttle...

Where...? What's going on...? This never happened thanks to a seeker swarm! I... What's...?

The next few minutes are all a blur to me as I lurch in and out of agony. God, it hurts! I look around, the whole world seeming a haze as I see that I'm being supported by two people. Wow... I feel like I'm in an FPS vehicle section. This... can't be a good thing. If my predictions are correct, I'm probably going to lose consciousness before this section ends.

And indeed, I feel myself begin to swim out of consciousness as the door opens to the crew deck, and the group rushes me off to the med bay. We get about as far as rushing past the door for life support before I start to completely lose consciousness.

Shit... No... I've still got stuff to do...

And then I feel my eyes droop closed. I can hear a clear voice punctuate the haze that has gathered around my hears, and then lose the feeling of... well, everything. I don't feel myself sink to the floor, but I might as well given that something strange is going on right now.

And with this, I completely lose consciousness.


	18. Chapter 17

_A/N: And we're back!_

_All right, so last time we ended on a cliffhanger. Which is great, because I rarely get to do that with Mass Vexations. And it will lead to a very important plot point that you'll see in this chapter. No, it's not what happens when he's conscious, but... You'll see soon enough anyhow._

_So yeah. You may see certain elements of things come up. It might be fairly obvious as we get to the end of the start of the chapter, but you'll see..._

_Anyhow, I'll disclaim it when we get there. But for now, you're left to figure it out. So have fun with that!_

_I'll get started with the chapter now. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 17: Into Dreams

_I blink suddenly, finding myself in the hallway again, dull grey walls dull in the lack of light._

_... Oh. Okay. So I'm thrown in here instead of whatever that afterlife is... Okay, it looks like I'll be waking up from that, then. We got to Chakwas in time, it looks like. I'll live, then. __Thank Jesus for that. Because that would totally suck if I died before I could figure stuff out. Curiosity is one of my biggest vices, I think._

_I mean, I have about three hundred more questions about what I'm doing here now that I found the All-Spark here, and I know something about what the hell I'm supposed to do here now... So yeah, that would suck if I figured it all out but then was all 'oh, wait, no, you're dead'. Besides, I don't totally have it all figured out anyhow. I just hope I can get it figured out before we hit up the Collector base... I don't think I'll have it all figured out then, but we'll see what happens._

_I blink again._

_Wait..._

_I never blinked twice during this dream... And now that I think about it, wouldn't this be the time that I'd start walking forward?_

_... Something's not right about this set-up. Now that I think about it..._

_Hold on. Let me try something._

_I will myself to turn around and look behind me. This is something I've never done in any of the previous times I've had this dream, and I've never been able to. So..._

_To my shock, I feel my feet turn around, and my head moves with me without so much as a second thought. When I look behind me, I see the hall seems to make a complete 180 degree turn before coming to an elevator door that eternally seems to rotate around the wall it's on... I quickly turn back, seeing the wierd little table that dips into the ground, and walk towards it on a totally different trajectory. When I get there, I touch the wood of the chair legs..._

_And then I feel my eyes widen in shock._

_...What the hell? I was never able to do any of this any other time I had this dream! What the hell is going on? This is..._

_Wait. This didn't happen to me prior to getting the All-Spark thingy... So..._

_It makes my dreams incredibly lucid? Okay... Why the hell would the Protheans make a device that takes lucid dreaming to a ridiculous new level? I don't know why anyone would want to do something like that, honestly... And what role does it play in being the keeper? I just don't get it... This is so fucking strange it's ridiculous. It's gotta be that cube that's making me react in my dreams like this... But why the hell would they ever make such a thing?_

_... It better not be one of those things that Orange will keep her mouth shut about if I ask about it. Because if it is, there will be much blood before I do what I have to. That much is for certain._

_Maybe... maybe I never really had control over my actions any of the previous times I had this dream. Now that I think about it, I did always go on the exact same track... I must not have been as in control of my actions in that dream as I thought... So it was two years of this happening again and again, and I had no control over my movements? This... is a bit strange to swallow. I swear I must've had some control... Maybe something stopped me from doing more than I could've until the time was right. And this time is the right time. So..._

_Okay. Now that I have this new freedom of movement, I might as well use it for something. Like, figuring out what the hell lies behind that door at the end of this hallway. Maybe I'll finally get a fucking answer about that._

_I feel along the table, looking for some kind of handle that I can use to open that wierd little shelf thing. I find a rather small knob after a few seconds of searching, and then I grab a hold of it and nod._

_When I pull it open, I'm surprised to see that half the table moves as well. I raise my eyebrows at this, but decide not to dwell on it. After all, there are more pressing matters at the moment than this. For I look into the bottom of the shelf..._

_...and I see a single key. It lays there, dim in the lack of lighting as I look on... It's copper._

_It must be the key to the door at the end of this hallway! It was here all along! So... wait..._

_... Okay, I'm a little disturbed here. So... if what I'm thinking is correct..._

_Did I get this dream because of Orange? Because that's what it looks like. Shit... if this key had been here all along, then I was supposed to get that piece of the All-Spark a lot earlier than I did... Shit... Now my dreams will never, ever be the same. Fuck!_

_Oh, well. But why am I being given these dreams in the first place? That's my biggest question right now. Seriously, why am I having these dreams?_

_... Hm... I guess the answer's just beyond that door. And if I want to get there, I should probably get over to that door._

_I reach down and take the key in my hand, weighing it briefly as I look at it. Hm... it looks a lot like a key that I would use when I was still back on Earth. I wonder what's up with that...? It also looks like my old apartment key. For some reason. I don't know what the hell is going on right now..._

_I bite my lower lip and nod before I close the drawer of the table, although with some effort given how strange it all looks. I look down and take a glance at the key before I begin walking down the corridor. Other than that... it feels the same. I'm still feeling the wonky gravity at every twist of the hallway as I move around, the architecture still looks wierd..._

_But I have a lot more freedom of movement now. That much is for sure. So I use this to move a bit faster, knowing about the mob that'll be coming up to me as soon as I pass a certain point. I glance around me, relearning each inch of the dream as I make haste for the door._

* * *

_Before long, I see the door again, the strange thing giving off some strange light. I look to the key in my hand as I advance... Okay... the mob should be showing up any minute now..._

_I step on the right place, and then I hear the shouts and stamping of feet from behind me._

_Ah, there we go. I look behind me, and break out into a run. Okay, they'll be on me any second now... But this time, I can access the door at the end of the hallway! The wonders of a key... although it's not made of silver. Ah, bummer. Well, I suppose I would look ridiculous in tights and a green tunic in addition to having a ludicrous amount of silver keys, especially here of all places. Pah, yeah, people with swords winding up in the Mass Effect universe. If that ever happens, I'm eating my shorts._

_But I hear the mob get closer, but by this point I'm already at the door. Okay... don't worry, you'll survive. I spare a glance behind me and see the mob is still not where I am. I nod at this, and look at the knob. Okay... so the key goes here..._

_I insert the key, hearing the mob get even closer than it did before, and then I turn around to see they're still not there. Okay, Art, stop looking back, they'll probably be stopped by the door. I mean, this is a dream, after all; more illogical things have happened in dreams._

_Right. I turn the key, and to my satisfaction I can hear the lock turning within the door._

_Okay! I can finally find out what lies behind this door!_

_I turn back once again to see the mob just coming around the hall. I frown, my face determined as I turn the knob. The door opens, and then I swing it open. I glance at the mob... Oh, what the hell? It might not hurt to give a bad one-liner here._

_"Sorry, guys. I think I'll file a noise complaint."_

_And with this, I close the door as the mob gets closer, and I feel that there's a lock on this door. You never can be too careful... I lock the door behind me..._

_Wait... Now I'm in total darkness. I blink, moving back against the door that I just entered through. Before I get any time to process anything much I hear the mob slam against the door. I don't feel anything that can throw me away from the door, however, which confuses me. Well... at least they'll stay there until I need to leave. Right. Open the door and you can wake up, albeit in the most painful way possible. Because somehow, pain registers in this dream._

_Right... Now where am I?_

_I walk forward, feeling in the darkness for something. Within a few seconds, my left hand comes into contact with... a concrete wall? Huh... This is certainly strange. But then again, it is a dream, so... I look around. Okay, I have a reference point. All right... Now... where am I...?_

_Wait... Is that a light switch? My hand feels a slight indent, and then my eyes widen. Holy shit, it's a light switch! Finally, an old-fashioned light switch again! With a broad smile, I look for the nub, and then I flick the lights on._

_... Okay, what the fuck?_

_This... is really freaking bizarre._

_When the light comes on, it's from a little light. And when I turn this light on, I suddenly see the wall is sort of yellowish in front of me. And when I turn to the side..._

_Oh dear. To my right is a small little loft, the floor seeming to curve upward. It reveals a bed and a few other pieces of furniture, including a printer laying on a desk and the barest hint of a laptop sitting somewhere up there. The furniture... I recognize it! To my left, I can see a couple of closets built into the wall, and this curves upward too. I see a couch from where I stand, and a counter a little further along. On the wall where the light switch is, there's a door... That would lead into the bathroom._

_Jesus Christ... This is my apartment back in Boston! Only... it's more... donut-shaped. The ends of the floor curl up, and strangely there isn't anything falling all over the place. I don't know why this is, but... This is a little unsettling..._

_I blink, looking to my left as I try to take a step towards the unit. To my shock, gravity still works more or less the same, and I walk up the donut and look to my right. Yeah, the kitchen is there all right, complete with the oven and the stovetop... Yeah, I'm back in my apartment all right!_

_But... why would I return here of all places in a dream? I just don't... Something about this doesn't make sense. I don't know what it is, but there's something about this that makes me think. Maybe... Maybe there's something here that wasn't there before... I mean..._

_I look to the wall unit that's just across from the thing. I see most of my stuff there... my scores... my books, my TV, my DVD player, my PS3, the expense reports... it's all there... And yet... Maybe there's something in this apartment that wasn't there in the real world. Maybe I need to find that..._

_Yeah, there's definitely something here that I need to find. Maybe that's what this room is here for. It has something that I need to use to help stop the Reapers. But what? Is it a hint? Is it something that manifests only in dreams? And if it is... how do I bring it into the real world?_

_I dunno. I should just find whatever it is I'm supposed to find soon. I won't get anything accomplished standing here waiting for stuff to happen._

_I look over to one of the shelves on the wall unit, and nod. I open a small little door in the compartment where I keep my games and DVD's... okay, there's nothing there... What about the rest of the unit? I open and close drawers and doors all over it, but overall there's nothing there; everything's in more or less the same place it was over in the wall unit. Okay... all my papers were in there... yes, my German textbook is still in there... my take-out menus were there... yes... Okay, there's nothing new there..._

_Okay, there's still the kitchen to scour. I walk over to the kitchen and open drawers. Okay... nothing where the paper towels are, nothing where the plates are, nothing where the cups are, nothing where the spices are, nothing in the fridge or freezer... Wow, there's nothing new in here either. What, dream, did you decide to lead me on a wild goose chase or something? This is getting me nowhere at all!_

_Right... I'm yelling at my own dreams now. I think whatever sanity I had is beginning to fail me._

_Well... there's nothing in the kitchen. Hm... Maybe it's not trying to be obvious about it... But where would it be...?_

_Hm... Wait, isn't there that panel under one of the legs of my bed that has the water heater? Yes... Maybe it's in a not obvious place like that. Well, it's certainly worth checking out._

_I work my way across the apartment, up to the loft where my bed is. I ascend three stairs to get up to the level of my bed... okay, the fan is still running, and the bed is there. Now I just have to move that one bed leg._

_I look at the bed once before nodding and crossing my arms. I look down at the bed and then get into a squatting position. I bite my lower lip, and then rub my hands together. Okay... this won't be too hard, I take it. I brace my hands against the bed, and nod._

_Okay... one, two, three._

_And with this, I push against the bed, and with very little effort the bed moves to the side, the offending bed leg slowly sliding off the little wooden panel that covers the heater._

_Okay, that takes care of that. Well, the easy part, anyway._

_Now comes the hard part; actually removing the gigantic piece of wood._

_I walk over to the panel, and look at the edges. My fingers trail the tiny gap where the panel and the rest of the wood floor of my apartment sort of form a valley. I guess... Damn it, that was clunky. But... there's that panel there, and it's not gonna lift itself up. If only the space wasn't so fucking narrow..._

_I work my fingers in the tiny space, taking a breath in to calm myself. My nerves are really acting up today. I don't know why they're acting up right now... I guess the fact that I almost died has something to do with that whole thing. I dunno, it just seems like the only logical solution. Well... okay..._

_One, two, three._

_I lift the panel up and look into the water heater._

_... Hey, that wasn't there before!_

_I look at the water heater, and sure enough, I see a silver briefcase laying on top of one of the tanks. Yep, that definitely wasn't there before. I don't remember actually storing anything there._

_Well... maybe that's where I need to find what I need to help fight the Reapers or something. Right..._

_I reach in and grab the briefcase with my free hand, setting it off to the side and nodding. I gently lower the panel back over the heater, and then I look to the briefcase. Okay, silver... and it looks like it's made of plastic._

_All right. I take the briefcase and set it on the bed, looking on the clasps as I climb on... Hm... I haven't left my combat armor, have I? Oh, well. Nothing I can really do about that. Besides, I'm in a hospital berth at the moment, so... I might as well take a look at what's inside._

_I look at the briefcase's clasps briefly. Okay, this will be simple. I pull at the clasps and see the briefcase open up._

_Uh... what the hell is this?_

_There's nothing in here. Well, there is, but... it's not exactly what I would call an object, anyhow. It's more like... an interface. I dunno. I just see this... thing. There are strange chords connecting to needles in this thing in the center, and there are four cylinders of this strange yellow stuff. They're all around this gigantic... well... button-like thing, really. I dunno. I've never seen anything like this before. The needles... they connect to these fiber-optic thing that goes to the cylinder. But what is in that cylinder?_

_..._

_Am I supposed to stick that needle into my body?_

_..._

_Hm... I dunno._

_Yeah, I don't trust this thing at the moment. So I'm supposed to stick this needle into my body and then push that button. But what's that stuff? Yeah..._

_I know I should probably trust it, but then again I don't know what's in here. It's not like Strahm in Saw V where I've encountered this thing before; I literally have no idea what the fuck this is. Maybe there's some way I can find it out... But I'm not doing it here. I don't trust this dream enough that it won't kill me. I'll find out what it does on a later date, but for now, I'm leaving this somewhere in here..._

_Hm... Well, I'll throw it into the drawers here. Yeah, that's what I'll do._

_I close the briefcase, getting off the bed and taking it with me before walking to one of the drawers nearby. I pull the lowest one open... yes, the empty one... and then I place the briefcase in that. I look at it one final time before I close the drawer. I sit on my bed after this, looking at the wall listlessly and wondering what else is up._

_Okay... Well, since I'm here, I might as well take a small nostalgia trip. I mean, I'm back in my old apartment, so I'm entitled to a little bit of something good, right? Hm... I wonder if that PS3 that's in the dream world works..._

_Hm... Well, it can't hurt to try it out, even if I can' do multiplayer anymore. Hm..._

_Yeah, I think I'll do that._

_I stand up from the bed and walk over to the other end of the apartment. Well... I don't even know if I'm fully conscious yet, but while I wait, I guess I could take a trip down memory lane and twiddle my thumbs with a good old-fashioned Sony controller while I wait._

_I walk down the steps and head towards the wall unit._

* * *

_I killed time with a heavy, heavy doseage of PS3 gaming. If I'd have known the writing for God of War 3 was as bad as it was, I'd have just popped in another game. Seriously, what the hell was up with all that hokey dialogue about hope and all that jazz? Seriously, all that was so anvillicious it was ridiculous._

_Ah, well, at least it was fun to swing swords around for several hours. Oh, and punching the shit out of Zeus until you stopped pressing the button? Yeah, that was pretty cool, I think. Awesome gameplay mechanics are awesome... except for that hokey ending. And good Good, that twist was stupid. It almost makes me want to punch Athena in the face. Seriously? Your gambit didn't pay off at all._

_I dunno... but... it helped pass the time. Not like anything else can pass it, after all; if I sketch stuff, I can't bring it back to the real world, and I never know if it'll save those sketches. And if I try to start a new playthrough of Dragon Age, I'll be down here all day. And that's not something that's totally good. I've already gone through GoW 3 enough times as of now; it's addicting when you're unconscious. But... there's not much else to do._

_And now I'm bored._

_And feeling very different right now. I dunno, I just feel more alive._

_Hm... I guess now's a good time to get out of this dream. It won't be totally easy, what with being beaten to death by a mob. But... they have been beating at the door for as long as I've been playing games here. I might as well end this dream here._

_I set the PS3 controller down on the couch, and walk over to the door. My hand settles on the knob, and subsequently the lock. Okay... damn, I'm going to have to die again. Okay... Just take a deep breath. Hopefully you'll be back in the real world when you wake up, and not some other place._

_Right... Just calm down, and take a few deep breaths. This will hurt. A lot. I won't lie to myself about that. But it will be all right. After all, you'll get back up, you'll be free to do whatever, you can kick collective ass, and Tali will be waiting for you. And she'll be relieved to find out you're awake. Yeah, that'll work. Just keep it in mind._

_I nod, biting my lower lip. This better work._

_All right... one, two, three!_

_I open the door, and jump outside, pulling the door closed behind me._

_And immediately, the mob is on me, beating me half to death with everything they've got. Fists, knifes, bats, they've got it all. _

_And it hurts. A lot. Within a dream. I don't know how that happened, either. But it's all very real; the stab of a knife in my arm, the crack of a bat colliding against my head, and the sound of fists punching into my stomach... it's all real senation, but I know I'm going to wake up soon, so hopefully I can get through that._

_I feel myself slip away as I feel my body getting torn apart by the crowd. Ow, fuck! Ow! Christ Jesus on a pikestaff, that hurt! Ow!_

_I feel nothing but pain as I slowly ebb away into blackness._

* * *

I feel myself laying on a hard berth, the pain instantly evaporating. Almost as soon as I do this, I twitch my fingers, taking in a soft breath.

"Art?"

Yep, that's Tali all right. She was waiting on me! Well, I know I have a true friend in her.

I groan slightly, turning my head off to the side as I shake my head. I open my eyelids very slowly to find Chakwas presiding over me. Tali comes into view barely a split second afterwards, and then she looks down, her body moving towards me with her hand gripping my ankle in concern.

"Art!" she says loudly. "Oh, Keelah!"

"He's waking up," says the human doctor. She sets a datapad she was working on by the side of the berth. "Good."

The doctor gets out of the way as Tali moves closer to me. I lift my arm up, and gingerly she grabs my hand as I look over to her.

"Hey, Tali," I say. "You all right?"

The quarian glances to the side as she goes into a kneeling position by my head. "I'm fine," she says. "But... I'm more worried about you. You almost died, Art. I..."

I very slowly raise one of my eyebrows. "I was that close, huh?" I ask slowly, giving her a stupid smile. "Don't worry, Tali. I'll be fine."

"I know," she says. "But... when you collapsed in the shuttle... I didn't think... none of us... we thought you were going to die. _I_ thought you were going to die. And..." She shakes her head sadly as she looks to the side. "I don't want to think about what would've happened if you had died."

Tali chokes slightly as she looks back at me. I simply give her my same smile as I bring my other arm out. "I'll be all right," I reassure her, my other hand clasping over hers. "I mean, I'm here, talking to you now, right?"

She nods. "Yes, you're right," she says, leaning her head down. "But still..."

I simply pat her hand, knowing what she's going to say. I give her a reassuring look as I hold her hand in my own hands, my smile always reassuring. She finally nods at me, the gesture relieved as she leans her head against my shoulder.

"I'm just happy you're alive," she says.

I nod, patting the back of her neck with my free hand as she sits there. I can hear her... sobbing? Huh, she's so relieved that I'm awake right now that she's crying... Oh, Tali... I mutter close to the auditory receptors that everything'll be all right. Whether her translator picks it up or not is something we'll have to see. I pat her neck for about a minute before she comes back up and nods at me. Her eyes shine just a little stronger behind her face mask, and I can sense that it's because of the moisture she's just cried up.

"Mordin and Chakwas... their prognosis wasn't good when we brought you in," she says.

I nod, and then I see Chakwas walk over to my side of the bed. "How bad was it?" I ask.

The human doctor has walked over to the other side by then. "If you had been brought half a minute later than you were, we would've lost you," replies Chakwas.

I blink. "That bad, huh?" I ask. "I figured it might be as much. I mean, you tend to think your prognosis is pretty bad when you can't even process the world at large as you're being brought to medical attention."

"True enough," adds Chakwas. "When you came in here, it was quite a shock to all of us. We didn't quite know what to do with you when we heard that you had been stung by a seeker but it was having a very different effect from what was observed on Horizon..."

Ah, fair point, fair point. Maybe that was why I was out so long. Well... apart from playing video games in dreams that are more lucid than they generally have any right to be. But that's besides the point, I think. For now... "Well... what did you do about that?" I ask as I feel Tali's head leave my shoulder.

"We had to do a very fast body scan," says the doctor. "We found out something very... unsettling. There was an incredibly potent toxin flowing in your bloodstream- and quite a lot of it. We think it may have been of Collector origins. Fortunately, we gave you a total blood transfusion to flush out the toxins."

My shoulders tense up at this, and I look at Chakwas. "You mean, I had to... And you... And all my blood... And you replaced it...?"

Chakwas nods. Oh, man, I got a total blood transfusion while I was busy playing _God of War 3 _in my dreams! Jesus, I had a dramatic operation and I didn't even know about it! Damn it! I can't believe I slept through my first drastic procedure! Damn it, damn it, damn it!

"Agh, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff!" I moan, shaking my head. "I have my first really dramatic operation I've ever needed in my life, and I don't even get to be awake to see you prepare the damn thing!"

At this, Chakwas lets out a short chuckle. "We had to be very fast about it," she replies. "There was no time to wake you up."

Well, of course not, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. "I know," I reply with a nod. "I just wish I was conscious to see you guys set it up, that's all."

The doctor nods at this as she picks it up. "Mordin's a natural at that kind of thing, of course," she says. "You'll be all right in a few hours."

I nod, shaking my head. "I hope so," I say. "If I start going into convulsions because you gave me blood of the wrong blood type, I'm going to wring your neck if I ever bump into you in the afterlife."

Chakwas gives me a rather strange look, and then she crosses her arms. "I am pretty sure that you don't believe in an afterlife," she says.

I shrug where I lay. "Well, things change, Chakwas," I reply.

Tali squeezes my hand tighter as she chuckles. "Good to know you're still... well, you... If you know what I mean..." she says.

... Is she getting flustered? I nod to her, and turn to Chakwas again. "Do you know what happened?"

"We think the seeker that you killed may have injected the venom into the bloodstream," says the doctor. "We managed to scoop up its remains and have Mordin look at them after we did your blood transfusion. There was a lot more venom in the seeker you killed; I think you would be dead if you hadn't swatted it."

I nod. "I see," I say. "I didn't think seekers had any venom apart from the one that they use to freeze people."

"Neither did anyone on this ship," says Chakwas as she starts filling in another datapad. "That came as a bit of a shocker. We had Mordin test out what toxin we could salvage from the seeker corpse in the lab."

"Oh?" I ask. "And what'd he find out?"

"Quite a bit," she says, shaking her head as she rolls her eyes. "Half of it, I don't even know. He was so excited about finding this toxin that he went off on this tangent I couldn't follow."

Huh, good to see Mordin is still being Mordin. "Is there anything you understood?" I ask.

The doctor rubs her chin, wondering about something. After a few seconds pass, she nods, and turns back to me. "There was one piece of information that came towards the end of his tangent that I understood," she says. "He was referring to some form of weapons applications for the toxins. If I'm reading into that right, I think he's hoping to base some poison rounds off of it."

Hm? Poison rounds? Similar to the polonium rounds of the last mission, I take it. "Oh?" I say. "That'll be interesting to see that in action. So one of us gets poison rounds. Fun." I shrug, giving her a goofy smile. "Why do you think the Collectors have those seekers?"

"I don't know," says the doctor. "Whatever it is, though, I do not think they would bring those seekers onto a colony. It's probably a more offensive kind of seeker."

I frown, shaking my head. "So... it was a trap," I say.

"Yes, we all think it was a trap," she says. "Shepard was not happy at all that one of her crew members almost died."

"I'll bet there was much yelling and screaming at the Illusive man," I muse, smirking.

"That there was." Tali glances to the side, and I turn to look at her as she holds my hand. "You should have seen the debriefing: Shepard gave the Illusive Man an earful, or so goes the saying. I think she was angry enough... but the fact that you almost died..." She shrugs uneasily. "That made her even angrier, I think. It made the rest of the crew pretty angry, too. Even Miranda wasn't happy about the fact that you almost died on that ship."

Hey, what? Miranda wasn't happy with my nearly dying? Huh. That's certainly a change brought on by loyalty missions. I mean, I don't think Miranda would've agreed with Shepard this early about something that TIM did/wanted her to do, but then again, there's the power of newly-formed friendships for you. Yeah, I hope Jack took note, actually. I mean, I don't blame Jack for yelling at the loyalist later given that we haven't gone on Jack's loyalty mission yet, but still.

"I see..." I mutter, looking over to Chakwas.

"That was very surprising," adds the doctor behind her. "She even stopped by a couple of times while you were out to check on you."

Oh? She checked on me? Yep, definitely the power of newly-formed friendships. So the Power of Friendship _does_ work on people! Yay! "I see." I comment with a nod.

"I thought she didn't really care too much about you," she says. "Seeing her come in was... strange."

I shrug. "We've been getting on better terms ever since I helped her save her sister on Illium," I explain.

"Ah." The machinist simply regards this with a nod. "I see..."

"It makes me wonder, actually," I continue. "I had to have a donation of blood from someone. So who gave me the blood transfusion?"

Chakwas frowns at this. "The donor asked to remain anonymous," she says. "I can't tell you that, sorry."

Oh, anonymous donations, eh? Well... I would've liked to thank the donor later, but... "It's all right," I say with a shrug. "It's not your fault someone didn't feel comfortable with letting me know they saved my life so I could thank them and all." I shrug, looking to the doctor. "Don't worry about it; I'm sure I'll find out eventually. Which leaves one final question: how long was I out?"

She blinks. "That... was another reason why we were so worried," she says. "You were out for a day."

I jolt suddenly. What the fuck? No... There's... For fuck's-!

"An entire day?" I shout, pulling myself up really fast. My shoulder very narrowly collides with Tali's face-mask as I look at the doctor. "I was unconscious for _one twenty-four hour period? _What the fuck? Is this-?"

Almost as soon as I finish saying this, I feel something scratchy in my throat, and before I know it, I'm coughing up quite a storm. I feel Tali's hand work out from my clasp, and then she's gently shoving me back on as I cough and gasp for air. Chakwas runs over with a small little oxygen mask, putting it onto my face as I gasp for air. Within a minute or two, my breathing slows back down to a regular rate. I look over at Chakwas as she takes the oxygen mask off.

"Yes, you were unconscious for a full Earth day," she says.

I nod. "I take it I'm on medical leave," I say.

The doctor simply nods in response. "You're alive, that much is for certain," she says. "However, you're fairly weak at the moment. I'm putting you on a week's leave. You can move around, but I don't think you're in good shape for combat yet."

"I see..." I say with a nod. "Well... hopefully we won't be getting to the Collectors yet."

"No," says Chakwas. "You should be back in action well before we go to them."

"All right," I say. I look over to Tali as she nods, her hand still resting on my chest... directly over where my heart is. Oh, Jesus... Yeah... this is going to be... Oh, I dunno. I better just ask Chakwas about something. "You haven't been slaving over me the entire day, have you?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it slaving," replies Chakwas. "But yes... I've hardly left the med bay ever since you came in."

I nod. "Well, I think I'll be fine, then," I say. "You should get yourself something to eat."

The doctor frowns at this, the creases on her face all folding in unison as she looks to me. "Nonsense," she says. "I'm doing all right for myself. I think-"

And as if on cue, there's a loud rumble that sounds in the med bay. It cuts Chakwas off mid-sentence, and she looks at the both of us with surprise in her expression.

Ah.

I smirk at this, placing a hand on my chin as I rub it slowly. "That wasn't me," I say, holding my free hand up innocently. "You've done all you can for now. I think you're entitled to a nice meal now."

Chakwas nods. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right," she says. "It was an exhausting procedure..." She stands for about a second before nodding to Tali and I. "I'll be back in about twenty minutes. Tali, watch over him until I get back."

"Of course, doctor," she says with a nod.

Chakwas gives us a look of acknowledgement, and after setting the second datapad on the desk beside the berth, she walks out, the med-bay doors closing behind her. Okay... I got her out of here. Now comes the part where we discuss shipwide secrets in code. This will be fun. Now... what was the code for again this time? Hm... Oh, yeah.

That.

As soon as the med-bay doors close behind the doctor, I turn slightly and look to the quarian at my side. "Tali," I say softly. "When I get out of the med-bay, I'd like for you, Garrus, Madison, and Sturge to meet me at my quarters. And tell them light speed is too slow."

I can see her rear her head back slightly in surprise. It takes a bit to register that I'm speaking in code, and before long I see her make a gesture in the affirmative.

"Did you say 'Abe Lincoln'?" she asks.

Okay, good, she's got it. All right, now to continue the code speak... "It's springtime for Hitler indeed," I say, chuckling to myself. "We all need to take the eunuch test."

She nods, hardly being able to suppress a chuckle herself. "All right," she says. "I'll tell them you said that. And of the thing you showed me on the Collector base?"

I blink and shrug. "I think I'll just tell everyone about that," I say. "Things just got incredibly wierd."

"Very well," she says with a nod.

I rest my hand over Tali's again, seeing as how it hasn't left my chest. She still keeps it there... I don't know why, but it's still there... "Oh, and Tali?" I ask.

"Yes?" she asks, her voice a little shaky.

"Thanks," I say. "For staying by my side this whole time. Even if... well, even when I couldn't feel you... I'm just glad you were here. So thanks. For being here."

She's silent for a moment, her hand trembling slightly. "Well, I mean..." she begins. "It didn't... I..." Her other hand comes to rest on her breast as she's looking more and more exasperated by the second. She takes a moment to catch her breath, and when she does, she manages to look back down on me. "I... couldn't leave you here. It only felt right... well, you know what I mean. About this, of course... Man, it's getting hot in here..."

I let out a good-natured chuckle. She's so cute when she's flustered like that. Like during the Shepard romance track, and-

Okay, no, bad thoughts! Bad thoughts! You're just friends! Not lovers! Jesus, Art, what's with you? I dunno... I better just reply to her flustery nature at the moment.

"A 'your welcome' will do if you're in doubt," I tell her with a soft smile. "But thanks again. For everything."

She simply nods at this, and the two of us sit there as we wait for Chakwas to come back from getting her meal over at the mess hall. I look to the quarian, and pat her hand as I lay there recovering from the poison that was injected in me from the lone seeker. Well... I'm still alive, so I'm thankful for that. And Tali's here, which I'm also thankful for. I know she'd be concerned and all, but it's still nice to have the reassurance that she's here anyway. Knowing this brightens my day a little. I feel my smile unconsciously brighten at Tali as I blink and let out a contented sigh.

* * *

About an hour later, Tali has left the med bay. It took her quite some time to get to that, too, I think; Chakwas came back, and she stayed about ten minutes longer before she had to return to engineering. I'm sure she talked to Garrus and Madison on her way down, though. But... it's left me with a nice feeling in my heart. And now I'm looking over to Chakwas as she fills some last-minute things on the datapad she's holding right now. Sturge stopped by briefly to check on me after Tali had talked to him, so I know he got the code for sure. It's nice to know he's concerned about my well-being. But he only visted for about five minutes; he had to return to work. But it was a rather nice five minutes, I think.

The rest of the time, I've been watching the doctor. I swear, she and Sturge shared a look as he exited. Hm... I don't know what that means, but I think there's something in order here...

The rest of the time, I've been watching Chakwas.

As I watch her work, I hear the med bay doors whoosh open. I glance over, and in walks Shepard, her poise straight.

"So you are awake," she says. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

I snort, rolling my eyes as I look over to the Commander. "From what I understand, you're no stranger to that," I reply.

She shakes her head as she moves forward. She stops just in front of my berth, giving a look to Chakwas as I slowly sit up. "Doctor, can you leave us alone for a minute?" she asks.

"Of course," says the doctor. "I'll be in Starboard Observation if you need me." Hm... going to hang out with Samara, I see. I dunno... I just hope things are good. I see Chakwas walk out, and before long Shepard is sitting at my side.

She clasps her hands together as she sits in front of me. "I'm just glad you're alive," she says. "I can't believe the Illusive Man let us in there knowing this would happen!"

I frown, shaking my head. "Neither can I," I say. "Especially with that new kind of seeker that almost killed me. I mean... what was up with that?"

"I don't know," says Shepard, shaking her head. "But I'm glad I don't trust Cerberus completely. I knew something like this would happen."

I nod my agreement as I shift where I sit. "I know," I say. "And now I'm on bed rest for a week. That sucks."

She nods. "Trust me, Art, you don't want to spend two years dead," she says, closing her eyes. "That's the worst kind of rest you can have."

I raise one of my eyebrows, and gingerly I shift my feet onto the berth. "Really?" I ask.

"Yes," she says. Her hand comes off in a gesture as she begins. "It's true what they say, you know. There's an afterlife."

I look over to the woman as she looks directly at me. Hm. That's interesting. So there is an afterlife after all. Hm... I never thought I'd ever get to say that sentence at all... "So there is an afterlife?" I comment. "What's it like?"

Shepard shakes her head, looking over to me. "You wouldn't believe me," she states, crossing her arms. "It's an incredible story."

Oh, really? Well... "Trust me, I've seen a lot of really incredible things in my life," I say. Like, finding myself on the Normandy. Twice, no less. "You can tell me about the afterlife."

She nods. Hm... She's taking her time to explain it... It must have been vivid.

The commander's eyes meet mine. "When I died, I woke up," she says. "I found myself laying down, looking up at a brownish sky..." Brownish sky... Wait a minute... "I remember getting up and seeing the most goddamn bizarre thing ever. "I was on this field... It seemed to twist and turn in and out of itself, floating on something... I don't know what it was floating on. It was so strange... I kept on seeing these tree things rise out of the ground, and then sometimes the field would lead into an abyss that I couldn't see through. And I wandered the wasteland endlessly. I encountered a whole bunch of very strange people, too. Some people were dreamers..." Wait...

Oh, man! This is like the Fade! Yeah, Orange described this after we defeated Saren! So if that's true... yes, the Fade apparently exists here too. Hm... I see, I see.

I nod as she continues. "They didn't say anything at all," she states. "They sort of just stood there... And then there were spirits and demons all around me. The spirits made offers to people, and the demons gave pleasure... and I even saw a wayward dead soul or two as I wandered around this place..." She shakes her head. "I've never felt so alone as I did when I was walking through that wasteland. Nobody told me what I was here for, and I spent two lonely years. I had a couple of companions at one point, but they all lost track of me after a while..."

I nod, looking over at her. "So that's what I've got to look forward to when I die," I say. "Walking down a field of stuff and waiting for something interesting to happen. Lovely."

Shepard chuckles wryly at my humor. "That pretty much sums it up," she says.

Yep, that sounds like the Fade all right. Well... if that's Shepard's experience... I wonder what happened to Niall. I know he spent way too much time in the Fade when he got sent there by that abomination that Uldred summoned, and so his soul was lost to it. But he was alone, last I checked... Was his experience in the Fade similar to Shepard's after he died? This... Wow. Poor Shepard had to be all alone in the Fade... with only a couple of companions.

I nod. "I see..." I say, crossing my arms. "That must've been an experience you won't soon forget."

"It isn't," she says, shaking her head. "I met some very interesting people there."

"I wish I could've met them," I say with a shrug. "But... you know how things are. I... didn't actually get that."

"Oh?" asks Shepard, shifting in her seat. "So... you didn't even dip in then. What did you see?"

I shrug. "I went into this really lucid dream," I say. "Well... more lucid than usual. I've been having the same dream for two years, you know." Eh, I'm going to be telling the Brotherhood soon enough anyway; might as well share it with Shepard too since we're on this subject.

Shepard frowns for a second, leaning forward as she places a hand on her chin. "Oh?" she asks.

"Yeah," I state, nodding my head in affirmation. "I've been having this dream all the time where I find myself standing in a corridor. It's all strange and stuff. Anyway, that corridor goes to this door at the end. And I never know how to open it because it's always locked. And I normally never have time to, as this mob comes at me before I can get to the door. And they always kill me before I can get there. It's this strange dream... and I've been having it for the past two years."

I look over to Shepard, raising my eyebrows. Hm... she's frowning. "That's a bit of a pain too," I say. "Having the same dream for two years. It's the exact same thing all the time... I've even learned when certain things happen... It's scary."

"I'll bet," she says. "Can't be as bad as being alone for two years, though. At least you had the assurance that you'd wake up."

"True," I reply. "But that doesn't mean I don't like it. You know?"

Shepard nods. "I think I do," she says, her arms coming to her sides. "I just wanted to check up on you, make sure you were all right."

I nod. "I'm fine," I tell her. "You should look after yourself, though." I look to her as she nods. Hm... while we're on that subject... "And make sure Thane is okay, too. I can tell you two are getting pretty close."

This causes Shepard to pause briefly. "And Thane, huh?" she asks. "I'll keep it in mind. I'm looking forward to having you on my team again when you're feeling better."

I nod. Hm... so she's neither denying nor confirming her relationship with Thane. Yay! I'll take it as a good thing, given what that son of a bitch Kaidan did. Seriously, Kaidan, what the hell?

I watch Shepard walk out slowly, leaving me alone in the med bay. As I'm left alone, I begin to think a little more about Shepard being in the afterlife. I wonder what it must have been like to be pulled out of the Fade so suddenly. And especially only for a minute at the most. That must have been very jarring for Shepard. But, I think she must have taken it as a good thing, as it was a break from what the Fade has to offer. Which is all of people wandering around and spirits and demons making deals with people. Great, now that I know demons are here, I guess I better start expecting to see abominations or desire demons here too. And if all goes well, we'll probably get talking cats too. Damn, that part from the Shale DLC was creepy as hell. If I hear of an asari girl going missing and then finding her in the 'caring' hands of a demon, I'm calling foul to the guys at Bioware.

Oh, well... I guess I'll deal with it when I get there.

* * *

A few more hours passed, and with a nod from Chakwas, I was let out of the medical wing. I think I can walk fine, if a bit slowly at the moment, but still. I can't really move all that much, though... Damn, being grounded on this ship isn't going to be fun. Fuck. Well, at least I'll get a ton of composing done. And at least I won't have to use the elevators all that much if I need to go somewhere.

So I made my way to my quarters to find Tali and the rest of the Brotherhood there. That was good, seeing as how I wasn't sure they'd get the speaking in code. Sturge, Madison, and Tali were all in their usual places, but this time Garrus deferred sitting in the chair, offering it to me instead. Now, he leaned against the wall as I nodded.

I opened the meeting with an explanation of how I had gotten Orange. I walked them through how I met Benezia, my initial confusion over what the thing was supposed to do, and what happened with the thing when we encountered Vigil. I of course mentioned as much of the prophecy as I could without giving too much away; after all, I want to leave room for Madison to be told about her role in it if she is in fact one of the chosen ones. But I mentioned all this, while leaving the paperweight on the table so they could clearly see it.

Which leads us to now, when Garrus pushes himself off the wall while crossing his arms.

"So let me get this straight," he says. "You found this orange device when Benezia stopped time, and you haven't mentioned this to any of us?"

I shrug. "It was one of those things that wasn't in the game," I state. "And I was specifically told not to mention it to anyone. But now that we have more than one secret to keep, I figured, what the hell, you know?"

The turian simply nods his agreement as he leans back against the wall. "It's your call, Art," he says. "I'm just glad you're telling us this now."

Madison looks over. "I see," she says. "Do you have any idea what it does?"

"Apart from giving me vague hints at what's going to happen next?" I ask. "Well... I don't know."

Sturge shifts where he sits. "I'm not even sure I should believe all this," he says. "I mean, for all we know, you could be pulling some kind of elaborate prank on us."

The Journalist glances from the science teacher over to the quarian. "Well, there's only one way to find that out," she says. "Tali, did you hear anything when you held that in your hand?"

The quarian nods. "I thought I heard... whispers," she says. "They weren't very loud. But I imagine you might have better luck with that."

I nod, taking the device off the desk and handing it to Sturge. "Here," I say, holding it out to him. "The only way to be sure is if you hold it in your hand, right?"

My old friend looks over to the orange paperweight before shrugging. "Ah, what the hell?" he asks, leaning forward so that he can grab the paperweight. "Might as well see if it's true, given where we are right now."

With this, he takes a hold of it, and I let go as he sits back on the bed. He looks at the paperweight intently, holding it in his hand as its glow brightens just a little bit. He frowns as he holds the thing, and then his eyes widen in shock. He glances at me, his eyes wide before he holds out the paperweight. I blink briefly as I look over to him, wondering what he's so perturbed about. I look over to the paperweight, taking it back in my hands as the glow subsides softly.

"Keeper, I question your judgement on telling all these people of the prophecy. Quite a few souls are hearing about this... Is it wise to tell such a large group of people?"

Oh, take a chill pill. I trust these people more than I trust anyone else. It'll be all right, Orange. Besides, I'm sure you saw this coming, what with being an oracle and all, so hush.

"Very well. I pray for both of us that you have made the right decision."

With this in mind, I lay the paperweight back down. I look over to the paperweight.

"It knew about Natan!" he exclaims, looking right at me. "It just flat-out told me he moved in with his girlfriend shortly after you came here! I... I don't know how it did that!"

This causes the other three occupants of the room to lean forward in surprise. "Natan?" asks Tali. "Who's that?"

I tap my foot against the ground, looking over to the others. "Natan was an old student of Sturge's," I explain. "He had moved in with Sturge for a couple of years..." I look over to my old science teacher. "I'm sure you mentioned his moving out to me at least once, right?"

He nods. "Yeah, but I still don't see how it was able to know that," he replies. "But... either way, that proves there's something strange about that device. That was seriously creepy... I don't know how you deal with it being able to see everything you know, but I guess you have your ways. Man, it must be strange hearing that voice."

I shrug. "That's not the only strange thing about it, I'm afraid," I mention. "Other things have been happening as of late that really make me think of other things."

"Like what?" asks Madison, tilting her head to the side.

"Well..." I say, looking over to the side. "Three things, really. The first thing... Ever since we went through the Conduit, I've been having this recurring dream every night for two years. I'm walking down this corridor with a door at the end... and towards the end this mob always attacks me. I don't know why."

Garrus tilts his head to the side. "Wait, so you've been having the same dream for two years?" he asks. "I'd definitely suspect something is up if I was in a situation like that."

"I've been suspecting something is up for a while now," I reply with a shrug. "And honestly, I didn't know what to do with it. But then, thing number two happened. When we were on the Collector ship... I... found something extra, for lack of a better term."

Tali and Madison both look to me as the quarian hugs her legs to her. "Is that why you stayed behind for a minute?" asks the human woman with a slight frown on her face.

"Yeah," I reply with a short nod. I look down and begin to feel through my pocket. I feel the cube, and then pull it out and show it to them. "I found this." All of their eyes are focused on the strange trinket as I look at it. "It's some cube thing, and I don't know what it does. I'm calling it the All-Spark for now."

An audible groan from Sturge is the very next thing to occur, and then all eyes are on him as he shakes his head. "Transformers, Art?" he asks. "Really? I thought you had much better taste than that!"

I frown. "Hey, blame my younger brother for that, not me," I reply. "He saw it all the time. But anyway, the orange paperweight sort of led me to the All-Spark. It was on the dead Collector we ran into when we found out that the Collectors were re-purposed Protheans."

"And how did you know it was there?" asks Tali.

"When I approached it with the side of me that the orange paperweight was stored in, this thing sort of... glowed," I say, gesturing with my hands. "I don't know why."

Madison nods. "You know, I thought there was something off about the Collector," she says. "And especially how you were moving around it."

I tilt my head to the side, holding my hand so it displays her. "Well, there's your answer," I reply. "But I found this cube and took it with me. I figure it might come in handy later, you know?"

The others nod, Garrus blinking as his mandible twitches. "I guess this cube has something to do with the third thing," he states.

"Yep," I say. "I don't know why... but when I was unconscious from the seeker sting, I had that dream again. But... it was so much more lucid than it had any right to be. I literally felt every action I was undertaking like I was doing it in the real world. And... I got past the door." I frown, rubbing my chin. "I found a really strange version of my apartment back home when I showed up there. And right now, I don't know why the hell that is." Hm... should I or should I not mention the device? Hm... Nah, I'll keep that under wraps for now. They already have enough to process with this. I'll let them digest this much before I let them know about that.

"So your dreams were that lucid?" asks Sturge. "I thought that kind of lucid dreaming was impossible?"

I snort, rolling my eyes. "So did I," I reply. "I think the cube I found has something to do with that. It wasn't anywhere near that level of lucidity before I found this thing, but now? I'll attribute it to this thing." I lift myself off the chair, adjusting where I'm sitting as I look to the others. "Anyway, that's all I've got to share today."

Everyone in the room shifts at exactly the same time. Their places on the bed seem to move slightly, with Garrus coming off the wall again as he approaches. I look over to the turian as he stands close to where Madison is on the bed.

"I see..." says the ex-C-Sec officer as he gives a brief nod to me. "Well, Art... I don't know what I should say."

"Frankly, Garrus, I don't know what _anyone _could tell me about this," I say, glancing back at the paperweight. "It wasn't in the game, the voice from the thing that isn't from the game isn't being particularly helpful, and I just don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do with any of this new information I've acquired since I've returned to the Normandy. It's... confusing, you know?"

Everyone nods their agreement. "I think I'd be pretty damn confused too," says Sturge as he shifts where he sits. "This is very complicated... And I don't know how you've processed this much."

"I had two years to absorb a lot of it," I say. "That's how. I'm just telling you all this now, seeing as how it might be relevant to the future."

"In what way?" asks Madison.

I shrug. "It's making me think that the Conduit was only the beginning of the Prothean's plans," I comment. "I can't help but get the feeling that somewhere, they've left a clue to another piece of their plans."

Garrus crosses his arms. "And you think it may be at the Collector base," he says.

"Exactly." I gesture with a hand. "I'm thinking I may be able to find something that hints at another plan of the Protheans. I don't know what, but I think I'm meant to find it there."

"I guess you'll find it when you get there," says Sturge.

The others in the room nod their agreement. I can't help but nod, either. I mean, it is true after all. It's no use wondering what could be as Madison shifts slightly on the bed to come closer to Garrus. Anything is possible now that the rules are all being broken over here. I'll find out when we run into the base. Even if we have to defy canon yet again (and to be quite honest, by this point I'm half afaid we will have to defy canon to find this stuff), we'll find it.

There's still one more thing I have on my mind, though.

"Yeah, that's true enough," I comment, looking to my old teacher. "But I can't help but get the feeling that it's not the only thing I have to worry about. I've got the really bad feeling I'm about to get a lot of information dumped on me really soon, and I'm not going to be able to process a lot of it without sufficient time to do so."

"Well, whatever that information is, you can come to us about it," offers Tali.

"I plan to," I say, looking at all the rest of them with a nod.

"I just hope it's nothing too crazy," says Madison with a shrug.

I glance over to Madison. Hoo, boy. Dear, I'm very sure that even I haven't seen anything yet. I mean, I've only found a strange briefcase in my dreams that I probably can't take out of the dream, and I don't know what it's for. There are so many things it could be, and why it's even showing up in my dreams. And in a near-perfect replica of my apartment, no less! I've got no idea what the hell is up with all that... but I guess I'll be finding out soon enough. After all, my dreams are more lucid, and I have more answers than I started with. They've all led to more questions, granted, but I'll take my victories where I can get them.

And in this case, I've gotten a small victory.

"So do I, Madison. So do I."


	19. Chapter 18

_A/N: Okay, we're back._

_And just after a major, major milestone: I've just passed 300 reviews on this thing. I don't even know where the hell to begin with how amazing this is, so I'll leave a random reference instead:_

_THIS. IS. SPARTA! *kick*_

_Okay, after that incredibly random reference... I think it's time we moved on, yes? So we figured out some very strange things about Orange and that little All-Spark thing Art found. What will this mean?_

_Well... you'll find out in due time. For now, Art has to find some way to kill time while he's recovering, right? So there shall be socializing, and build-up leading straight up to something big... You'll see..._

_I'll jump to the chapter now, so there we go._

* * *

Chapter 18: Medical Leave

I sit at my desk the next day, feeling rested and feeling a little better about everything. I feel a little more vigorous than I did before, which is saying something about me, thank heaven. I think I'll make a full recovery for sure.

Which won't totally suck now, the more I think about it. Shepard's off to some remote system to pick up the Hammerhead, which she won't need me for, and then she's off to take care of some extra UNC-kind of stuff. Ah, whatever. I don't totally mind at the moment if she doesn't need me. Plus, it'll be an opportunity to get to know the rest of the squad.

So I think I'll be in good hands.

Speaking of the rest of the squad... I still haven't introduced myself to Samara. Jeez, I'd think I would be better at that, but here I am. I still haven't introduced myself to Samara... so I think I might as well get that out of the way soon. Because that would really suck if I didn't get to introduce myself.

With this in mind, I stand up, rolling my head on my neck as I bite my lower lip softly. Okay, you're introducing yourself to a Justicar, so don't jaywalk and you should be all right. Well, also don't try to kill anyone you don't have to and we'll be good. But I'm better about that, seeing as how she went completely paragon throughout the first game, so I think we'll be good.

I exit my room, walking over to Starboard observation. Okay, just keep your cool and you'll be all right. I walk over, my steps seeming to have some weight as I go over to where the justicar is probably meditating at the moment.

Okay... I'm almost at the door of Starboard Observation... here goes.

My hand comes up to the door panel, which opens with a light rush of wind. And lo and behold, there's Samara, sitting there as a blue aura surrounds her. She's meditating, and as I step into the room I can see that she probably hasn't noticed my entrance. I walk over, my steps slow.

I... She just looks so serene sitting there, with that biotic aura surrounding her. It almost makes me feel like a small little ant right now. My steps are the only thing that can be heard after the door closes behind me, but the justicar doesn't seem to notice... or particularly care, now that I think about it.

As I walk around behind her, I feel something change in her aura. It was serene, calm... but now it's a little commanding as well. I stop in my tracks as soon as I feel this, and ever so slightly I feel my heart begin to beat faster.

"You are... unfamiliar," she states at once.

I blink, looking to the justicar as I stand still. Honestly, I'm terrified of moving. It's like I'm talking to a dragon here; it's grand, and it commands so much respect that you don't want to step the wrong way. I very suddenly feel a little stifled in the room, and cough lightly as I look upon Samara.

"I don't think we've met," I say. "That's probably why."

She seems impassive as she sits there. "Ah," she agrees. "I admit I have not met everyone on this ship yet. So perhaps an introduction is in order?"

I look to the justicar. "Well... it broke your meditation, so I don't know..." I begin, holding my hands nervously in front of me.

"It is no trouble," she states. Shortly after, the blue aura that's surrounding her dies away and she turns to me. "You may call me Samara."

I nod, suddenly feeling quite small as her silver eyes bore into my soul. I find myself kneeling in front of the justicar on one knee... I mean, it's probably excessive, but I don't want to offend her. "Art*** *********," I say. "It's an honor to stand in the presence of a justicar."

She simply regards me as I look up to her. "There is no need for such formalities," she says simply. as she sits there impassively. "You regard me as if I were a queen. I am not."

"I know," I reply, shifting where I kneel so that I'm sitting Indian style in front of her. "But... I'd feel like I'm insulting you if... well..."

"There is no need to feel in such a manner." She looks over to me as I sit. "There is nothing to fear, child. The order does not have any provisions for rude behavior."

I blink. Okay, that's a sentence I definitely didn't expect out of Samara. "I... guess..." I say. "But still, you're a justicar, and you're thousands of years old. How could I not feel like I'm an ant in your presence?"

"It is a typical emotion when one is confronted with one such as myself," replies the justicar calmly. "I am honored that you regard me so highly, but it is in excess."

I nod. "I'll try not to do that in the future," I say, looking over to the asari. "I figured I'd just introduce myself."

"Very well," she says. "It is a pleasure to meet one such as you. Sit with me for a minute."

Huh? I guess she wants to talk. Okay, then. Let's go have a short little chat. I nod, moving my feet around and looking to her intently. My God... this is just... I don't know how the hell I'm supposed to describe this. This is beyond crazy that I'm talking to a justicar, but... what do I know, eh? I feel so small, yet so grand at the same time. I dunno...

I see the asari look to me without shifting a muscle anywhere else in her body. "You are an artist, yes?" asks Samara. "I have heard your music."

I nod. "I don't know what you'd think of it," I comment. "I mean..."

Samara turns to me, her eyes radiating a sense of authority. "I do not think you are as great a composer as everyone says. There are much greater composers that have existed, and may exist after you meet the Goddess," she comments. Oh, well... at least she's being honest.

I shrug. "There always will be someone greater than someone else, I think," I reply. "I'd be a fool to think I was the greatest thing that ever happened to human music, you know? There are these great people like Beethoven who will never be topped for how great their music was. Ever."

She nods her agreement. "That said, however, you are a very good composer," she continues. "As well, I admire you for many things. Chiefly, how you treat your art, as it is similar to what the artist should be according to the Code."

I blink. "Wait, the justicars allow for artists?" I ask.

"Of course," she says. "There have been many great justicar poets who have been held in high esteem among the asari." Okay, so apparently the Code isn't as stringent on its artists as I'd think. I guess I should've seen it coming, but... hey, what do I know from the arts almost never being mentioned in the games? "The Code holds that an artist must speak to a personal expression that can touch everyone. The arts are personal medium, and yet a very revealing one as well." Her eyes trail to me. "I can detect a very personal expression in your music. That is the mark of an artist whose work will endure beyond the scope of their own lives."

Oh, okay... I nod softly. "Well, it's nice to have the reassurance that I won't have to be dead to find out if I was any good," I comment.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," she replies.

I nod as she leaves it hanging there. I look out the window of the observation deck, looking out to the stars overhead as I place my hands on my ankles. "You know, it's been really strange for me," I say. "A couple years back, when I first left Earth, I didn't know what was coming for me. Granted, it wasn't entirely by my will... but ever since then I've just had so many things happen. I've stopped a Spectre, I've written for so many things, I've fought in wars, and I've met a justicar." I look back to Samara. "I used to believe that there was no higher power over any of us. But now... I'm beginning to doubt that..."

She looks to me. "How so?" she asks simply.

I nod. "Well..." I begin. "It's just that so much has happened, such that it almost all seems like a really lovely dream. I don't know... would I be blessed with this much luck in my life if there wasn't something out there? It's... I don't really know what to say about all this."

"Neither would many who have been in your position," replies the justicar. "Perhaps you have been blessed with such luck outside of your control. Perhaps it is all a part of a greater plan. There can be no denying there is something greater at work no matter how you look at it."

I nod, looking over to Samara. "I've just been a little confused about my spirituality lately," I say. "I figured a Justicar would be the best person to ask about that..."

"I cannot tell you for certain," she replies cooly. "Nobody can. Ultimately, the choice of whether you should believe in a higher power or not rests with you. Whatever your decision, it is something that you cannot be told to believe. You must have a spark of belief within yourself."

I'm silent for a brief moment as I look at the Justicar. Okay... I have to believe in it myself. I don't know whether to believe in a higher power, or even what higher power to believe. But honestly? I don't think I ever had a doubt that there was a higher power. I only left the church because I got fed up with the hypocrisy I saw all around me, but now... I don't know. Did I ever doubt that there was a higher power?

Hm... it seems I'm more agnostic now than atheist.

Now if only the people at the Westboro Baptist Church could've heard something like that... It wouldn't change a god damn thing, but it would still be fairly epic.

I nod. "I see," I say. "Thank you, Samara. I'll keep that in mind."

She is silent for a little longer, and then I get the feeling that I don't really have anything else to say to her. I stand up then, looking at the justicar as she glances ahead. "Well... I just thought I'd introduce myself," I say. "I'll see you around."

"As shall I," says Samara impassively. "Good day."

And as I walk back towards the door, I see the blue aura surround Samara again. I glance down right as soon as my hand touches the door panel... wait, why am I doing that? I don't get it... Oh, well. I glance at Samara again, and then leave the observation room, my steps feeling heavier than they did when I entered the room.

* * *

On the second day, things felt as normal. I went around the ship, chatting with people about various things and writing a lot of music. I've been mulling on what Samara told me, as well as eating, talking, and getting flustered around Tali when she came up for dinner.

So it was that I decided I'd chill with Kasumi a little bit. I haven't gotten to talk to her all that much, especially since I never saw her in the game. Bloody DLC being out after I get over here... Oh, well, I guess now is that time to talk to her about stuff. Besides, Kasumi looks like a great person to be around. And I certainly have fun around her, so that's always a good thing. Yeah, I'll chill with Kasumi.

So I walk over to Port Observation, entering slowly. There's now a slight spring in my step, but very slight thanks to my recovery. I look over to the thief, who looks up as I enter. Her hood still covers her face, but I can still tell how she's feeling upon seeing me, as her eyes seem to light up.

"Oh, Art," she says cheerfully. "It's good to see you again."

I nod. "Same here," I reply as I step into the room, walking over to the couch that Kasumi is sitting on. Her hands are on a datapad... Hm, looks like a blank document from where I stand. I look over to the datapad and then to her. "So what's up with you?"

"Oh, the usual," she says, placing the datapad down as I sit by where her feet are. "You know, I was talking with Tali yesterday. Just before she went over to dinner."

I raise my eyebrow. "Really?" I ask. "What did you two talk about?"

"Oh, nothing much," replies the Japanese girl as she shifts in her seat, her smile never quite leaving her face. "Electronics, the Normandy, our friends..." She looks to me. "She's crazy about you, just so you know."

Oh, Jesus, this again? I let out a groan, shaking my head. "I know," I say. "But we're not at that stage."

"Not yet, anyway," she replies playfully. "It's only a matter of time."

I shoot a glare at the Japanese woman, pouting slightly as I do. This only elicits a chuckle out of her as I pull my legs up, hugging them to my person. "Kasumi, you of all people should know it's not like that," I say. "We both agree that we're friends."

"Or maybe something more," she says, shifting where she sits. "You have to admit, your actions as of late haven't been on 'just friends' terms, haven't they? Tali told me you were holding hands when you woke up a couple of days ago."

W-what? B... But...! "I had almost died!" I try to rationalize, lifting my arms in wild gestures. "I... I mean... She was... And I was..."

... Oh, god damn it, there's just no winning with anyone! My arms hang in the air for a split second before I drop them and then proceed to cover my face with my hands.

"Oh, why do I even bother?" I ask, shaking my head as Kasumi chuckles softly.

"See?" she asks. "I think it's more than just friendship." The thief shifts slightly, her feet touching down on the ground. "You better treat her well," she warns me. "She cares about you a lot. More than either of you want to admit, obviously."

I glance over at her. Someday, I'll get you back for all this teasing! Somehow! But I just shake my head. "Let's just drop it," I say, feeling the blood rush into my face. "I'd rather not talk about my love life at the moment."

"Why not?" asks Kasumi.

I shake my head, looking to the thief. "It's... full of bad luck," I reply. "My love life, I mean. Basically, the story of it is this: boy meets girl, boy develops crush on girl, boy finds out that girl is taken."

Kasumi blinks, and then she rears back slightly. "Really?" she asks.

"Yep," I comment. "Believe it or not, _every_ girl I've ever had a crush on has been taken by the time I act on it. You know? I've had plenty of crushes on people, but by the time I realize it, they're already taken."

"I see," she says. "Well... your reluctance to talk about it makes a little more sense."

I nod. "I don't know, Kasumi," I comment. "I'll admit I see Tali as more than a friend... but I don't know what's going to happen from here on out. I'm just... afraid, I guess."

"Oh, don't be silly." The Japanese thief gives me a soft smile. "She's crazy about you. And honestly, she's more afraid of something like this than you are. You should talk to her about this when you have the chance."

Yeah, because I've been _so_ good about telling her about her loyalty mission. God, I'm a dick. "I don't know, Kasumi," I say. "I just don't know what'll happen if I take this a step further. Not just to her, but to... well... us..."

Kasumi shrugs, getting the hint that I don't want to talk about this. "Well, I'll drop it for now," she says. "Anyway, how's your sex life?"

Okay, well she's-

Wait, _what?_

I'm so startled I literally jump from the couch, my legs splaying out as I jump about an inch off the cushion. It startles me so much that half my butt is off the couch when I land, and so I fall off the couch with a rather unceremonious thud. Ow, okay, that kinda hurt! The next thing I'm aware of is Kasumi laughing loudly at my mishap. I glare at her as I sit up. This isn't funny, damn it! It's called timing, and that was _terrible_ timing!

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, Kasumi!" I shout. "Never, _ever_ reference _The Room _after talking about my love life. _Ever_ again!"

"I'm sorry," says Kasumi as her laughter dies away. I look up to see the light glinting off of her teeth. "I just couldn't resist."

Great. Looks like I met my match with the obscure pop culture references nobody should be getting. "I didn't even think you knew what _The Room _is," I reply, shaking my head.

Kasumi shakes her head merrily as I slowly pull myself back onto the couch. "Keiji introduced me to it," she says. "One of our favorite things to do when we weren't busy was to sit down and watch it. We'd laugh at it, you know."

"Oh, yeah," I say, rolling my eyes and smiling. Okay, bad Tommy Wiseau impression, go! "I did not heet her, that ees not true, it's bullshit, I did not heet her, I deed _naaaaht!_" I pause briefly, looking to the thief.

"Oh, hai Mark."

She and I say this line at exactly the same time. At this, I blink, and then look to the Japanese girl. Well, she does know it after all. I shrug, chuckling as I do so. "Yeah, really bad movie, but damn it is it funny," I say, shaking my head. "I take it you're into a lot of old stuff."

"Same as you, really," she replies. "Comes with having a thing for kleptomania."

I nod. "Indeed," I say, glancing towards the ground. "I'll bet Keiji had some love for it too."

"Oh, he did," says Kasumi, glancing over at the ceiling as her eyes seem to take on a more nostalgic glimmer. "He was always into old things, probably even more than I already was. _The Room_ wasn't the only thing we would look at, you know. We looked at all kinds of old things. And I loved every minute of it." She looks off, her eyes getting a little misty. "I miss him sometimes. Keiji was perfect in that way... If only he could see me now, off to save the galaxy with Commander Shepard."

Hm... Looks like someone else was more involved with a certain someone than she'll let on. Although, really? A dead guy probably isn't the best person to tease someone with. It's obvious she cared for Keiji greatly, but I shouldn't tease her for it. It would be great comeback, but you don't piss off people by making fun of people they probably have really fond memories of. So yeah. I'll let that ship sail, thank you very much.

"Is Shepard going to do anything about the greybox in the near future?" I ask.

She nods. "She's going to be making quite a few rounds around this area of the galaxy," replies Kasumi. "We'll hang around here, and then she'll be going to the Citadel. It's close to there, and we should be at the Citadel just in time to prepare for the party."

I nod at this. "I see," I say. "Well... since we're on that subject, what other old things do you like?"

The thief grins at me again, and the nostalgic mood from earlier is more or less dissolved in the air. "Well..." she says. "There are quite a few things... You ever head of Monty Python?"

I let out a short bark at this, smiling. "This is an ex-parrot!" I shout in reply.

With this, we launch into a rather lively conversation about old Earth pop culture.

* * *

Wow, that conversation lasted a while... I've never felt so comfortable speaking about old human pop culture in my life. Not even around Sturge, I think. That was definitely... enlightening. If a little creepy at points, given that it's 2185 and we're talking about Monty Python as if Graham Chapman was still alive or something. The poor guy... it's a shame he was the first of the Pythons to die. And around the 20th anniversary, too...

It helps that Kasumi is pretty awesome like that. She's really fun to hang around, even with the constant teasing about Tali. But hey, I get my victories where I can get them, after all. I think I like Kasumi as a friend; I think I might just traipse over there again in the near future.

In the meantime, though, there's a biotic I want to check in with down under engineering. A certain biotic, with a temper, and-

... wait, is that a datapad she's holding?

...

Say wha? I thought she wasn't too keen on using that!

I step in slowly, looking over to the biotic. I see her holding the datapad, her face contorted in a grimace as she shakes her head. She's just looking at it, seeming to read something. Whatever it is, it's not making her happy... I count destruction of the object that pissed her off in three... two... one...

With a rather loud shout, she slams the datapad back on the table she is sitting at, a loud clang resounding. Huh, I knew it. I look to see that the datapad is still in one piece as she shakes her head and walks back to her cot. Wait... why's the datapad still in one piece. This is fucking Jack we're talking about here! She slams something down, it's dead. Period. That datapad must be made of steel or something. I stand there for a second or two.

Okay, this is more than a little wierd. What the fuck was she holding a datapad for? I didn't think... I mean, seriously why was she holding a datapad? I'd figure she'd only want to destroy it, but apparently-

"What the fuck are you looking at?"

... Okay...

I glance over to Jack to see her glaring right at me. I blink, glancing down to the side as I see the datapad on the table. "What's up with the datapad that you haven't attempted to break until just now?" I ask. "What were you doing on there?"

"It's none of your god damn business," she replies angrily, shaking her head as she lays back agaist the cot. "Now leave me the fuck alone."

And with this, she seems to turn away from me. I raise my eyebrow at her as she does this. Well... this is... a little odd. What's going on?

I glance over to the datapad. Well... if she's not gonna tell, I might as well read about it.

Quietly, I walk over to the table where the datapad rests. With a brief glance at Jack, I take it in my hand and bring it up to where I can read it. The orange screen is still mostly intact... okay... what is this...?

...

Okay, what the fuck?

What's this? Jaqueline Nought? Mary McAaron? Galactic Poetry Month? Uh... Poetry and Jack? Huh... that's definitely not a combination I'd expect. Yeah, I'd expect it out of someone like Kasumi, but Jack? Okay... this is a little out of left field for me. I mean, Jack writes poetry, apparently! This is news to me! Jack and poetry? Yeah... Game, where the hell was this information? It would've been useful to know that the psychotic biotic with an anti-Cerberus complex might possibly be into poetry! You know, so I don't have to put up with the 'ballsy pussy' crap!

Wait... this isn't just poetry... it's _writing _poetry.

Jack writing poetry. This is a new high for stuff I've discovered in this universe.

I think I'll be hard pressed to top _that _in the near future. Seriously, Jack writes poetry. I guess I should've seen something like this coming, but still...

And apparently, she can't do it metered, either. Something tells me A.R. Ammons would like to have a word with this Megan McAaron about how metered verse is old and outdated and all that crap. I mean, for crying out loud, he wrote _Bosh and Flapdoodle_ in fucking _1996_! I still can't believe some people won't accept unmetered things...

Speaking of that, though... what was Jack's poem like, anyhow? I'll bet they refused it because of other things... Hm... Oh, they've attached the poem. Huh, okay. That'll make my life a little easier. Okay... let's see that poem.

I scroll down in the e-mail, and then I see a bunch of very short lines. Okay. That must be it. Let's see...

_My soul_  
_Burns_  
_With a fire of darkness_  
_Quenched only in the pain_  
_Of loneliness_  
_I hold my breath waiting_  
_Until spots appear black as the past_  
_And fill my lungs up with lies of hope_  
_I mark myself_  
_Black and jagged_  
_To cover the scars_  
_That make me a monster_  
_A warning_  
_This is not a place of honor_  
_No esteemed dead are buried here_

...

"Well."

I hear rustling behind me, and then I hear Jack let out an expletive just under her breath. I turn my head to her slightly, but don't make it a point to turn it completely around. "God damn it, Art, I thought I told you it was none of your god damn business," she says angrily.

I raise one of my eyebrows as I look at the datapad. "Don't worry," I say. "If you're worried about your reputation, I'm not going to say a word of this to anybody else."

"You better fucking not," iterates the biotic. "If you do, I'll tear your head off with my bare hands. What the fuck are you so interested with, anyway?"

"I dunno," I say, looking back at the poem. "I just didn't think you were the kind to write poetry, is all."

I sense her hesitation. "So?" she asks. "Do you think it's a piece of crap?"

Hm... Well... That's quite the question. And honestly? It requires a more complex answer.

I turn to her, waving the datapad in my hand slightly as I do so. "Well, Jack, let me put it this way," I say, letting it down on the table it used to sit in as I turn my body to face her fully. "They say 'it must be in metered verse'. In response, I say, 'fuck you, haven't you heard of A. R. Ammons'?"

At this, Jack tilts her head, her brow knitting in obvious confusion. "Who the fuck is A. R. Ammons?" she asks.

I shrug. "He was this poet from the 20th Century," I reply. "He wrote these poems, almost always in couplets, but never in rhythm. I had to learn to read his line breaks by where the semi-colon falls and not where the line actually ends. So his verse wasn't really all that metered, especially not in his final collection of poems."

She nods. "I see," she says. "I guess this means you don't mind."

I shrug. "Well... I would advise against using 'black' more than once," I comment, looking back down at the poem as my fingers grace over the datapad screen. "Other than that, though, it actually wasn't bad. Was that your first try?"

She hesitates, taking a deep breath in before biting her lower lip softly. Finally, the biotic nods slowly. "Yeah," she says. "First try."

I nod, picking up the datapad and walking over to the cot. "Honestly, for a first attempt, I'd say it's actually pretty good," I say, offering her a soft smile. "Again, I'd advise against using 'black' more than once."

She turns to me, a small frown on her face. "Why the fuck should I do that?" she asks.

I tilt my head to the right for a brief second. "Well, the thing is that you shouldn't use the same image twice unless you're trying to create an effect with repeated imagery," I say. "I would probably use 'dark' in the place of that first 'black'. It would keep the imagery fresh, you know?"

"Coming from the ballsy pussy, I don't know." ... Oh, hell. "But... I'll keep it in mind. If you think so strongly about it."

I look over to her as she takes the datapad and opens up a document on it. Her fingers work deftly at the keyboard, changing the word I mentioned and then nodding. She turns to me then, raising one of her eyebrows as I read on. Okay... Ah, yes.

"And the imagery also flows a little better," I add with a hand flourish. "There we go. Subject Zero, our very own budding poet."

Jack simply gives me a strange look, shifting slightly on her seat. "Don't get used to it," she says. "Remember who you're fucking talking about here!"

I nod. "Of course," I say, looking over to her. "I'll have to remember this, you ballsy pussy."

The first thing Jack does upon hearing me say this is to whip her head violently. The smile I give her is as evil as I can get. Oh, yeah, I went there, bitch. She frowns, shaking her head as she crosses her arms.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" she says, her voice betraying how exasperated she is now. "Art! What the fuck? That's fucking cheap!"

I snort. Gotcha. "Hey, don't forget you started that," I reply smugly. "You start it, you'll have to face the consequences now." Oh, this is going to be fun. I finally get payback for all the 'ballsy pussy' BS she's put me through. Yay!

Well... I guess I've had enough of that for now. I think I'll change the topic. Thus, I gesture to the datapad sitting in her lap. "This... doesn't have access to the extranet, does it?" I ask.

"I think so," she replies. "Why?"

I smirk at her. "Well... I hope you've got some time to kill," I tell her. "I think we might just take this time to read a bit of poetry, you know?"

She frowns. "And what the fuck makes you think I'll sit down and agree to that?"

"Well, you're a budding poet now, right?" I say. "I think it might be good for you to read the great poets of Earth history."

At this, Jack shakes her head, a frown set resolutely on her face. "Fine," she states. "But you better not fucking tell anyone about this."

I nod. "Trust me, Jack, I don't plan to," I say. "Now... how about some Charles Baudelaire?"

She looks over to me briefly, nodding. "Sure, why the fuck not?" she asks.

All right! I gently take the datapad from Jack, looking at the screen as I place it on my lap. My fingers go right to the little keyboard, and I type in Baudelaire's name. Okay... And that's good, all good...

Okay. French symbolist poetry, go!

* * *

Okay, that was a very long time to spend with Jack. It was interesting, though... I think I got her into the French symbolists somehow. I don't know how I did that, but one reading of something from _Flowers of Evil _and she was off. I think she ate those poems faster than I could process with them... Well... I guess it's nice to finally see Jack get into something other than violence and death for once. That's a little reassuring, but I won't hold my breath over that.

After all, knowing Jack, she's not going to want to let that bit out. At all. So I'll keep my mouth shut.

But anyway, I ended up spending so much time with Jack I ended up not being able to do much else that day. So I turned in to sleep, and stuff.

Two days have passed since then, I think. I've talked my way around the ship, composed quite a bit, had a couple of nice meals courtesy of Sturge, and all that other jazz. I think Sturge and Gardner are coming to a strange understanding: Gardner's duties have pretty much consisted of cleaning, and Sturge's have been mainly cooking. I don't know why, but hey, it's welcome. The crewmen are happy, I'm happy, everybody's happy, that's all that matters. It's strange seeing Sturge over at the kitchen instead of Gardner, but hey, that's not the point. It's all still good.

So here I am, sitting at the mess hall again, chowing down on a roast beef sandwich. Oh, yeah, the ingredients are real too. That's also pretty welcome. It means I know I'm not eating trash every day, and that's always a good thing to know. I sit there, looking out absently at everyone. It's been making me think quite a bit about everything that's going on. I mean... life is good, people are getting along just fine, and all that other stuff.

... Why is everything so happy?

... Oh yeah. Shepard got the Hammerhead. Of course. Jenny's probably going crazy with the bloody thing; new tech means more time that she'll need to spend working, but it's probably also more opportunity for her. I hope she's having fun with that thing. It would be a shame if she-

I hear the light klink of someone setting a tray across the table from me. Jumping slightly, I turn my head to see Madison sitting down across from me. She brushes some of her hair back, and then nods.

"Oh, hey Madison," I say. "What's up?"

"Oh, not a whole lot," she says. "You mind if I sit next to you?"

I shake my head. "Be my guest," I say. "How are you and Garrus?"

"As usual," she says. "And by that, I mean that he's sweet, I'm good to him, and we're happy." She pauses before nodding. "Oh, and the sex is incredible, too."

I blink. "No chafing?" I ask.

...

Oh, fuck. I seriously did not just say that. No no no no no...

"How did you know about the chafing?" she asks incredulously as her shoulders rear back. "It took us a week to figure out how to stop the chafing! And... And I'm really good about hiding it! How...?"

... Yes, I definitely said that aloud.

Shit...

I blink, glancing over to the side as I bite my lower lip. Damn it, I shouldn't have said anything... Fuck! "Uh..." I say, glancing down. Fuck, fuck, fuck, what do I do, what do I do...? Oh, just tell her the truth... "Mordin?"

"Are you serious?" Yeah, she doesn't believe me.

"Totally." I nod a little too quickly. Oh, God, this is awkward. "Uh... See... Garrus could've been romanced by Shepard in the game. Thane wasn't the only guy available to her..."

Madison glances down to the side. "So... so Mordin goes and gives Shepard... the talk?" she asks. "About turians...? And..."

Again, there goes my quick nodding. "Yeah... He does..." I say. "It's... actually a lot less awkward than you'd think it would be. But... yeah..."

All of a sudden, she blinks, a light blush coming to her face. "So... you know about turian anatomy, then..."

I blink, feeling myself jump back. "What? No!" I say, raising my voice as I frown. "Jesus Christ on a-! No! It wasn't _that _graphic! I mean-! No! No!"

"Well... I'd figure that you'd know..." she says.

"What, from experience?" I ask, crossing my arms. "I'm not-" Oh, fuck, wait, no, that'll reveal my secret, change it! "I don't know that much! Jeez, you act like I know everything sometimes!"

She blinks at this. "I... I just figured..." she stammers.

"Yeah, I don't know about turian anatomy," I say, shaking my head. Well, technically, I do, but that one art book didn't tell me much. "So..."

"I mean..." she says, glancing down. "Well..."

The journalist looks at me with a confused expression on her face. And all the while, I can feel the blood rushing to my face. Yeah... "You know what?" I say, shaking my head. "I'm changing the subject. Let us never talk about your sex life again."

"Yeah, let's." She is awfully quick to agree with me on this front. I can see her face is getting just as red as mine probably is. "Let's never speak of this again."

I nod, suddenly not feeling very hungry. Damn it, I killed my own appetite! That doesn't happen. "Seriously, though," I say, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Being in love with... well, Garrus... it's gotta be quite a change from Ethan Mars."

She hesitates a second, but then she manages to chuckle nervously. "You've got that right," she says. "I... didn't know what to make of it at first."

I nod. "I'll... bet you were very confused when you first came here," I add.

"Confused doesn't even begin to describe it, I think," she says, shaking her head. "It took me a while to get used to the whole amino acid chirality thing... well..."

And here, we pause again. Oh, God damn it, back to her sex life! Ah, man, this is annoying. I'm never going to think of amino acid chirality without thinking about Madison, will I? Fuck my life...

"Yeah..." I say. "Moving on." I let out a nervous cough at this. God damn it, the sex life thing is going to hang over the conversation like a mist, isn't it? Fuck me... "I guess getting into Garrus' squad was a good thing."

She nods nervously. "It was," she says. "I got to know some of these aliens, and then a little more thanks to them." The journalist looks over to me. "You know, I told Garrus about myself very early."

She did? Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me, that I had to tell one person because of a slip of the tongue, but you told someone you didn't know that well within weeks of knowing him? "Really?" I ask. "That must have been a fun conversation..."

... Oh, Christ. "It was... interesting..." she admits. "I know he didn't believe me at first."

I shrug. "Neither did Tali," I say. "She was the first person I told about myself, you know. Well, fully, anyhow."

The journalist replies with a nod. "I see..." she says. "But... well... you had that extra bit about... well, you know..."

The conversation comes to a pause. Well... at least it's not because of Madison's sex life- oh, damn it, I thought about it! Damn it, damn it, damn it! "True," I say. "Did you get to prove it?"

Madison shrugs. "I... don't know," she says. "Either way... he promised he wouldn't tell. And he didn't." She shifts. "In fact, I don't think he believed me until you entered the picture. And you knowing about me and him..." She tilts her head to the side. "He wasn't happy after your conversation... we had a long talk about that, I can tell you that."

"I see," I say. "I guess he needed to ease the tension a little..."

Madison nods at this. "Yeah, he was a little tense after that," she says. "But... we talked about it..."

Wait... the pause...

...

_Fuck my life!_

I instantly cover my face with my hands, letting out a soft squeal as I shake my head. God damn it, god damn it! This is why I shouldn't have mentioned chafing! At all! Never mention chafing again! Ever!

I shake my head vigorously. As I uncover my head, I find that she's blushing furiously at what's been traded over the past few minutes. She's glancing to the side, and I see she still hasn't touched her food...

Okay. I'm taking action. Gazing at the floor, I pick up my tray and stand up. "Uh..." I say. "I'm going to go sit somewhere else. I think we should avoid each other for the next twenty-four hours."

I don't even give Madison the chance to reply to that before I promptly turn and walk away. I then sit somewhere else a few steps away, shaking my head as I sit down. I glance over to Madison, looking confused by my action but still blushing furiously as she sits there. Finally, she touches her food, and then looks away. I glance at her a final time before I turn my head in the opposite direction, making it a point not to meet Madison's gaze no matter what happens. The Collectors can attack the Normandy early for all I care, but I am _not_ doing that to myself again. Ever.

Okay, yeah. That was... I won't even begin to describe how humiliating that all was. Damn it, I never should've mentioned anything about the chafing! Fuck! Okay, if I ever get into a random talk about someone else's sex life... I'm bailing on the conversation right there. I don't need this awkwardness. At all. So yeah. No more awkward conversations for me. I hope.

Well... I can at least add one thing to my bag of accomplisments: I managed to have a conversation that's just as awkward as that one thing Garrus says in the middle of his romance arc. Seriously, what the hell is up with the heat sinks and all that? This... Yeah.

I'll just say that I'll never mention this again, call it a big lipped alligator moment, and move on. Yeah... that's what I'll do, I'll take some lye.

...

Oh, god _damn _it!

* * *

I holed myself up in my room for the whole rest of the day, refusing to see anyone. Yes, even Tali. I did not want the rest of my day's conversations to be as awkward as they were when I talked with Madison. So yeah.

The next day, though, was a lot better for that. I avoided Madison like the plague, and I'm pretty sure Garrus gave me a rather unplussed look as I ate breakfast that morning. But I'm fine now. I hope. My insanity knows no bounds, after all...

Anyway, I go over to the hangar bay to go have a short little chat with Jenny. She'll probably need the company, what with getting the Hammerhead and all.

So here I am. The Hammerhead is mounted proudly next to the Kodiak, and I can see the ladder coming out from the hatch too. I look up, and hear the sounds of stuff being pressed. Okay, she is definitely in there. I better go up and say hi.

So I walk over to the ladder, looking up as I cross my arms. I climb up it shortly afterwards, looking forward to hearing her go on and on about the Hammerhead. It's a little harder, what with being on leave, but I can feel that my strength is returning to me slowly. I'll be fit for combat soon, I think.

I eventually manage to get to the top, and then see her as she calibrates things on a holographic interface. I look for a second, still on the ladder as she moves her fingers. Damn that woman can move her fingers quickly. It's almost admirable really, how she manages to do stuff so fast. Well... she was definitely born for this kind of thing, I'm sure.

"I take it you're having a wild time up here?" I ask.

She pauses, looking over to face me. I'm still on the ladder here, and she shrugs, looking back and calibrating the panel.

"I can't believe someone got their 'ands all over something' like this, mate!" she says. "This is incredible, I tell ya!"

I smile, climbing up the remainder of the ladder and standing up in the Hammerhead. "So I take it you like it," I say, glancing around. Hm... this is actually quite spacious. Much more so than the Mako. Man, I'll never forget the expression on Liara's face when Wrex was holding her in place. The poor thing... Even if she's a bit of a bitch now, I'm still sorry she had to deal with that. I guess I wouldn't have minded, but then I've never sat in a krogan's lap before, so I wouldn't know.

"Oh, it's... tough," she says. "But it's nothin' I can't handle. I can't wait to take this thing for a spin!"

I nod. "You know, this reminds me of the vehicle we had on the last Normandy," I say, crossing my arms as I look around.

"Really?" she asks. "This thing doesn't have wheels, ya know. Works with a propulsion system." She wipes some sweat from her brow. "The bloody thing is a pain to calibrate, but it looks like it'll be a lot better to drive around in." She shrugs. "But that's the Hammerhead. What about this makes ya think of the Mako?"

"I dunno..." I say, looking around. "Just seeing this space..."

She nods. "You know, I heard all sorts of stories about the Mako," she says. "And how Shepard can't drive."

I shake my head. "I don't think it was Shepard, actually," I say, smirking. "I actually piloted the Mako on Ilos instead of her at one point. I'm telling you, I've never worked with springier wheels than I did with the Mako."

"So it was a design flaw, eh?" asks the mechanic, looking over to the ladder and sitting close by, her legs dangling over the edge. "I see, mate..."

I nod. "The first time I rode that thing, I seriously thought I was gonna die," I say, looking over to her as I shake my head, a smile on my face. "I mean... all that rough driving in the middle of a battle... and for the first time, no less! I wasn't used to that much happening all at once."

She nods. "I hope it wasn't too bad for ya," she says.

I shrug. "Oh, I only had to do it a few times," I reply with a shrug. "But I hated it every single time. One of those things, you know?" I look up at the roof of the hangar bay, rubbing my chin. "But when I had to _drive _the bloody thing? Oh, now that was different."

Jenny lets out a chuckle. "It's always better drivin' one of these things," she replies. "I dunno what it is, but it just feels so much better drivin'. Ya know, mate?"

I nod. "Yeah," I say. "I felt... empowered, strangely." And I got to make a huge _Back to the Future _reference while I was at it, what with us approaching the Conduit and all at 88 miles an hour. Shame the Hammerhead can't do the same thing, and that we don't have a Conduit to go through this time around. "Well, until I crashed into a wall, but hey, you take your victories where you can get them."

"That's definitely true," she agrees. "I dunno... I just feel so free when I'm pilotin' somethin'." She turns to me. "Ya know, I always wanted ta go off and join the Alliance, maybe become a pilot there."

I raise my eyebrow. "Oh, you did?" I ask.

"Yeah," she says, lookin up. "Look at it, Art. It'd be just like those old stories they tell. I'd be sailin' the stars, goin' on grand adventures, and all that." She shrugs perkily as she brushes a strand of hair from her face. "It gets less romantic now, but back then? I loved it. I wanted ta be just like all of 'em out there. I wanted ta be like the Alliance, exploring new places, meeting strange people... ya know?"

I nod, smiling. "I know the feeling," I say. My dad did use to fly all those little Cesna planes, after all. Man, that was pretty fun; I got to go into an airplane and wear enormous headphones when I was, what, five? I dunno, but I really loved the thrill of seeing take-off and being high above the city of Miami. Fantasies of flying a Cesna all the way to New York notwitstanding, but hey, that made it part of the charm. It's too bad I can't mention that, what with Cesna most likely being non-existant now with the advent of FTL travel. "So why didn't you sign up for the Alliance? I'm sure you've had enough chances to do so."

She shrugs. "There were no recruiters in the area," she says. "And now... all this with Cerberus and what-not. I dunno, Art, things might be a little bit rocky from where I stand, ya know?"

I shrug. "I know," I say. "But you shouldn't give up on dreaming. We've got nothing without dreams, I think. Who knows?" I shrug, looking over the hangar bay. "Maybe some day after we've saved the galaxy you can be going around flying things in space."

"I know," she says with a shrug. "But... I think I'll be good for now. I mean, goin' on an adventure with Commander Shepard! That'll be an earful for Gregor when we finally find 'im!"

I chuckle, sitting down next to Jenny with my feet resting on one of the rungs of the ladder. "I'm sure it will be."

And we stay like this, looking out into the hangar bay below as we continue talking about various other subjects.

* * *

Okay, life is good. I managed to have a conversation with Madison without thinking about her sex life, thank God. Things will be quite good.

So now... I'm sitting here, composing stuff. Yeah, it feels good to be in a normal routine. Soon enough, I'll be back on the field of battle, killing things with assault rifles and all that stuff. That shall be good.

Okay... that note goes here... and this goes there... and that is all right there... and this, that, and the other... Okay... That looks like a nicely formed triad to me. All right... I'll go ahead and save that.

Well, the ship is in a good state. Everybody's happy, we've got a crazy mission at the Collector base ahead of us, and we're all good to go at the moment. Everything is... well... more or less perfect, I think. We're all one big happy family here on the Normandy, and we're all happy.

And that... is a really good thing. Life is good, after all.

I hear the door to my room open with a whoosh, and then hear someone step inside. Okay... I turn to the door and see Tali standing there, her hands held in front of her. Her gaze is trained on the floor as she enters, and I raise my eyebrows. I give her my kindest smile and place my hands on my lap.

"Oh hey, Tali, what's up?" I ask.

... Wait... There's something wrong with this picture.

I don't catch what's wrong with the picture until the door closes. And then I see the subtle shakes of her arms. She also looks like she's crawling into herself, like there's some kind of black hole inside of her. And... She looks terrified. Oh, no... this can't be good. I stand up, my good mood instantly shattered as I set the chair aside and walk to the quarian.

"Tali, is something wrong?" I ask.

She looks up at me, her eyes betraying a mix of fear and anger from behind the violet glass. Oh, dear... this isn't what I think it is, is it? Shit...

"I..." she says. "When you said... when you mentioned we'd return to the Fleet... I didn't think... You should've... Why didn't you say anything about... about... treason?" The last word rolls from her, almost like a sigh. And when she finishes saying it, she shakes her head and looks away.

...

"Oh, _fuck_..."

I shake my head, taking a step back. "Fuck..." I say, shaking my head. Damn it! I had been planning on telling her... but now it's too late... I shake my head and look to her. "I swear to God, Tali, I was planning on telling you..."

"Then why didn't you?" she asks, her voice straining in fright.

Jesus... Damn it... "I didn't have the words to tell you," I reply, biting my lower lip when I finish the sentence. "How the hell am I supposed to tell someone that they're going back to their home because they're being tried for treason?"

She nods. "Fair point," she says. "But... I just can't believe this... That you wouldn't even try to say anything. It's... I don't know... Why?"

I nod, looking over to her. "If... if it helps... I want to help you through this," I say, looking to Tali. "It's... the least I can do for not telling you anything."

"Don't change the subject," she says, her voice quavering not just with fright but with rage. "I-"

"I'm not changing the subject," I reply. "I just... I want to help you, Tali. No matter what may come after this, I want to help you. You're my best friend here... and I don't want to destroy what we have. So please... let me help you. Not because I know what's going to happen... but because I don't want you to get exiled. That scares me as much as it scares you... So please, let me help."

The quarian looks over to me, her eyes hard. Her posture softens, however, and a silence hangs over the air. I look to Tali, and I hope to God she lets me tag along for her loyalty mission. I care too much for her to let her get exiled by the Fleet... I don't want that for Tali. And even if she doesn't like me now... I want to help her. She's done so much for me... It's about time I did something for her, too.

Finally, she nods. "Very well..." she says. "I just... I can't believe you couldn't find a way to tell me..."

Damn it, that's true... I nod very slowly, biting my lower lip. I dare not say anything, lest I piss her off. I just... what else can I say?

Well, there goes my good mood. And the field of sunshine, happiness, and rainbows, while I'm at it. Now Tali's loyalty mission is here... the most moving loyalty mission in the game... and the one where Tali gets a hug...

And already I'm on bad footing with the person who's taking part in the mission because I couldn't muster up the courage to say 'hey, you're getting tried for treason'.

The worst part? I don't even think this is the worst of her anger. I haven't told her about her father's possible fate yet... And now I don't know if I can get that chance. Or if I even want to, given what Shala tells us in the game after we start the trial.

Now all that's left is to go to the Fleet. I hope my message to Rael paid off the way it did for Lireya...


	20. Chapter 19

_A/N: All right, and we are back with some more Mass Vexations_

_And this time... we get the first multi-part chapter of MV2 here. So what happens on the Fleet, stays in the Fleet, right? Well... Art's in for quite an emotional roller coaster ride on this journey. We'll see angst! Heroism! Friendship! And perhaps a little something else towards the end of all of these parts... What is it? You'll have to stick with me to find out._

_So what do we do this time? Well... I'll turn the chapter over to the Fleet now, and we'll see where it goes._

* * *

Chapter 19: Loyalty: Red Night, Part 1

I stand behind Joker, looking out of the cockpit as Shepard and Tali do the same. We're fully suited, with Thane and Kasumi waiting for us over at the airlock. I look out to the scene in front of me as Joker flies over, the _Normandy_ making its approach to a whole bunch of ships...

There it is. It's the migrant fleet. The Rayya looks so huge from here... I wonder how they manage to go around with that gigantic thing without suffering so many problems. It's a gigantic ship, after all; I wonder how the quarians manage to keep it up. Surrounding the mothership are a whole host of much smaller ships, all flanking around the giant that is the Rayya. It's... a really awesome sight to behold, and I look on in wonder. Wow. FMV sequences do this fleet no justice. It looks majestic, floating through space in a very grand way. It's almost like a procession. And set against the dual sun of this system... it's absolutely breathtaking.

And yet, I'm not looking forward to going onto the Fleet at all. I mean... the stuff that happens there! It's not gonna be good. And especially the admirals. Oh, I am not looking forward to dealing with Zaal'Koris... That's gonna suck, especially with my mood the way it is right now. Han'Gerrel is going to be okay, I think, and I know I'm gonna get along with Shala... but I'm going to have a hard time not getting pissy at Daro'Xen's madness or Zaal'Koris' being a jerk to Tali.

I... I just don't know. I'm already not feeling that great about this... I'm afraid for myself, and for others...

I dare not speak as we approach. What can I say about everything? There's nothing to say; I don't know what the hell I can say to Tali without accidentally revealing anything about her father's death. And...

Damn it! Why is this so hard? It's just being able to neglect mentioning a few things. It's just making sure I don't speak... So why the hell do I feel so bad about all this? I look over to Tali as she stands there. I see some comm chatter begin, but I can't bring myself to care enough. I already know what's going down with that... And her voice inflects with the whole 'I shall come back to where I left from' deal that quarians have to say if they're returning to the Fleet from a mission. Imagine if she accidentally said the code to destroy her ship...

I shake my head. Damn it. Shit's gonna get real when we touch down. And I... I don't want to tell Tali any of it... Even though I know I probably should. But... what use would that be? I don't... I...

Fuck my life. Here I am, best friends... no, crushing on Tali, and I can't even bring up the guts to say anything about her loyalty mission. No... This fucking sucks... It's only going to get worse... I should really tell her...

No... they need that surprise there so we can get onto the Alarei. If I tell her now, it won't be the same, even if she agrees to act like it's the first she's heard of it... I just... Damn it. Damn it!

I shake my head as Shepard looks to me. Tali does the same as Shepard, the fear in her body making itself clear to me. I... I avert my gaze, knowing that the shit is going to hit the fan pretty hard.

The three of us then make our way to the airlock, Thane and Kasumi standing there. We all enter the airlock shortly afterwards, the decontamination cycle taking just the slightest bit longer than usual. I glance around nervously as we go through the decontamination process. I hang my head in shame, afraid to even allow myself the chance to look at Tali. Instead, I just listen to the various hisses as we go through the decontamination cycle.

And through an incredibly long stretch of time that seems to pass by like a moment, we're finally within the Rayya. I allow myself a brief look up at all the quarians around us. Damn... there are a lot of them! They're all sort of sitting around, waiting for something to happen. I see a rather proud quarian walk straight for Shepard, and as Tali comes forward slightly, I watch as we all stop in front of him.

"Captain Shepard," he greets. "Tali'Zorah has told me a lot about you."

And thus begins a conversation that I try not to think about... the trial's coming up soon... I know it. And the fact that Kar'Danna is still where he's supposed to be doesn't help that... Shit, she's gonna find out about her father soon...

Okay... try not to think about it. You'll find out how she reacts when she reacts.

And so, with this in mind, I blot out Shepard's conversation with Kar'Danna, noticing how much more slowly it goes with the impending trial.

* * *

Well, that conversation went slowly... I just... Oh, stop angsting about it! You'll find out how Tali reacts soon enough!

After all, we are in the area of the Rayya where the trial is supposed to take place. And... there's not a whole lot of people here. But as we move into the area, we're greeted by what looks like an older quarian. I look over... okay, suit colors... yes, it's Shala'Raan. Okay, this conversation won't go so badly.

Well... Apart from that one thing about her name and what-not...

Tali approaches Shala, and I can see her body language lighten up a little bit. "Auntie Raan!" she exclaims, her voice letting us know how happy she is to see that she's got her mother figure person here.

"Welcome home, Tali'Zorah," replies the older quarian. Before she can go much further, though, Tali catches her in a hug, sending the both of them stumbling back. I smile at this, finally feeling good about myself. It's good to know there are still people who care about her in this Fleet. The two of them part slowly, and then the fear sets back in. "I regret that you couldn't return home under better circumstances," continues the old quarian. "I wish there was more I could do for you, Tali."

Tali nods, looking back to us as we step forward. Shala turns and sees us, making a small gesture as she looks at us. "Captain Shepard," she begins. "I have heard much about you."

Shepard looks to Shala. "It's an honor to meet you, Shala'Raan," she says. "It's a shame we're here for... well, what we're here for."

I nod my agreement to this, stepping forward. Shala looks over, her body language taking up a gesture of surprise. "Shala'Raan," I say with a curt nod. "So we finally meet in person."

"Indeed," she agrees as I hold out my hand. She glances down at it before taking my hand in hers and shaking it. "I trust you have treated Tali well?"

I glance over to my friend as she stands off, letting us make the introductions. I... No, I can't really lie to Shala. Well, not completely anyway. "Things have gotten a bit frosty between us lately, I'll admit," I say. "What with being accused of treason and all." I shrug slightly, trying to hide the pain in my voice as Shala looks at me. "But I'm here to help make sure she doesn't get exiled from the Fleet. If she does get exiled..." I let the sentence hang, and she gets the implication well enough. I nod as I hold my hands behind my back.

"That goes for the rest of us," adds Shepard. "If there's anything we can do to help Tali, just say the word."

The older quarian looks to us, her body language conveying a sense of defeat. "If there is anything you can do, it may mean the difference between Tali being exiled or not," replies Shala. "But I sincerely hope your arrival here helps. The admirals are already speaking of you as if you have been exiled, Tali. They have referred to you as vas Normandy in our previous deliberations..."

"What?" asks Tali, the shock evident in her features. Crap, the vas Normandy thing... I take in a rather slow breath. Damn it... vas Normandy... I didn't think two words like that would cause such a reaction in me... I take in a rather slow breath, averting my gaze as I feel her eyes fall on me. "That... that is insane! They wouldn't just... I mean..."

"It is unfortunate, but their belief in your guilt is absolute," she says. "I'm afraid we may not have much to work off of."

"All I know is about the geth parts I sent to my father," says Tali, shaking her head. "I... I carefully checked each part I sent him. Made sure it was fully deactivated. Hearing about what might have happened on the Alarei with these weapons tests... I'm sure I'm innocent."

"I wish they would see the same way," says Shala. "However, you may still have time to build up a case."

Huh? I thought we segued straight into the trial at this point! "Really?" asks Shepard. "Why is that?"

"Your arrival was... unexpected," she replies. Hold on, what? It was unexpected? But you were all waiting for us in the game! Wha-? "We were prepared to wait, but we were taking off guard by how soon you arrived after we gave Tali the message."

Oh... Okay... I guess that bit makes sense... They probably do have to deal with other things, after all... "We were nearby," replies Shepard. "I take it the other admirals are coming on here when they can?"

"Within the hour, they shall all be present," concedes Shala. "Maybe you should speak with them as they arrive, Commander. We have already held preliminary hearings from others; now that Tali is here, you can most likely build a case from what we have. It may not be enough... but we will have to see."

I nod. Oh, crap... we've got an hour to build up a case... and it's not going to amount to much. At all. We still have to go to the Alarei, so... it's wasted time. And yet... I can't bring it up. Neither that nor the fact that Tali's father is probably dead right now... I... Fuck, I really hate this. We haven't even gotten to the trial yet!

I bite my lower lip, my fingers curling up within each other and pulling to keep me from acting in anyway that can tip the others off that I'm scared. Tali can see it, but none of the rest of them can.

"Allow me to talk to them," says Shepard. "My crew and I can build a case for Tali."

"Very well," she says. "You may speak with them as they arrive. I may advise taking Tali with you so she can introduce you to the admirals."

I nod, looking over to Tali as she moves forward. "You have done so much for us, Shala," she says. "Thank you..."

"I shall wait for the other admirals, Tali," says Shala as she takes a step back. "In the meantime, you should build up your case."

She nods, and then Shala enters the main room of the Rayya. I look to Shepard, who nods at me. "Right," she says. "Let's go build our case."

"Actually, Shepard, can I have a moment with Art?" asks Tali.

... Oh, fuck... It's already starting to go bad. But Shepard doesn't know this, and so she turns to Tali. "Well... only a moment," she says. "We'll wait for you two to finish. Thane, Kasumi, let's go."

Wait, no, don't leave me here with-

Oh. Shepard, Thane, and Kasumi go in the direction Shala went off to, and then Tali and I both linger. Fuck... I think we both know what this conversation is going to be about as I look behind me. Okay... no quarians behind us... and we'll be fine if we-

"vas Normandy?" she asks me, her voice betraying her steadily rising anger. "_vas Normandy_?"

"I don't want to talk about this," I say, shaking my head and purposefully avoiding her gaze.

"Art, you knew all this was coming," she says. "And you didn't say anything about it!"

"Tali, what can I tell you?" I ask. "Can't you see how hard this is for me?"

"It wasn't so hard for you when you revealed you knew in the first place," she replies bitingly. Ooh... good point... but this is very different from that. "But I'll give you another chance. What case can we build?"

"Tali, there isn't much of a case we can build!" I say, turning to her and gesturing with my arms. "The game could've had it end with you being exiled! This... this is as hard for me as it is for you!"

She rears back. "No..." she says. Fuck... don't say anything about her father. "How... how do we stop it?"

I shrug. "After the trial, we'll be given clearance to go onto the Alarei to search for clues," I reply, looking down. "There's a whole ton of stuff that happened there, Tali..."

"Like what?" she asks almost instantly.

I blink... Fuck... I shake my head, crossing my arms. "I don't think I should tell you here," I say. "It's too dangerous if someone's ovehearing us."

Tali's body language is exasperated as she looks at me. "How much more danger can I get in from here?" she asks, raising her voice slightly. "Exile is my people's most severe punishment! You know that, and I'm already set to be exiled! What more could possibly be said to get me in greater trouble?"

I shake my head, turning around as I do so. "Not for you," I reply softly. "It's not dangerous for you. It's dangerous for your father."

And with this, I turn back to face Tali, my arms out in front of me. "Tali, please, I promise you I'll tell you everything I know on the Alarei, but please, trust me for now," I say, my voice nearly cracking as I plead with her. "This is only the beginning... It gets worse from here on out. Just, please, trust me."

"Fine," she says, and I can detect a slight hint of impatience. "I'll wait. But once we are on the Alarei, I don't want anything hidden from me. Is there anything that happens during the trial that I should be made aware of?"

I take a breath. Should I, or should I not...? I... Damn it, this is too complicated! I liked it better when I was hiding behind the keyboard using my mouse to navigate through the dialogue wheel. At least then, it was treated like time froze or something! But here... Damn it... Do I tell her about her father, or do I not... Fuck... Make her fake her shock, or have it be for real...?

"Uh... I... don't believe so..." I say, glancing to the side.

... Fuck. I just lied to Tali... This is gonna kick me really hard in the ass, I know it. And yet... I don't think I have a choice. Quarians are too good at reading body language; they'll sense that Tali's faking her shock, and then... they may just exile her on the spot. And all that hard work building up a case will have gone to nothing. I'm sorry, Tali, but I have to do this. I don't have a choice in the matter. I'm sorry.

"You better have been honest with me." Tali's tone is threatening as I glance away. "It's one thing to play on my emotions like that, but if you betray my trust by outright lying to me..."

She leaves it hanging. Damn it, Tali... I just... I didn't mean for it to be like this. I... I only want to help you Tali. I know where you're coming from, but as your friend... how am I supposed to tell you anything about what happens in your loyalty mission? Telling you about the treason was hard enough, and trying to tell you about your father is hard too... But then there's the fact that he performed the specific kinds of tests on the geth parts you sent back and endangered the entire Migrant Fleet in the process, all so he could build you a house on the homeworld. How the fuck am I supposed to tell you any of that, Tali? It changes your perception of your father, it changes your perception on the whole trial, and it changes your perception of events on the Fleet. How the hell am I supposed to tell you all that without breaking your heart? I... I don't want to hurt you, Tali. I really don't.

But none of this comes out.

"I... I understand," I reply with a whisper. Damn it, why can't I just spit it out? I glance out to the main part of the Rayya, where I see Shepard, Kasumi, and Thane standing there. "Come on. We should build our case."

Tali is silent as she passes me. I linger back, seeing the determination in her step. No... that can't be determination. It's gotta be something else...

It's anger. It has to be. She's slowly getting more angry at me for not saying anything... and there she is...

I shake my head. Shit, I'm already holding back tears. This is not a good sign... Fuck... It's only gonna get worse. It's the only place it can go from here when I don't tell her about the death of her father...

Damn it...

I look back up and follow, doing my best not to let my fear and sorrow be known to anyone else. I walk over to Shepard, and some words are exchanged that evade my attention. The five of us then traipse over somewhere... I don't care where we're going. I know how all these conversations go...

In a way, I wish I didn't. It would make my life so much easier if I didn't know anything about all of this.

"Art? A pleasure to see you again!"

Whoah! I look up suddenly, and before I know what's going on, I see Kal and Iya standing there. I blink in uncertainty, seeing the two of them standing there. Kal's visor is different, but both Iya and Kal are all right.

"Kal! Iya!" I reply, the surprise of seeing them again shocking me out of my depressed state. "What a surprise to see you two here!"

"Not really," replies the female marine. "We came here to testify for Tali."

"Oh, you did?" asks Tali, looking to the female marine as I come forward.

"That's great!" I say. "Anything else you two can do?"

"I'm afraid that's all we could do, sir," says Kal. He turns to Tali. "I hope that's enough, ma'am."

The quarian in question comes forward, looking to the two marines. "It's more than enough," says Tali. "Thank you."

"Anytime, ma'am," says Kal, giving us a hand gesture. "You wouldn't do anything that would endanger the fleet, I know it, ma'am. I may only be trained to shoot, but I know a loyal member of the Fleet when I see one, ma'am."

I nod at this, smiling at Tali as she nods. "I'm glad to hear it, Kal," she says.

Shepard walks forward then, giving the two marines a nod. "We're trying to build a case here," she says. "Can you tell us what happened on the Alarei?"

Iya shrugs. "Well, nobody really knows a whole lot about what happened on the Alarei," she begins. "The admirals have a better idea of what's going on, but even then they don't really know the whole story. It's all speculation from where we stand."

"Really?" asks Shepard. "Why?"

"Something wild went down on the Alarei," says Kal. "None of the search teams they've sent to the Alarei have come back."

"Ah..." says Shepard. "Do you know what's causing it?"

"No," comments Iya. "Whatever it is, Tali's involvement probably wasn't what caused whatever happened there."

We all nod at this. "And how do you know this?" asks Shepard.

"Instinct, ma'am," replies Kal. "I can't explain it, but I just know she's innocent."

I nod. "Well, I guess that's all we can gather here," I say with a shrug. "Thank you for everything, Kal. You too, Iya."

"Hey, anything for Tali," says Iya with a small salute. "We busted our asses there to get her out alive; I don't see why we can't do the same on the home field."

I nod at this, looking to Tali. "Do you know if any of the admirals are here?" she asks.

Iya looks off to the side... Oh. "Well, there's the new admiral," says Iya. "Daro'Xen vas Moreh."

... Oh, lovely, the insane one who's probably going to do something crazy in ME3. Of all the admirals that could be here at this moment, it had to be her. And the one voiced by Claudia Black, no less! May the myriad references to _Dragon Age _begin. After we hear about things from her side, of course.

"I see," says Tali. "Maybe she can provide some insights into my trial. Thank you both."

"You're welcome, ma'am," says Kal.

We nod, and then just before I turn, Iya raises her hand. "Oh, and Art, I hope you're going to do your best to help," she says. "It's a bad _hesh'alan _who lets someone like Tali get exiled!"

... There's that fucking term again! "What the bloody hell is a _hesh'alan_?" I ask.

"You're not getting it out of me," she says, crossing her arms. "Good luck building your case."

And with this, she definitively turns to Kal. Damn it, the conversation always ends with me not knowing what the fuck the term means, doesn't it? Damn it! Why can't I be something other than the translated foreign word? Jeez, it's almost tempting me to call everyone a bitch in Spanish just so I can get back at them. Especially Daro'Xen. I mean, come on, her voice actress could tittilate Grey Wardens over somewhere else! What's to say she won't pull something equally crazy here?

Speaking of Daro'Xen, actually... I look over to where Iya and Kal directed us. I notice that I'm behind some of the crew as the rest of them are already walking towards her. Eep, don't leave me behind! I come into step just between Thane and Kasumi, and then get a good look at the quarian admiral. Okay... black suit, grey metal... Yep, it's her, all right. Yech... I've only seen her in real life for two seconds and already I don't like her. This is really bad... Especially considering other things.

"Oh, lovely," I say, crossing my arms as we approach the admiral. "We get to talk to the apostate."

This earns me confused glances from basically everybody else in the group. I glance around at them, giving them a light shrug. "I take it we're not going to get an explanation of the reference?"

"Nope," I reply, shaking my head. "Come on. We've got a case to build."

They stand there for a second longer, their glances still very confused. Ultimately, they just shrug, and decide to drop it for now. And so, the group of us walk over to the Witch of the Wilds... er... the new admiral on the block. She regards us cooly as we advance, and then Commander Shepard and Tali both stand in front. I hang back, but just a little behind Tali.

"Tali'Zorah," says the admiral cooly. "I have heard much about your father, and much about you. I am Daro'Xen vas Moreh."

"It's... a pleasure to meet you," replies Tali, hesitating. Uh, no, no it's not a pleasure to meet this witch. She's not hot, she's not exposing her cleavage, and we can't see the Gosselin do on her hair! What the hell is this, Daro'Xen?

"As such for me," she says, her tone completely flat. Huh, a manipulator type. Like mother like daughter, it seems. "We are grateful for your arrival."

"I'll bet you are," I reply, coming forward. "What happened on the Alarei?"

"We believe it had something to do with tests being performed on the geth," she says. "Rael'Zorah was quite secretive about what he was doing on the Alarei."

As you no doubt will be when ME3 comes along. "I see..." I say, looking to Tali.

The quarian nods. "I don't know..." she says. "I was asked to send him geth parts. But I always made sure I deactivated them before I sent them to him."

"That may be the case, but it scarcely matters now," replies Daro'Xen. "I wonder what his research uncovered..."

Shepard senses what's wrong with this almost instantly. "Why are you interested in his research?" asks our commander.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asks. "It could help us enslave the geth. Restore things to how they truly were." She gives us a rather calculated glance. "There was once a time where we had total control over the geth. This may be the step we need to finally reclaim that."

... "I beg your pardon, but what the hell makes you think they'll take that lying down?" I ask.

"They will one way or the other." Oh, dear. She got this side of her from Flemeth for sure. "As you are likely aware, the geth are resistant to hacking. I think Rael'Zorah's research may be able to shed some light on how to work around that. And then... we can take control of the geth, re-establishing our rightful place as their masters."

... Okay, I need to backpedal on the references a bit. Morrigan was a little devious, but god damn it, just hearing her speak from Daro'Xen's mouth... And the things she's saying... David Icke would be proud of this bitch, I think. Or Dick Cheney. I don't know. Either way, someone would be jacking off to this, and it would not be me. Ten bucks says it's a Republican who does the jerking off. Especially Dick Cheney.

"So... provided this trial ended with the data going to you, you would be happy," says Shepard.

"I would not put it in such a way, but perhaps," she replies. "The prognosis from the Alarei is not good..."

"Right..." says Tali. "I... don't think I would've had some involvement in this. He didn't tell me much about what he was doing, either."

"Then you are welcome," she says, dismissingly. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Tali'Zorah. "And you as well, Commander Shepard. I wish you luck in defending her."

We all more or less blink at this, quite surprised at how Daro'Xen coldly sends us on our way. Yeah... She doesn't care about us. Slowly, we turn back, walking away from Daro'Xen as Tali and I look at each other. I then glance at Shepard, biting my lower lip before shaking my head. Yeah...

"I don't like her," says Kasumi, shaking her head. "She's creepy."

I nod. "That she is," I reply. "And she's a little _loco en la cabeza_, if you know what I mean." I twirl my finger as close to my temple as I can given that it's under a helmet. I mean, seriously, she and OKS would make great, great friends.

"Yeah, I know," adds Shepard. "And such an opportunistic bitch..."

"I do not believe she is a good choice for an admiral," adds Thane impassively as we move around the interior of the Rayya.

Tali looks back, shaking her head slightly. "I don't think so either," she says. "There's just something about her that rubs me the wrong way..." Maybe it's the fact that her mother is a conniving spirit who lives forever by stealing the bodies of the young girls she raises?

I shrug. "Well, we'll find out how good a decision that was soon enough," I add. "Which is to say, we'll find out how _bad _a decision it was, right?"

The others nod their agreement as we walk around the area. Well... I guess it's time to wait for Admiral number two. Oh, please let it be Han'Gerrel... Please let it be Han'Gerrel... He may be a greedy warmonger, but damn it, he's the only guy who doesn't seem to have it out for Tali! Well, who's voting on Tali's treason charge, anyway. He's a nice guy, too, so I don't think I'll mind talking to him. If I have to hear Zaal'Koris lay the hate on Tali... I'm probably going to snap his neck before he has the chance to do something like that.

Well... I guess it's left to us to wait until that time, so... wait I shall.

* * *

Before long, the arrival of another one of the admirals is announced in the common area of the Rayya. I assume it's the common area, anyhow; it's the only thing I think I can really call it. Okay... another admiral is here.

I look over to one of the doors, and then I see a rather proud quarian in a greyish suit come around. He's got a small shade of peach around his visor, and I can see peach all over his suit.

... Oh, fuck, it's Zaal'Koris. Damn it, it had to be the jerk, didn't it? Murphy's Law is out to get me, I'm sure of it. First it's not telling Tali about her loyalty mission, then it's outright lying to her, and now Zaal'Koris shows up before Han'Gerrel. And it's only gonna get worse from here, I can tell.

I can just imagine it on my Facebook status if I was back home. That would be a doozy for the ages. 'Today, I went out with the girl I like to try to save her from treason. Not only did I not save her from being exiled from her home, but her father is dead, I met some of the nastiest people I've ever met in my whole life, and now she hates me, and will probably hate me forever, for outright lying to her about something referring to her trial. FML.'

He makes his way to us, and I can just see his proud exuberance as he approaches.

Oh, Christ. I can already hear the sound of _Géneral Levine_ here, and I haven't even heard the guy say a word about anything yet! Okay... this is gonna suck. So what am I to do?

"Tali'Zorah," he says as he comes in front of us. "It's a surprise that you are here so early."

"You will find my life is quite full of surprises, Admiral," replies Tali sardonically. She turns to Shepard, gesturing to the admiral. "Shepard, this is admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib." ... Damn, they even kept the original ship name and everything. "... Do not ask about the name."

Oh, hush, this is the jerk of the group we're talking about!

"I honestly cannot believe this, Tali," he begins. "First, you endanger and dishonor the Fleet, and now you have a human to defend you? I'd say I did you a favor striking down 'vas Neema' from your name."

I frown, watching the admiral shift on his feet. "With all due respect, admiral, as the captain of Tali's current vessel, the Commander has every right to defend her crewmate." All eyes fall on Thane as he says this. Huh... "You would do well not to encourage her wrath, I believe." Because, after all, warrior angels of the godess Arashu are fierce in their wrath. And tenacious protectors. Among other things.

"Perhaps," says Zaal'Koris. "I do not think this is entirely becoming, but I will reserve my judgement on this matter. You are right, after all."

I nod at this, looking to the commander. "We spoke to Daro'Xen earlier," she says. "She told us there were tests occurring on the Alarei?"

"To the best of our knowledge, yes," replies the admiral. "And they were highly dangerous tests as well. I think it's pretty clear that Tali had something to do with this, sending geth parts to the Fleet."

"I made sure they were inactive, though," says Tali, crossing her arms. "I checked every single part I sent meticulously to make sure it was safe!"

The admiral simply gives Tali a condescending look. "Inactive or not, it's still a danger to the Fleet," he says. "Particularly since we don't have the numbers to go to war!"

I blink. Well, that's a rather abrupt change of subject, don't you think? "You think this is going to some kind of war effort?" asks Shepard, crossing her arms.

"Speculation is that they are performing weapons tests," replies Zaal'Koris with a great degree of certainty. "The last thing we need is a war effort. We should not be waging war with the geth. We don't have the numbers for war."

"Then what are you suggesting?" asks Shepard.

"Making peace with them, of course," he says. "They are sentient beings; they have as much of a right to make a choice as any of us do." Okay...

Tali crosses her arms. "But they are geth!" says Tali. "How do you expect we can reason with them?"

Zaal looks directly at Tali. "If only your father would quit working on weapons tests, then we would be able to find out."

... Oh, he did not just go there.

Okay, that does it. I'm asking about the Qwib Qwib. I seriously can't take any more of this bashing of Tali. It's time I had some fun of my own with him.

"Of course," says Shepard sarcastically. "Because we all know how well diplomatic relationships with the geth have worked in the past."

I wave my hands around. Okay, this is getting nasty. "I'm sorry, I know this is an important conversation, but... you have a ship called the Qwib Qwib?" I ask.

Tali facepalms almost immediately, shaking her head in disgust. What? He's eccentric! And a jerk! I need to have fun with him before I ask Thane to snap his fucking neck! "Oh, no, here we go..." she says, her voice conveying her dismay.

Zaal'Koris shoots me a glare. All right, here we go! "Our people have, during difficult times, purchased pre-owned vessels from other cultures!" he begins. "And have, on occasion, had difficulty altering the registry information! The citizens of these foreign-named ships have borne the stigma of these names with grace and honor!"

Hm... I think I'll have some fun with this. "So, no transfers, huh?" I ask.

"I've occasionally entertained the idea of requesting a transfer," he replies almost too quickly. "Something with a nice respectable name, like the Defranz or the Iktomi." Yeah, because vasdeference and vasectomy are such respectable puns in English... oh wait. "But I am proud of the Qwib Qwib, and will not flee because of petty insults."

All right, time to throw an insult in his face. "Oh really?" I ask, smirking under my helmet and rubbing my fingers along my helmet's chin area. "Because I'm pretty sure that's not what yo momma told me last night in the clean room."

And all eyes are looking square at me. I glance over to Zaal'Koris, raising my eyebrows right as his head snaps in my direction. Oh, snap, motherfucker! Yeah, that's right. You mess with Tali, you mess with me, and you just messed with me so bad you had it comin'!

I see Shepard groan, and the others all shaking their heads.

"So we are turning to petty insults now?" he asks.

Before I can reply, I see Shepard shoot me a glare. Okay... shutting up now. Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted. "I apologize for the behavior of my subordinate, Admiral," says Shepard. "He can be a little... silly sometimes. Too silly."

"I know the feeling," says Zaal'Koris. "Some of my own underlings can engage in such behavior from time to time. This, though, feels hostile." Probably because it is. Hostility begets hostility, you know. "Anyhow, I think I have said enough about this trial. I wish you good day, Commander. Do be careful with how seriously you take this trial."

Shepard nods, and then the five of us walk off. Damn, not even a wish of luck defending her! Jeez, even Daro'Xen was courteous enough to give us a well-wishing for Tali's trial. Zaal'Koris must really hate Tali if that's the case. Before I can so much as blink after getting out of earshot of Zaal'Koris, I feel a rough tug on my arm, and then Shepard gives me the harshest glare she can manage as she pulls me along. Okay, how, that kind of hurt.

"Art!" says Shepard, her voice harsh. "We're here to get Tali out of her trouble, not insult the admirals and get her in even more trouble!"

"What?" I ask, gesturing in the air. "You expect me to watch this guy tearing a new one into Tali in the most extravagant manner possible and _not_ have me roast him on the spot? The son of a bitch had it coming, I tell you!"

"Perhaps such a manner of teasing was not called for," replies Thane stoically.

"That, and it wasn't even witty," adds Kasumi. "I mean... a yo momma joke? Really?"

I look back to the thief. "Yes, really," I say in the most serious tone I can manage. "If you think I'm gonna let him off the hook for badmouthing Tali like that, you've got another thing coming."

The quarian in question nods. "I don't think the best way to do that is to make jokes about their heritage," replies Tali. "Even if you are defending me, I think it's a little excessive on your behalf."

... Great, not even Tali agrees with me. Oh, well, it was still totally worth it. "Oh, you guys enjoyed it and you know it."

"Well... maybe," says Shepard. Aha, see! I knew it! "But it doesn't mean you should do it." Aw, nuts.

"Okay, okay, fine," I say, throwing my hands up in defeat. "But you have to admit, I really don't like where this is going."

"Why may that be?" asks Thane.

I shrug. "I dunno," I say. "Don't you find it a little odd that our conversations with both of the admirals kind of veered off the topic of the trial and onto other political things?"

This causes the group to pause, and I look at them, crossing my arms. Shepard lets go of my arm as I do so... okay, she's not in the mood to argue with that. I look at all of them, and then Kasumi seems to nod in agreement with this. Slowly, Thane and Tali join in on the affirmative gesture before Shepard herself moves her head.

"You've got a point," she says. "From the way things are looking now, none of them care about Tali. They all look like they want something out of this trial."

I nod. "That doesn't bode well," I say, gesturing with my hands. "We might have a very difficult case on our hands, Shepard."

She nods at this. "No matter what, I'll make sure I can be as prepared for the trial as I can be," says Shepard.

"I hope it's enough..." says Tali.

Oh, trust me, once we're on the Alarei, it'll be enough. Well... after the Earth-shattering reveals, anyhow. Poor you goes through a lot during this loyalty mission. I just hope we can get it over with fast for your sake. I mean... we've hardly even gotten to the trial yet! And we won't for another few minutes, depending on when Han'Gerrel gets here. We probably won't get to talk to him until before we get to the Alarei, which will suck because I'm pretty sure that even if he is a greedy warmonger he's the only one who's actually looking out for Tali. I mean, what with him and Rael'Zorah being friends and all. But honestly, I don't think there's much he can add to our case that hasn't been said already.

... And I hope you don't get too angry at me either, Tali. Because that would just plain suck.

* * *

A short while later, Tali and Shepard both flinch slightly, and then I raise my eyebrow. I see a rather diminutive male quarian standing close to where the trial will take place with a somewhat more matron-looking woman standing there. They both walk over to the diminutive male...

Wait... is that Veetor?

"Veetor!" says Tali. Well, fuck a duck, it is! I smile, seeing another bright spot in this day as I approach the mentally unstable quarian. Well... he may be unstable, he may not be unstable. Depends on where Shepard sent him.

I look over to Tali as I approach, Veetor coming closer. "Tali..." he says. "It's good to see you again, after what the monsters did..."

Hm... Well... he's not getting all twitchy and afraid. I look to my friend and then back to the other quarian as Shepard looks over to the matronly one. "How's he been doing?" she asks.

"He's been making steady recovery," she says. "Ever since Tali brought him back to the Fleet, he's been making some progress." Yay, Shepard sent him back with Tali! "He's stopped talking about the monsters on a regular basis now, but I don't think he should speak in front of large crowds."

"Either way, he's fine," says Tali, looking to Shepard. "It's a good thing you didn't send him to Cerberus, eh?"

In reply, the commander can only nod. "I knew I could trust you for this, Tali," she says, her eyes seeming to convey a sense of happiness. "It's good to see he's in some state of relative sanity."

I know, right, Shepard? I'm glad that Veetor got sent straight here instead of Cerberus. I don't even know what they do to Veetor over there, but I'll bet it's not pretty. Especially since he returns from that even more emotionally scarred than before. Yeah, emotional scarring sucks. Big time.

"That it is," says the older female quarian as her charge looks over at us, a smile dancing in his eyes.

The machinist simply nods. "It's good to see you again, Veetor," she says.

"And the same to you," Veetor replies, twitching slightly as he says so. The way his eyes light up from behind his mask seem to indicate he's happy about something. But then... there's a subtle change in the lighting that doesn't escape my attention. Hm... Expression change! "I hope you don't get sent away, Tali."

Ah, yes, the exile thing... That's been looming over this entire thing, hasn't it? I look over to my friend as she nods. "I hope so too, Veetor," she says. "I hope so too..."

Hm... Well... we've hit a slight lull in the conversation, so... Oh, hell, I'll just weigh in. I step forward slightly, Shepard noticing my advance and moving out of the way a little. "With any luck, she won't be forced to leave the Fleet," I tell him. "I'm hoping she doesn't get booted from the Fleet either."

It's then that Veetor gives me what I can only assume is a confused glance. Yeah, I did just pop out of nowhere, didn't I? I'm quite good at doing that, or so I'm told. "And who are you?" he asks.

"Oh!" says Tali, glancing to me. "Veetor, this is my good friend Art*** *********." She gestures to me, and then she gestures to him. "Art, this is Veetor'Nara. I... mentioned him a couple of times."

I nod, looking over to him. She didn't really, but it's good to see that even if she's not really all that happy with me she's giving me material to play off of in regards to my secret. That's a good sign. "I've heard a bit about you," I say. "It's nice to meet you, Veetor."

Okay... just think of this like talking to Augie. "Tali talks about you a lot," he says. "Or... I hear about that, anyway."

I raise one of my eyebrows. "This is new," I say. "People talk about me?"

"Don't worry, all of it's good," replies Veetor. "They say you're like her _hesh'alan. _That's a really good thing, right?"

... What the hell? I let out a frustrated sigh. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, the entire Fleet is in on it?" I ask, raising my voice slightly.

"Careful!" replies the matronly quarian bitingly. "Don't raise your voice at him."

I let out a sigh and hold my hands out. "Sorry," I say. "It's just... I've gotten that term from every quarian I've talked to around Tali. Except for the Admirals, but that's another story."

"It doesn't translate?" she asks.

I shake my head. "No," I say.

"Oh," says Veetor. "Well... it's supposed to be a really good thing for you, sir."

Oh? "Is it?" I ask, crossing my arms. "Well, at least it's not the equivalent of some base insult in English. What... exactly is it?"

The twitchy quarian gives a look at Tali, rearing back slightly. "I didn't do something bad, did I, Tali?" he asks innocently.

... Wait, what? I turn to where Tali is-

Oh. Okay... that would explain a lot.

She's holding her facemask in her hands, shaking her head vigorously and muttering something just under her breath. I take a step back, looking at the quarian in the most abject surprise I can muster as I look to her. Jesus Christ... is she flustered?

"Tali?" I ask.

She shakes her head before looking at me. "Well... I don't... Well, what I mean is that it's good in a way..." Say wha? I tilt my head to the side in confusion, raising one of my eyebrows. "It's just... you know... a good name is always indicative if a strong relationship, and it couldn't... you know... it's..."

I shake my head, blinking. "Tali, if you've got something you want to say, just say it, please," I say.

"Well, I mean... it's not that it's a bad thing or anything, but... it's a term that..." She stumbles all over her words, wildly gesturing as I stand there. "It's just... you know... I..." She steps back. "Wow, it's getting hot in here."

... Huh. That's what she said the last time she was flustered. Jesus Christ, this is impossible. "I don't know, Tali..." I say, crossing my arms. "But... I mean-"

And then I don't get to say much else before I see someone rush over to us, and then Veetor's attention seems to be caught on it. I turn towards the source of the distraction and see Shala rushing to us, a purpose in her step. She comes over to Tali, and then spares a glance in my direction before nodding.

"Shala'Raan?" I ask.

"Han'Gerrel has just arrived," she says. "We will be starting the trial very soon."

For her part, my machinist friend manages to get her bearings together after saying this, and she nods. "I see..." she says. "We can't talk with him?"

"I'm afraid not," she says. "We wish to end this trial as quickly and painlessly as we can, Tali."

Hm. I'll believe that when it actually ends painlessly. "All right," I say. "Give us a minute. We'll be right there."

With this, Shala nods, and then moves to take her place over in the dais as a crowd starts to gather around where the trial is. I turn back to Veetor and nod.

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Veetor, but I've gotta go, I'm afraid," I say. "You planning on staying for the trial?"

"Of course," replies the twitchy quarian. "Tali helped me. I... I need to be there..."

I nod. "Very well," I say. "I'll see you around, Veetor. Hopefully, this will go well."

And with this, we begin to move over to where Tali is supposed to stand for the trial. I spare a final glance back to Veetor, and then see him give a small and incredibly nervous wave at our retreating forms. Hm... Well, Veetor, you may be called upon to speak out if certain things occur. So we'll see...

I shift my gaze back to Tali, whose eyes meet mine nervously as the two of us unwittingly walk ahead of Shepard. I nod to her. Don't worry, Tali, you'll be all right, no matter what the admirals throw at you. I'll be right here every step of the way. So don't worry, and we'll get through this. I just hope you won't get too angry at me when you find out about your father's possible fate...

I flash her a sad smile, knowing she can't see it. But she seems to appreciate the gesture, and she nods at me as we advance towards the area. I nod back, and it's then that I feel a slight bump against my hand. I glance down, and see that our hands are very close, just about to close the distance. I glance down... No, I really shouldn't. Not in front of the Admirals. That would just give them ammunition. And plus... I don't know... what with me having lied to Tali and all. Which I really shouldn't have done... But I am an idiot, so here I am.

I then stand off to the side just behind Tali, with Shepard and my quarian friend coming up to the dais where they'll be testifying. I look up to Shala, and then to the admirals. Okay... there's Han'Gerrel, and then Zaal'Koris and Daro'Xen are both standing there waiting for Shala to begin the trial with the opening of the conclave and all that.

And then a strange kind of dread sets in as she starts reciting those words. Fuck... I lied to Tali about her father. And now she's gonna find out. How... how will she react to the fact that I lied to her? Fuck... I should've just told her that there was some news about her father that wasn't good! That would've been better than outright lying to her. But no... I'm an idiot... So now, here I am... And she's gonna hear about her father...

Fuck... Gotta keep it in...

I bite my lower lip, thankful for once that my Alliance-issue helmet covers my mouth. I then clasp my hands together behind my back as I look over to the admirals.

And before I know it, the crowd drops a _Keelah se'lai_ there.

And so it begins.

"The accused, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, has come with her captain to defend herself against the charge of treason," says Shala. Fuck... there goes my seminally calm heart rate. It can only get worse from here...

Surprisingly, Zaal'Koris doesn't bring up his objection about Shepard being a human. Huh, okay... That's... good... but that means she finds out sooner. Well... at least he kept true to his word when we talked to him earlier. That's a good thing. I look over to Shala briefly.

"Jocelyn Shepard vas Normandy, your crew member stands accused of treason," says Shala, shifting a little on her feet. "Will you speak for her?"

Oh, speak for her, speak for her, please!

She steps forward, leaning against the dais where we're presenting our argument. "If it helps Tali, I will," she says. "But in her heart, she remains Tali'Zorah vas Neema, a proud member of the Migrant Fleet. I regret that her captain is forbidden to stand at her side today."

"Nobody has been forbidden from anything," shoots back Zaal'Koris. "It is a simple-!"

Han'Gerrel makes a move towards Zaal'Koris. "Lie to them if you must, Zaal'Koris, but don't lie to me and expect me to stay silent!" Yay, Han'Gerrel is on our side! Even if he is a war-monger, it's good that he's at least willing to listen to us. Much unlike Jerk'Buttface vas Qwib Qwib over there, who's making no pains to be an ass. Well, at least I don't have to grill him alive with a yo momma joke this time.

"Admirals, please," says Shala, leaning over her place on the platforms. "Shepard's willingness to represent Tali'Zorah in this hearing is appreciated." This effectively shuts both admirals up, and then they both separate slightly. Aw... I wanted to see them get into a fist fight. It would help against how my blood seems to be running cold ever so slowly. "Tali, you are accused of bringing active geth to the Migrant Fleet. What say you?"

Shepard shifts to the side. "From what Tali has told me, she never sent active geth, and never whole," says Shepard. "She always sent the geth in parts, and always made sure they were disabled. And they were never parts that could spontaneously reactivate." Well, that covers all the bases. Hopefully Daro'Xen won't say anything stupid like-

"How can you be sure of that?" asks the admiral.

... God damn it, there's just no winning with this bitch! Especially not in this universe! I wouldn't be surprised if Daro'Xen was that child from the ritual...

"I passed up great finds for father because they were too dangerous," says Tali, crossing her arms. "I would never send back anything active."

Zaal'Koris comes forward then... Oh, fuck, here we go. "Then explain how geth seized the lab ship where your father was working."

... I'm fucked.

I hear a loud murmur begin to take over the crowd that's sitting around the plaza as I bite my lower lip. Shit... She looks around, the shock present on her features as she looks up. "What are you talking about?" she asks, her voice laced with worry. "What happened?"

"As far as we can tell, Tali, the geth have killed everyone on the Alarei," says Han to her. Oh, no... "Including your father."

... Well... there we go.

"What?" she asks, her voice raised a couple of dynamics in her shock. "No... Oh, Keelah..."

A silence comes over the plaza then, and then she shakes her head. I can see her fist trembling slightly. She gazes down as Shepard looks up.

"I appreciate the need for this trial, Admirals," says Shepard. "But right now our first concern must be the safety of the Migrant Fleet. The Normandy stands ready to assist in whatever capacity necessary."

"Thank you," replies Shala'Raan. "Quarian strike teams have attempted to retake the ship, so far without success."

"Then we'll try," says Shepard with conviction. I look over to Tali... Shit... She's looking down, not taking any initiative...

"The safest course would be to simply destroy the ship," says Zaal. "But if you are looking for an honorable death instead of exile..."

Fuck you, Zaal'Koris! You're talking about someone with a track record of the impossible!

"I'm looking for my father, you _bosh'tet_!" she lashes out, pointing a finger at Zaal'Koris. "I'll do whatever it takes to reclaim the Alarei, Admirals. No matter the risks!"

"And it is for the good of the Fleet," adds Shepard. "With your permission, I would like to attempt to retake the Alarei."

The admirals seem to pause at the dual conviction of my fellow ship-mates on the Normandy. I look over to all of them as they seem to seriously consider this. Han'Gerrel is the first to speak. "Agreed." His reply is very short as he shifts slightly on the platform. "And if you die on this worthy mission, Tali, we will see that your name is cleared of these charges."

And that's a very big if, given Shepard's background.

"We can discuss that later," says Zaal'Koris.

"Then it is decided," says Shala, looking out to all of us. "You will attempt to retake the Alarei. You are hereby given leave to depart the Rayya. A shuttle will be waiting at the secondary docking hangar. Be safe, Tali. This hearing will resume upon your return, or upon determination that you have been killed in action."

With this, the first part of the trial ends. I look over to them, and the crowd slowly disperses as the admirals step off of their platform. I look to Shepard as she turns and nods, walking away as Thane and Kasumi follow suit. I stand there briefly, wondering about things before I turn to Tali.

And then I see her turn to me, and from the way she steps towards me... Fuck, she is pissed. Yep, I definitely shouldn't have lied to her. She stops right in front of me, and I can just see the anger in her silver orbs from behind the face mask. It's... kind of emanating that way.

"Art." Her voice is steely and quite angry. "You and I are going to talk. In private."

"Tali, wait, I can-"

"_Now_."

... Fuck... She's pissed... Damn it...

I move to follow her when I feel a three-fingered hand roughly grab my wrist. And before I know what is going on, I'm being dragged away from where the first part of the trial took place. We pass by Kasumi and Thane briefly, leaving the both of them confused as she takes me off to a small room to the side... Hm... that door wasn't there before... She drags me over to the room in question, and as the door opens I suddenly see how oppressive this is going to be. She pulls me in, closes the door behind her, locks it, and then looks to me.

"Tali, look, I-"

"You _bosh'tet_!" she shouts. She strikes my shoulder then, the blow coming very hard. Ow! I grip my shoulder from the pain as I glance at it and then back at her as she begins gesturing with her arms. "You let me believe there was nothing I could learn during this trial!" She points her finger in my face as she says this. "And now they told me that my father could be dead!"

"Tali, it wasn't easy for me to do that," I say, holding my hands up. "I wanted to tell you, I really did. But you heard the admirals. They wouldn't have let you go onto the Alarei if they had even the slightest idea you knew!"

The quarian looks at me, and I can feel the nastiness of her glare from beneath her mask even before she continues. "You think I don't know that?" she asks. "You could have said something. Anything, other than what you told me! You could've told me to expect bad news about my father! Instead... you betrayed my trust."

I blink. "Wait, Tali, you're getting this all wrong!" I say, stepping back. "I-"

"You _lied_ to me," she says, her voice harsh. "You told me there was nothing to be learned! How... how could you...?"

Her voice on these last words takes on a tinge of sadness, and then I look over. "Tali..." I say. "Do you know how hard this is for me? You don't know what's going to happen there! You don't-"

"I think I have a pretty good idea what to expect now," says Tali harshly. "The geth took over, they are in danger of taking over the fleet, and my father could be dead! You could have told me about what was happening at any time."

"Look, Tali, you don't have any idea what kind of-"

"Art." The ice in her voice is enough to get me to stop right where I am. "I gave you a chance to tell me what you knew. And you didn't tell me anything."

I shake my head. "Tali, if you'd only let me-!"

"You could have told me about my father, and the geth, and what he might have been doing!" she says. "But you chose not to tell. You chose to tell me about everything relating to Orange and the Collectors and the human genetic material... but on this?"

"I didn't want to hurt you!" I burst out. "You don't understand what goes on in-!"

"You didn't want to hurt me?" she asks, holding her hand to her breast. There is a brief silence as I look to Tali. "Art, how much do you think I'm hurt now? You chose to talk about everything but the one thing that means most to me... Art... I could lose my home... And now, knowing that I may have lost my father too... Art... Why couldn't you tell me to expect something like this?"

I shake my head. "I told you it was only going to get worse from here," I say. "I mentioned that. Tali, please, just let me ex-"

And before I can finish my sentence, I feel something punch me in the gut. I let out a loud groan in place of the last syllable, and then feel winded as I collapse to the floor. Fuck... Did she seriously just do that? I look up to her, fear in my eyes as she glanced down at me.

"I trusted you, Art," she says. "I trusted you would tell me everything you knew when the time was right. But now... You betrayed that. I... I don't even know..."

I can see her shudder as I slowly take in a few breaths, looking at her. Fuck... I lift myself up, looking to her. "Tali, please..."

She shakes her head. "No." The quarian's reply is simple. "I don't want this. I want you to go back to the Normandy."

What? No! I can't... You can't... "Tali," I begin weakly. "Just..."

Her posture is more resolute as I look up at her. "I don't want to deal with this," she says, shaking her head. "Go back to the Normandy. I'll tell Shepard you bailed."

Hey! "Tali... please..." I plead with her one last time.

She shakes her head. "No..." she says, her voice harsh in her anger. "You betrayed my trust, Art. I thought I could trust you with everything. And here we are... Just go back to the Normandy. I don't want to speak with you for the rest of the day. And if you dare think about coming to engineering after this trial is over..."

And with this, she leaves the room, leaving me slumped against the wall gripping my stomach as I try to get used to it. She steps out resolutely, and then the door closes me to the rest of the world.

... Damn it. I shake my head, my fist colliding against the wall of the room I'm in.

"Damn it!" I exclaim, shaking my head as I feel the first of the tears begin to fall. "Damn it..."

Fuck, what have I done? She's right, I shouldn't have lied... And I could have just told her to expect the worst. But I didn't... And I lied to her instead... I shouldn't have betrayed her trust. But now... she doesn't want to speak to me.

I feel the tears begin to fall, and as I gain my ability to breathe again, I shake my head and bring a hand to my head. I shake it, sniffling softly.

Damn it... I fucked up. I fucked up. And now I've lost Tali's friendship. Damn it... I've been an idiot.

Never mind that she didn't let me finish. If I had just told her everything I knew from the beginning... We wouldn't have had this discussion... And we'd still be friends... And... I couldn't; how could I tell her any of that? She would've been heartbroken... But... I guess either way, she ends up feeling bad about herself. Damn it. I lost both ways... But I lost it worse by not saying anything. I told her one lie... and now I've lost her friendship forever. Her friendship, which was the only thing that was keeping me afloat after what happened on Virmire.

I slam my fist against the wall a little harder this time, feeling the pain rush up into my fist. I don't care...

I sniffle a little harder, feeling the tears run down my cheeks unabated. And I can feel the mucus flowing out of my nose. Now I know what it's like to not be able to dry your own tears...

"Damn it..." I whisper, closing my eyes as I continue to cry alone in the small room.

The silence takes hold over the next minute or so, and I hug my knees to my torso, shaking my head as I cry alone, with a helmet blocking my tears from being dried by even myself. I continually mutter expletives at myself. Fuck... I'm a horrible, horrible man.

And I deserve this for lying to her. For betraying her trust because I couldn't just fucking say anything until it was too late.

I sit there muttering to myself for about a full minute before I hear the door whoosh open again. I hear a pair of footsteps entering the room, one more quiet than the other, and then I hear the door close and see two people kneeling in front of me. I shake my head, keeping my eyes closed.

"Damn, Art. I don't know how you managed to piss Tali off so much, but you did it. She was looking at us like we were committing murder or something after she went to go talk with you..."

I glance up, seeing Thane and Kasumi both kneeling before me. Shepard isn't in the room with them, but... for that, I'm grateful, I guess. I shake my head, closing my eyes as another tear slips down my face.

"Kasumi, leave me alone," I say, hugging my knees closer to her.

Thane is the next one to speak. "It is apparent that whatever you said to make her angry, it was upsetting to you as well," he states. "Perhaps..."

I shake my head. "No, she wouldn't listen to me," I reply. "It's just... I can't explain it."

"I dunno," says Kasumi. "It seemed to get her very angry. But she doesn't want to talk to you, I don't think."

I snort at this. "How am I not surprised," I comment sarcastically. I sniffle immediately afterwards. "But... I wanted to help her... And now she won't let me..."

"What did you tell her?" asks Kasumi, crossing her arms.

Wait... no, that would require talking about my past. I can't tell them that... because then things would be crazy. I shake my head. "You wouldn't understand," I say.

"Perhaps there is something we can say to her that will let her give you a second chance," says Thane.

"Really..." I say, shaking my head. "You wouldn't get it. Neither of you would."

"You never know," replies the thief, shifting where she kneels slightly. "What did you tell her that got her so angry?"

I shake my head. "No..." I say. "Nothing you say will change her mind. Besides, it's not in anything I said. It's what I didn't say... Just... leave me alone, please... I don't want to deal with anything right now..."

Kasumi blinks, and then I see Thane move his hand. "What you _didn't _say?" she asks, crossing my arms.

"Most intriguing," says Thane, his hand resting on his knee.

"You're telling me," says the thief. Oh, fuck, now she's smirking! Oh, I just made things worse, didn't I? "Now there's no way you're getting out of here until you tell us!"

Damn it! I did just make things worse... And now they won't leave. Knowing what I know of Kasumi from meeting her, she won't leave me alone until I tell... But... fuck... I just can't...

God damn it, I can never manage to keep things secret for very long anymore. I guess... maybe they can help. I'll give them that chance, I guess. It didn't hurt back after Virmire... maybe it'll help me here...

I just... how am I supposed to tell Kasumi and Thane about this? It's... going to be very, very difficult to talk about. So... Wait, Thane is here... And I have knowledge of Irikah and Kolyat... I've got nothing on Kasumi, but if I can prove I know more about what's going on than anybody else with Thane's side of the equation, then... yes, maybe I can get them to see. Also when I tell them what was going on aboard the Alarei.

Okay... I'll start with Thane.

I look over to the assassin, then, hugging my legs closer. "Well... fine," I say with a sigh. "But it's a long story, and I'll have to get to the point in a very roundabout way."

The Japanese girl simply shrugs. "Just as long as you get to the point, we're game," she says.

I nod. "All right," I say. "I'll tell you."

The other two occupants of the room nod, and then I look back, feeling the tears stop. "Now what's up?" asks the thief, making herself comfortable in a more crouch-like position.

I nod, looking to Thane. "Thane," I say. "Tell me if the next three words I say ring a bell or two." He simply nods his reply, a small grunt coming from him. Okay... here goes...

"Sunset-colored eyes."

If Thane blinks, I can't see it from behind whatever mask he has on his head. I see him hesitate slightly, and then I watch as Kasumi looks over, confusion in her eyes. He is impassive as ever as he replies. "There... is one memory..." he says... "_Laser dot trembles on his skull. Spice on the spring wind. Sunset eyes defiant in the scope._" He comes out of his solipsism afterwards, looking at me. "What does this have to do with the topic at hand?"

I nod... okay, I've got what I need. "I'm... getting there. For now, that's... that's how you met Irikah, right?" I ask.

Thane tilts his head now. "I..." he says. "How do you know about that?"

I nod. "I know a lot more about you than you think I do," I begin. "I know, for instance, that she was killed by batarian slavers looking for revenge against you for a hit you carried out on them." At this, I hear him shift his foot back slightly, his body language expressing shock. "You went after them to pursue revenge. You found them... tortured them... and killed them for what they did. Irikah carried you out of your... battle sleep, so it's called, and then when she died you returned to it... And then you found out about Kepral's."

Kasumi looks over at the assassin, who is standing there. His breathing is noticeably more labored as he contemplates this, and then I look at him. "And that's not all," I say, nodding. "You have a son. His name's Kolyat, and you... left him when you went to get revenge on Irikah." I bite my lower lip before I continue. "Well... you weren't really there for him anyway, but... he grew apart when you left, so..."

"I have never told anybody about any of this," he says. "My family life and my professional life were separated as well as could be. How did you find out about this?"

I nod. "That brings us to the point at hand," I say. "I... know more about what's going on than anybody here. I know about the Collectors and what they're doing with the colonists. I know about Thane's past. And I know what's going on with Tali's quest."

"How?" asks Kasumi. "How do you know?"

I nod. Okay, here comes the whammy. "Two very big things," I reply with a nod. "And both of them are extremely difficult to believe, even for me. The first... is that I wasn't actually born in 2163. I was actually born about 185 years ago."

Both of them flinched at this. "What?" she asks. "How's that possible?"

"Interdimensional travel," I say with a shrug. "But get this: the events that have been going on recently and that happened with Saren two years ago were both documented in a pair of video games in my home dimension." By this time, Kasumi is leaning so far back that she falls back on her ass. See? I knew this would be a doozy for you. "And I played those games. So... let's just say I have extremely accurate prophetic visions brought on from experiences I've had in an alternate dimension twiddling my thumbs and listening to squad dialogue."

"What?" asks Kasumi. "Art, do you know... I mean, not to sound crazy or anything like that... I mean... how do you... are you-?"

"Then what do you know of Kolyat's location?" asks Thane. Whoah... I can detect a trace of worry in his voice. "He... has not been mentioned by my relatives lately. I do not know what has become of him, or where he is... Can you tell me anything at all?"

I nod. "I can't tell you where he is right now," I say. "But, I can tell you where he's going to be. In the near future, you'll be getting a message from one of your contacts that he's picked up a package you left for him ahead of time. And then... he'll go to the Citadel. And he'll try to carry a hit on some turian politician, Joram Talid I think his name was."

"Do you know this to be true?" asks Thane.

"Absolutely." My reply is confident as I look to him. "But... we've got more pressing matters. Like... what I didn't tell Tali."

"Wait, Thane, you're buying it just like that?" asks Kasumi, glancing over at me.

"No," he says, looking over to the thief. "But if what he is saying is true, then the truth of what he is saying about himself shall be verified soon enough."

I shrug, looking over to the thief as she turns to me. "Well... Thane pretty much hit the nail on the head," I say. "But... you might get an even closer opportunity to verify that for yourselves. See... I know what was happening on the Alarei... And... it's not pretty." I adjust slightly, looking at Thane and Kasumi.

"So why does that mean that Tali's mad?" asks Kasumi.

I bite my lower lip. "She's one of four other people that knows about my secret," I say. "Well... six now."

"And what did you not tell her?" asks Thane, still on one knees as he looks to me.

Oh, boy, here goes. "Tali's father... he was reconstructing and reactivating all the geth parts Tali was sending him. Intentionally. And then they were linking them to a neural network to test some tech warfare. He wanted to create a superweapon that would be effective against the geth" I look to Kasumi. "If you doubt me know, you'll find your proof on the Alarei when you step on it. I can guarantee it."

This causes the thief to blink uncertainly, her hands coming forward. "Well... that's some pretty hefty stuff," she says. "What else do you know?"

I shrug. "Her father is supposed to be dead at the moment," I say, shaking my head. "But... I sent him an extranet message before this happened... With any luck, he'll have taken the warning seriously."

"You hope it will be changed?" asks Thane.

I smirk bitterly under my helmet. "It happened before with Garrus," I reply. "I'm hoping the same will hold true for Tali."

Kasumi nods at this. "You feel terrible about not saying anything, don't you?" she asks.

I look to the thief briefly, and then I nod. Yeah, she's very observant, all right. "It's... Yeah, I do," I say. "I didn't mention any of this to her. I didn't want to hurt her, so... I just kept my mouth shut."

"Well, that went about as well as expected, given where we are now..." comments Kasumi.

I chuckle bitterly. "Yeah, I know, right?" I ask, shaking my head. "She didn't even know she would be tried for treason until she got the message from the board." I sniffle slightly, feeling the tears tug slightly at me. "I should've just told her what I knew. Consequences of her knowing everything in advance be damned. I just lost her friendship... And now, the only thing I could do that would help me get it back is the one thing she won't let me do. I just... I want to help her. I really do." I look straight to Kasumi and Thane. "And not just because it's the right thing to do. Tali... She's my closest friend in the whole galaxy... And I don't want her to be exiled. Because then she'd be separated from her home."

I shake my head, looking back down as a solitary tear travels down my cheek. "That's a pain I have to live with every single day of my life," I say. "There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about what is happening to my family and my friends in my home dimension. I... I don't want the same for Tali. She deserves far better than that."

Kasumi shifts, and it's silent in the small room we're in for about a minute or so. I look to her, and then to Thane, waiting for either of them to say something. Damn it... just tell me what you plan on doing.

I see the thief smirk under her hood... Oh, boy, she's got an idea. "Well... maybe we should take back the Alarei."

I blink, frowning slightly. "Granted, I think Tali will want a say in it..." I say. "And Shepard should probably be there..."

"Who said they had to go in?"

... What? Wait...

Is she seriously suggesting I go in and save the Alarei without Tali or Shepard?

"Kasumi, are you-?" I ask. "No! That's... that's insanity! Why do you think I would even agree to that?"

"Well, you want your friendship with Tali, right?" asks Kasumi, her smirk holding. "What better way to do that than to go in and take the Alarei back for her?"

Uh... "Well... it's a very risky mission," I reply. "And I think she'd like to be there... And besides, I'm not throwing myself in there just to martyr myself for friendship or romance or whatever the hell you all think is between Tali and I..."

"I must question the judgement of this, Kasumi," voices Thane apprehensively. Yeah, I'm with you on that, Thane. "This may backfire on him in ways we may not anticipate."

"Well, think about it," says the thief, looking over to the two of us as she begins gesturing with her hands. "Art says he knows everything that's going on, right? That means we'll be at a tactical advantage within the Alarei. We'll know where to expect geth, we'll know where to expect Rael... and you won't have to worry about not telling Shepard."

I bite my lower lip, my brows furrowing as I think. Hm... think think think... "It's just..." I begin, looking to the thief. "Once we get in, I can't guarantee we'll go out... Things changed, Kasumi."

"It's still worth a try," says the thief, looking over. "Besides, haven't you wanted to go on an entire mission without Shepard?"

Hm... Well... "Not entirely," I reply. "But... Shepard was the playable character for the game. And... I sometimes felt a sense of empowerment when I got to shoot down the bad guys with her. I don't know if I still like that sense of entitlement now..."

I hang my head. "But this mission for was always the most heart-breaking of the missions of the second game..." I say. "I... I just want Tali to come out of this with a home to return to. Possibly even a father who'll care about her later. I... I just don't want Tali to have anything bad happen to her because of this trial..."

Thane looks at me, and his feet shift slightly as he looks at me. "I... must begrudgingly agree to Kasumi's proposition, if this is your reasoning," he says. "I... live with the regret of not being there when Irikah was killed. I do not want the same regret to fall upon you."

I nod. Well... he's right. If I don't do something, I'll live with the regret of what could've been had I stepped in and helped. I don't think Thane and Kasumi speaking to Tali about it will work all that well for her, given how angry she is... So if I have any chance of doing it, I'll have to take the Alarei with only them two to help.

I look over to Kasumi. "Okay," I say. "You... you've got a point. We'll go ahead and play Grand Theft Shuttle here. Hopefully, I can handle the fall-out that'll happen afterwards from Tali being left behind here, but we'll see what happens."

"Excellent!" says the thief, her smile becoming much more cheerful as she opens her omni-tool. "You in, Thane?"

"My arm is Shepard's," says the assassin. "However, I would prefer to aid Art in this situation. So... you could say that I am 'in', as you so elegantly put it."

"All right!" she says, looking to me. "Art, you have enough room on your omni-tool to download something really quickly?"

Hm... Wait... "You mean like a tactical cloak?" I ask, opening my own and sifting through programs. Okay... okay... "Yeah, I think I might."

"Good," she says, keying things in on her omni-tool. "Because we're going to need it if we hope to get onto that shuttle before Shepard."

I nod, hearing a ping as a document transfer begins. "What's she planning on doing?"

"Tali needed a moment alone," says Thane. "Shala'Raan went to speak to her to calm her down. Shepard was going to wait, and then call someone from the Normandy to replace you. If we hurry, we can sneak on before Shepard makes the call."

"Okay," I say, looking at my omni-tool. Okay... there! "Now that I've got the tactical cloak downloaded, how do I start it?"

"Oh, that should be easy," she says, going through menus on her omni-tool. I follow her movements as she explains the omni-tool menu, but my mind is on other things. I mean, damn, I'm breaking into a shuttle and stealing it to get onto the Alarei. Not even Shepard has done anything remotely as crazy. Well... except get the Normandy out of lockdown, but technically that was Anderson, not Shepard. But this is even crazier than all that. I can't believe I even agreed to this, but Kasumi's got a point. I just don't want Tali to get exiled and lose the one place she considers her home, and sitting on the Normandy stressing out about it isn't going to make things better. So... I think this is the best course of action.

Plus, I'm taking a more active role in helping her. I think that's really all I can ask for at this point.

But then, before long, I press a button on my omni-tool, and then I see things look a little different. I look to Thane, and then to where Kasumi stands... Uh... Right...

I walk around Thane a little bit, looking at the assassin as he slowly stands up. I do the same... and I assume Kasumi's doing the same, since she literally just vanished from sight. Right... time to see how well this tactical cloak works.

I walk forward a little and around the assassin, looking at him. I then quickly tap him just behind his shoulders, startling him and causing him to turn in my direction. Hm... I think it works.

"You got that, Thane?" I ask.

The assassin turns to me. "Ah, there you are," he says, nodding. "I think we are ready, then."

"Good," says Kasumi from... somewhere. "Because I can't see him either." I glance over to where I heard the thief talking. "Now let's get out of here and onto that shuttle before Shepard calls in someone to replace you, Art."

I nod. "Right."

And with this, Thane seems to melt into the shadows, and then I look over as the door opens back onto the garden plaza of the Rayya. Okay, Shepard is there... Tali is nowhere to be seen, and neither is Shala...

It's showtime!


	21. Chapter 20

_A/N: All right, and we are back with some more Mass Vexations!_

_And this time... Well, Art's just lost Tali's friendship, but he may get it back__. How? Taking over the Alarei, of course. But his logic may be a little to reliant on coincidence. So... we'll see what happens._

_Oh, and I got another commission photo to show you guys! http:/ kyletheartist. deviantart. com /#/d348vpq_

_It's a chibi commission of Art, Tali, and Wrex in battle poses by KyletheArtist on DA. Never mind that Art's not actually a sentinel-class, what with not having biotics and all, but it's still a cool picture. Check it out, I tell you!_

_Oh, and... well... since this was posted after the VGA reveal..._

**_MASS EFFECT 3 IS COMING! YAAAAAAAAAAY!_**

_Okay, yeah, enough of the fanboying for me. I won't say much more until they confirm Thane and Tali for ME3. So let's get going, eh, Bioware?_

_So for now, let's get moving!_

* * *

Chapter 20: Loyalty: Red Night, Part 2

Okay... that was certainly a doozy.

I look behind me as the shuttle door opens in front of us. Okay... yeah, there were a lot of close ones.

Shepard was standing outside there, and Tali was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Shala, honestly, which caught me for a bit of a loop. I didn't see Garrus in there, either, so Shepard didn't call him. That was good for us, even if it was bad for Tali.

This only left sneaking around the Rayya to get to the shuttle. Fortunately, we all knew where we needed to go.

It was getting there that was the problem. It was a bit of a test of patience, honestly, but since Thane wasn't cloaked he had a bit of a harder time of it. We just managed to get lucky when one of the quarians went through the door that takes us to the corridor down which we're supposed to go to get to the shuttle. So we followed as closely as possible, with Thane moving very silently as Kasumi and I walked in with our cloaks.

And from there, it was a matter of dodging quarians. Thane pretty much vanished from sight as soon as we got into the hallway in question, so he had no problem, but neither me nor Kasumi had the advantage of being able to use other things. Well... at least, I don't think Kasumi did. But I know I didn't, what with being in full combat armor and all. So I had to weave around so many quarians it wasn't even funny. I almost bumped into a few people trying to get to the shuttle, actually. Somehow, I managed to get through it without bumping into anyone. I don't know what about that is more miraculous: that I actually did it, or that I managed to get to the airlock without too much of a problem.

And now, here we were in the airlock, me letting out a few pants of relief as my tactical cloak wears off. Kasumi phases into being next to me, and I see Thane nodding at the both of us as the decontamination cycle occurs.

"Well..." says Kasumi, closing her omni-tool from the hack that was performed on the door. "That was certainly a close one."

I nod. "You're telling me," I say, shaking my head. "I almost bumped into people once or twice there..." I rub my shoulder. "There was even that one point where I had to crab walk over a quarian. Can you imagine my panic when he started to rise just as I was making my way between him and another quarian? That was a really close call, I tell ya."

"Fortunately, we are inside the airlock. And soon, the shuttle."

And with this from Thane, the deconamination cycle ends, and the door opens to us. I blink, and then the three of us step inside. I look over to Kasumi as she walks over to the cockpit.

"So..." says Kasumi. "What are you hoping to find in there?"

"Honestly?" I ask, shrugging. "I'm hoping we can find Rael'Zorah alive. I did send him an extranet message telling him to take precaution on whatever he was doing. I'm sure he doesn't know about what's been happening on the Rayya yet, seeing as how I haven't mentioned it."

Kasumi manipulates the controls a little, opening her omni-tool. "Well... the good news is that it's already marked to take us to where we need to go," she says. "And I can't find any bad news, so let's get moving."

"Do you think Shepard will be angry with us for going against any orders?" asks Thane as he sits on one of the seats of the shuttle.

I shrug, following him to that seat and sitting to his left. "I definitely don't think she'll be happy about it," I say. "I mean, I did get yelled at for defying orders that one time we were on Virmire. But I think she'll be angrier with the fact that we're leaving her to deal with the fallout than she will about any actual orders. Especially if we manage to find Rael'Zorah."

I hear something come from Kasumi's end of the ship, and then I feel a slight lurch. "You are hoping Rael'Zorah will be able to save Tali from exile?" asks Thane.

I nod. "Oh yeah," I say. "He may be able to say something that can sway the Admirals to declare Tali innocent. That's my hope, anyway. It's probably nothing if Rael'Zorah isn't alive, but things have changed because of my involvement where people that weren't supposed to survive did survive."

With this, I feel the shuttle begin to move, and then I see Kasumi step out of the cockpit area. "Well, we're on our way," she says. "This is going to be exciting, going on a suicide mission."

"Hey, now, don't forget that this isn't _the_ suicide mission," I point out. "We'll get out of this all right, I think. And hopefully, with Rael'Zorah in tow instead of just a dead weight..."

Kasumi nods as she sits across the shuttle from us. She nods, and then she looks straight at us. Yeah, this'll be fun. I'm doing a mission with Thane and Kasumi. One with my favorite assassin, the other with a pretty fun-loving thief. This will be quite a doozy when we go around the Alarei without Shepard in tow.

Hm... Speaking of Shepard and Thane...

I turn to Thane then, crossing my arms. "By the way, I notice you and Shepard have been hanging out an awful lot lately," I comment.

"We have, yes," replies the assassin. "I will admit... there is... something, growing between us. I do not know what yet, but... I admire her strength and her skill... But she is also a caring person at heart. These qualities draw me to her..."

I nod, smiling. "Yep, you're falling for her," I say, pointing a finger at him. The smile I'm giving him says it all, I think. "I knew it!"

The assassin turns to look at me, his hands resting squarely on his lap. "The human idiom for falling in love..." he says. "Intriguing."

"Just so you know, I'm behind you a hundred percent," I comment. "Kaidan, frankly, was an ass back on Horizon, so I think this time she's doing something right with her love life. So if she makes the moves on you... drop a _siha _somewhere along the way, will ya?"

Thane blinks. "We shall see," he says. Hm... neither denying nor confirming it. Hm. I like this guy's approach to being ship teased already. Maybe I should've just followed his example earlier.

I look over to Kasumi then as she shifts so one leg is over the other. She looks to me then, and then crosses her arms. "So..." she says. "You mentioned you changed events with Garrus."

I nod. "I guess you want the story behind that," I say, leaning forward and resting my forearms on my knees. "Okay. It's... a bit of a long story, though..."

"We've got the entire ride to the Alarei," she points out.

"True," I mention. "Well... See, Garrus had this squad when he was on Omega..."

And with this, I begin to talk about what changed with Garrus' loyalty mission, and how I was involved with changing everything about that. The two of them listen intently, and I watch Kasumi's expression shift quite a lot as I tell her the story. Honestly? It feels good to talk about it with people other than the Brotherhood. I don't know why. I wonder what would happen with Shepard if she found herself in my situation...

Hm... speaking of her, I hope the fallout from this incident isn't too harsh. Sorry, Shepard, but I'm hoping you can deal with the fall-out as well as I have. Because you'll need a lot of help to get past the fall-out, I think. And I can't provide it for you, so... But don't worry. We'll bring back something that can help Tali get out of exile. And hopefully, it won't be that something that makes you lose her loyalty should she ever find out what it is...

Tali... sit tight. I'm going to help you out here. Or at least try to. Because we've got nothing if not the ability to try.

* * *

The shuttle slows to a stop, and by this point I've drawn my shotgun. Kasumi and Thane both have the same idea, the thief pulling out her pistol as Thane grabs his sub-machine gun. I look to the two of them and nod.

"Right," I say. "Now... if memory serves me correctly... there will be geth crawling in the ship. But they won't be all over the place."

"How will we know where to look?" asks Kasumi.

I smirk. "Look for the places with a lot of chest-high scenery," I say. "If what I remember is correct, those places tend to be where the firefights are most intense."

"Interesting choice of scenery to look for," comments Thane casually as the deconamination cycle for the airlock of the Alarei begins. "Why is that?"

I smirk, seeing the door open out to a hallway soon after. "You can go back to the past and ask Yahtzee Croshaw of Zero Punctuation about that," I say. "In the meantime... I think we've got a firefight coming up in this first room, so let's get going, shall we?"

With this, we nod, and then we move ever so quickly. I look to Thane and his submachine gun, and frown. "Actually, Thane, sniper rifles might be better in this first room. They'll all come in through this door at the end, so maybe you can pick them off from there."

The assassin nods at this, taking my suggestion and swapping out his submachine gun for his sniper rifle. I look over, and then nod as I come forward.

"Okay, guys, you ready?" I ask.

"As we'll ever be," says Kasumi."

I nod. "Right," I say. "Let's do this!"

And I hit the door control as I say this. Okay... plenty of said chest-high walls... and over there, there are two geth! Right by a bunk bed, I think, and right where the kitchen counter is.

Presto!

I rush over to one of the chest-high walls, vaulting over it as Kasumi vanishes into thin air. As I quickly rush over to the second of the chest high walls for cover, I hear a sniper shot go off, and right before I can get into cover, I see one of the geth fall over.

With this, I press my back squarely against cover as I take a breath. It's all I allow myself before I hold my shotgun up to the level of my eye and spring up. I do so just in time to see Kasumi punch out a geth with that super-charged punch move she has. The geth stumbles back but it has no time to ponder what happened before Kasumi very nimbly moves into the very close bunk bed. Whoah... did she do a back flip? Man, the money I'd pay to have seen the Bioware team attempt _that_ in-game. Then again, though, Jack was restricted to cutscenes for that kind of power, so I imagine they didn't.

But anyway... The geth stumbles back, and it's still in my view. All right! I fire my shotgun once, and then I see the geth fall to the side uselessly. Okay... I look over to the side to see quite a few geth troopers rushing in. Fortunately, Thane manages to take one out with a well-placed sniper rifle shot. I look back, and see that he's taking point just behind another bunk bed where he has a clear shot at the door. Excellent!

I lay my back against cover, and slowly inch off to the side. Sorry, Kasumi, I hope your pistol can hold them off for me. I sidle off to the side, and then come up when I have a clear shot at the door just in time to see a slightly larger geth enter the room. Right as I look at him, it cloaks, however, but not before Kasumi can get a bullet inside of it.

Oh, dear, it just cloaked. Yep, it's one of those god-damn geth hunters. God, those were annoying... well, aside Although... wait, I can still kind of see where it is... Huh, it's just like the game in that regard!

... Which I just lost. Damn it!

I fall back into cover, looking over as I see the outline of where the geth is. Okay... wait for it to get close... wait for it to get close... now!

I come out of cover, and then see the outline right in front of me. I fire my shotgun once, and then the cloak fails the geth as it stumbles back. Okay, one more shot should do the trick! I fire another shot into the geth, and it's sent falling back, the body clanking noisily against the support of the bunk bed on the other side of the kitchen counter. Kasumi seems unfased by the fact that her piece of cover was a little jilted for a second or two, and so fires into the crowd again.

I look back to see some more troopers being taken down by Thane, and before long I see an explosion of sparks come from the geth as they enter the room. All right, an overload! Thanks, Kasumi! And apparently, it's the area overload too... Hm, that will come in handy.

I come up out of cover then, firing my shotgun into the crowd. I see a few troopers fall as they clamber in, and then I see another hunter come in. He seems to stumble over to the side briefly, but I don't particularly dwell on the fact that Kasumi's still behind the bed as I fire a pair of shotgun rounds into it. Pumping my shotgun once, I see another group of about three troopers rush in, and then I fire my shotgun twice. Yeah, that manages to kill troopers pretty quickly here. Another one of them falls, probably from a sniper rifle shot, and then I look on and see that there's another geth hunter at the end.

Huh. They throw all the fucking peons here... Well, that's a little cowardly.

I look over to the geth hunter as he manages to cloak, Kasumi taking out the last remaining trooper just before this. I can still see the outline he leaves, however, so I waste no time in firing my shotgun again.

Apparently, the hunter had the same idea, and I stumble back, feeling my shields take a hit as he phases back into existence. I look in surprise, seeing the geth thing pump its shotgun again. Oh, dear...

It suddenly stumbles to the side, Kasumi appearing out of nowhere as her fist connects with its flashlight head. I hear the clatter of submachine-gun fire soon after, and then the hunter slumps to the side, the unit deactivating before suddenly going off at my feet.

I look over to Thane, where he comes out of cover holding the submachine gun in his off hand. He nods as Kasumi turns to me. I holster my shotgun then, biting my lower lip as I continue.

"Well... that's one wave of them down," she says.

I glance around, suddenly noticing the amount of quarian bodies lying around with guns in their hands. I cross my arms as I look at this. "It doesn't look like those search teams the Rayya sent out made it past this point," I comment. "I think we're making pretty good progress if that's the case."

"Indeed," agrees Thane with a short nod. "Shall we continue into the ship?"

I frown, looking over to the corner... Yes, those personal terminals are still there. "Not quite," I say, vaulting over a stove as I stride over there. "There are some logs scattered all over the ship that might give us a better idea of what's been going on. If I remember correctly, this room has the first one of those." I walk over to the terminal then, looking at it and opening my omni-tool. "Let's see..."

I manipulate the terminal from my omni-tool, and then we see the video log play. I look over to it, blinking as Thane and Kasumi come up behind me. Yep... it's the one about the lowering of the firewalls for some reason. Hm... Okay... I look at it, nodding. Okay... this is exactly as I remember it.

"Hm..." says Thane. "It seems they were on to something... disturbing."

I nod. "Oh, yeah," I say, shaking my head. "Well... this is going straight to the recycling bin." With this, I move my omni-tool around... Right, delete this, and-

"Art, are you insane?" Kasumi's voice rings out behind me in surprise. "You're deleting data on a ship without the permission of the admirals?"

"Oh yeah," I say with a decisive nod. "We'll have to erase a lot of these logs before we get off this ship, trust me. And they'll never know that something was actually missing if we're thorough. And we don't want them to find out about most of this information, believe me."

At this, Kasumi and Thane both frown. "Why?" asks Kasumi. "I don't see how destroying any evidence is going to help Tali at all!"

I look over at the thief as I close my omni-tool. "Trust me, this trial isn't about Tali, no matter how much the Admiralty board wants us to believe that," I reply, shaking my head. "You heard Daro'Xen and Zaal'Koris: as soon as the topic turned to the geth, they went right with it and basically said 'I see this as point A' and 'I see this as point B'."

"What about Han'Gerrel?" asks Thane. "He seemed to have the utmost respect for Tali."

I bite my lower lip and shrug. "Only because Han'Gerrel and Rael'Zorah are really good friends," I reply, looking at the drell as I turn around. "Even he turns the subject to the geth if you talk to him before going on the Alarei. And if you do that, he says he wants to go to war with the geth."

"So what's your point?" asks Kasumi. "I just don't get how this trial isn't relating to Tali right now..."

I frown, crossing my arms. "Their viewpoints on the geth are all different," I say. "It's like this all over the Fleet, and the tensions have been escalating lately; at the point it's at now, it just needs a spark before it all goes straight to hell." I uncross my arms, gesturing with my hands. "These tensions are coming forward with a trial about tests that were being done on the geth. That's why this trial isn't about Tali; everyone and their mother is using this trial as a way to gain a victory for their argument. The bit of evidence Tali needs to get exonerated is going to be that spark that causes everything to go to hell. And Tali's going to be even less happy about that than her being exiled. If there's one thing she hates more than being kicked out of her house, it's seeing it get divided right before her very eyes. And that's not counting the fact that her own father caused it to be divided in such a way. So yeah. There's all that."

"Damn..." says Kasumi. "I... I guess I see your point now. It's gotta suck to be in that."

I shrug, splaying my arms out. "That it does, Kasumi," I say. "That it does. Any questions?"

"I do have one," says Thane. "Is there any way to ensure Tali is not exiled without this evidence?"

I nod. "I just have to remember to bring up her history of service when I come in," I comment. "And hope that Rael'Zorah is alive somewhere to provide a testimony. If his word fails, then it's straight to the fact that she made the quarians look good to the rest of the galaxy and helped kick Saren's ass."

The assassin nods his agreement, but I can tell that the thief isn't convinced. "But it's just that one piece of evidence, right?" asks Kasumi. "So shouldn't you delete it when you get there?"

"Oh, I will, trust me," I say. "And you'll know it when you see it. But then, there's another factor, which is why I'm deleting every relevant log I find.: Daro'Xen."

I get a confused glance from Kasumi as I bring this bit up. "What does the Admiral have to do with this?" asks Thane.

"Quite a lot," I comment. "I don't know what she plans to do with her views of controlling the geth, but I know that after this mission she goes onto the Alarei to get whatever data is left here. I don't know what it was going to lead to in the future, but I already don't like it. It's why I'm going to attempt to delete every possible hypotenuse that's on the Alarei in relation to that final piece of evidnece. Trust me, deleting a lot of this stuff is going to do wonders for the future of the quarian people. Especially in relation to the geth."

Kasumi and Thane look at me skeptically. "Damn, this is complicated," says Kasumi.

I shake my head. "You're telling me this?" I ask. "There's so much that goes on in this mission it's almost insane. And there's so much that hinges on what happens at the end that it's also kind of crazy on that count. I really don't know how they were planning on doing a third part with these kinds of decisions."

The thief gives me a startled look, and then I see Thane's hands shift slightly. "Wait, there was going to be another game in this series?" she asks.

"Yeah," I reply with a nod. "Only problem is, I found myself here well before they could even announce this third game." I move towards the door. "It's a long story, and I'll tell you when we have more time. For now, we've gotta go through the rest of this bloody ship and see what else is new."

Kasumi and Thane both nod, the two of them drawing out their respective weapons. "Of course," says Thane. "Lead the way."

I nod, taking point as I take my assault rifle and hold it out in front of me. I check the sights and then nod, holding it in front of me as we advance to the door.

Okay... let's do some more exploring of the Alarei!

* * *

We fight our way through some more of the geth, and I look around me. Okay... this room... Hm... That service drone should still be here.

I motion for Thane and Kasumi to follow me beyond the geth bodies that are all over the place. Damn, are the geth everywhere at the moment... And there were a lot of 'em in that last battle. We actually could've been overwhelmed if not for the fact that Kasumi has overload and Thane has his biotics. It helps that the biotics can actually bypass shields in real life. But still... it was kind of ridiculous how many geth are here.

Just how many parts did Tali send, anyhow? I don't think it should really be enough for Rael'Zorah to be able to manufacture an entire fucking army out of these things! Either Tali got incredibly lucky on Haestrom, or she's been gathering all these parts since she returned from her Pilgrimage. As it stands right now, I don't know which of the two is more disturbing. I'll bank my money on the latter, seeing as how it supports that theory that Tali unintentionally caused all this with that Pilgrimage data. I don't want to think that, though... I mean, what are the chances? Best not think about it like that... I'll find out the truth soon enough anyhows.

The two follow me to the door of the side room, and I hit the door panel lightly. It opens at my command, and then I step inside. Okay, lab tables here... They're all clean and stuff... no geth hiding behind anything firing at us... Okay...

Hey, wait a minute! There's something missing in this picture!

"What?" I ask, letting down my assault rifle as I step into the room. "This isn't right..."

Thane and Kasumi enter soon after, and then they look at the room as I walk towards one of the tables. Jesus... "It's an empty room," says Kasumi.

"I do not see what there is in an empty room that is worth commenting on..." comments Thane.

I shrug. "That's exactly the problem," I say, gesturing to the empty table. "There was supposed to be a service drone right here on this very table! In the game, Tali would scan it to see if there was any evidence of her father doing anything on it... But it's not even here!"

"Oh..." says Kasumi, moving towards the table. "That would explain a lot. Do you have any idea why it's not there?"

I shake my head. "That's the crazy part," I reply. "I don't know why the hell it wouldn't be here. It's just a service drone, meant to do repairs... Tali had salvaged it on Haestrom, and sent it right to the fleet. So there's no reason it shouldn't be here..."

Thane looks over at me then, holding his hands behind his back. "Do you believe someone may have repurposed that drone?" he asks.

Wait, what? I frown, looking to the assassin. "Why do you ask?" I reply.

"Perhaps we can arrive at an explanation if we think about it in such terms," he replies.

I shake my head, frowning slightly. "I don't know," I say. "On the one hand, it's plausible that he could have done that. But on the other..." I walk away from the table where the service drone is not. "I'm very sure that nobody on the ship would have seen the point of repurposing something like a service drone to be something else. It was meant to repair the geth. Why would he have someone repurpose...?" My question suddenly dies as I think of something.

Wait... Why would he repurpose it... except as heeding a warning? Maybe... Yes, that could be it, he might have repurposed it as a protective combat drone. The quarians know enough about the geth to do something like that, I might think... Yeah, that could be what happened... Could it?

I blink at this, my surprise eminent as I look to them. "Unless..." I say. "Yes, that makes sense... Maybe he took my warning via the extranet seriously..."

"It certainly sounds like it would be a good idea," Kasumi says as she crosses her arms. "You try to find a way to heed someone's warning, so you work with a geth drone. But..."

I shake my head, biting my lower lip. Well, hold on... the repurposed drone... "I don't know," I say. "There's no guarantee that the repurposed drone didn't turn on him when the rest of the geth turned on the crew of the Alarei." And then there are other things... "Besides, even if it didn't turn, it would make it so much harder for him to hide from the geth..."

"Perhaps he began a second neural network," suggests Thane.

I shrug. "Possibly," I say. "But I still don't know if it would actually work. And even if it did work, there's no guarantee Rael'Zorah is still alive at this point if this was his only plan."

"A man of his intellect should be able to plan things well in advance, yes?" asks Thane.

I nod. "Too true, Thane," I comment. "I... I guess I need to stop worrying right now. Hopefully he won't be dead by the time we find him."

"Well, we'll find out about what happened to him later, right?" asks Kasumi.

I nod. "Yeah," I comment. "In the game, we're supposed to be able to find Rael'Zorah's body just before we go into the final fight of the mission. If it's not there, then we'll talk about this again. If it is..." I give them a shrug, splaying my arms out. "The less I say about that, the better."

"We should get moving, then," says the thief, holding her pistol up. "He's not going to survive much longer without our help, I don't think."

I shake my head. "Me neither, Kasumi," I reply. "Come on."

With this, I hold my assault rifle back up, and work back into the hallway. Kasumi comes in soon after, with Thane following us as he holds his submachine gun out. Okay... so the service drone wasn't there... Now if I remember correctly, we've still got a ways before we see the spot where Rael's body is supposed to be. And we're supposed to come up on some kind of staircase leading down into an area that's absolutely swimming with geth. Yeah... I'll wait until we get to that point to make any judgements on Rael'Zorah's fate.

* * *

Okay... there's another room of geth taken down... Right. Man, it's been in quite a few closed quarters as of late. Kasumi's had to tech-punch quite a few geth lately, and Thane's biotics have been seeing plenty of use. I'm just glad I have a shotgun: I'm sure it would downright suck to not have one during a mission like this. Honestly, I feel bad for whoever didn't get to the Collector ship before doing this mission. Learning a new weapon is always a nice thing, I think.

Especially when fighting gets up close and personal. That shotgun sure came in handy for those geth hunters. I don't know what'll happen when we fight on the two-level battlefield, but... there's that there.

But either way, there aren't any more geth here for us to worry about, so I think I better check this room... Hm... Isn't this that console that starts that conversation with Tali?

I walk towards it, Thane and Kasumi following behind as I come to a stop in front of it. I open up my omni-tool... Yes, this is that console! Okay... I don't remember what we find here, but I imagine it won't be that good. I look through the data... yeah, there isn't much on this console. But hey, it's better than nothing, right?

I turn back to Thane and Kasumi with a shrug. "There's nothing," I say, I say, shaking my head. "But... this console is of a little sentimental value for me."

The assassin tilts his head to the side, Kasumi crossing her arms. "Really?" he asks. "Why might this be?"

I glance back at the console before nodding to Thane. "Well, in the game, this console doubled as a prompt to start a rather testy conversation with Tali," I say, beginning to pace around the console. "It's... brought on by quite a lot of things between Tali and her father."

"Really?" asks Kasumi. "Like what?"

I bite my lower lip as I lean against a wall, facing the thief and the assassin as I continue. "Tali's father was definitely not the best parent in the galaxy," I comment. "He pushed Tali to be her best for basically as long as she could remember, you know? But it was always about what he needed, not what Tali wanted." I shrug. "Hell, if we find his dead body, then all it'll have on him is a message directed at Tali ordering her around to do stuff. Not even an 'I love you'."

Thane blinks at this, his head hanging slightly. Hm... Well... Thane isn't the best father in the galaxy either, now that I think about it. So this must hit a little closer to him than it does to Tali. I watch him as he lets out a breath, crossing his arms. Yeah, can't say I blame you there, Thane. Don't worry. You'll get your chance.

"Well, that's harsh," says Kasumi. "I know I wouldn't like to be ordered around like that."

I nod. "I know what you mean," I say. "Tali and I both have pretty big daddy issues. Honestly, the big difference is that I have the perspective to realize my father intended the best for me." I give them a sad smile that they can't see. "Being in different dimensions can do that to your mind. I don't think Tali has that perspective. But I think it's something similar."

"Let me guess," begins the thief, crossing her arms. "Tali's father decided he would make a promise to his daughter about something, and this is how he felt he could keep it."

My smile becomes a smirk, and then I cross my arms. "That's pretty much it," I reply. "Rael promised Tali he would build a house on their homeworld. This is the way he felt he could express it."

"I see," says Thane. "Is this what Tali herself wants?"

I frown then, pushing off of the wall before shaking my head. "No, it's not," I say. "Tali... didn't want this of her father. She wanted a father who would take sick time to let her see his face. She wanted a father who actually expressed that he cared for her." I look around the Alarei. "Instead... she kind of got screwed over by her father's attempts to keep his promise to her. Now there's an admiralty board who thinks she'd betray the fleet at the blink of an eye. It's really quite unsettling, the more you think about it."

Kasumi shifts her feet slightly, and I notice they're splayed farther apart than before. "Damn," she says. "Tali's really got it bad."

I nod. "That she does," I say, walking towards them as I gesture with my hands. "But Rael'Zorah does care about his daughter. I know that if we find him alive, he'll testify for her without a moment's hesitation. I'm very sure of that."

"You seem awfully certain about something a father you have never met even tangentially," says Thane, looking over as I walk over to the door. "Are you certain he will react in such a way?"

I glance over to the assassin. "Not certain, so much as hopeful," I reply. "And we've got nothing in this situation if not hope."

Kasumi nods. "Then let's get going," she comments. "I think the less time we spend here, the better."

I nod. "Yeah, let's get moving," I say, taking out my shotgun. "We still have quite a few geth to fight through before the end of the day."

With this, I walk over to the door, Kasumi and Thane both drawing their weapons as I arrive in front of the portal to the next room. My hand touches the door control panel, and as it turns green it opens.

...

Okay... This is a major set-piece of the chapter. I walk out, and then look towards the steps leading to a lower level. I pump my shotgun, looking at Thane and Kasumi. I gesture for them to get into cover, and then I do the same as the door of the lower level opens. Okay, here goes two-floor set-pieces!

I see geth pour out, although for now it's exclusive to the troopers. Excellent.

I see Thane and Kasumi pepper them with pistol and submachine gun fire, one of them even going down as I sidle over to the edge of the stairs. I look down, cocking my shotgun...

Okay, that trooper is too close for comfort. I peer out and shoot at it with my shotgun, sending it tumbling back down the staircase. It crashes straight into another geth trooper as it falls, and I nod as both units come to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. Okay, that should take care of that for a while.

I look up then, seeing a geth hunter come in. Okay... Crap... And it's got a few geth troopers with it as well... And a rocket trooper!

Crap!

I see the rocket trooper shoot at us, and then I duck back behind cover just as a rocket flies past the spot where I used to be a mere second ago. It impacts against the wall behind me, and when I turn to look, I see the geth hunter is gone. And now I don't know where it is. Oh, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff!

"Kasumi, overload!" I shout, turning to the thief.

"On it!" With this, she brings her omni-tool out, and then I see the tell-tale shower of sparks rain from the geth. I don't see anyone decloaking, though...

Wait... if it's not decloaking...

I glance to the side then, and then I see the outline of the hunter climbing up the wall.

...

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff!"

I raise my shotgun and fire at the thing. It decloaks as soon as I fire my first shot, but it seems not to notice anything as it continues climbing. I shoot it again, and see it stumble slightly as it climbs up. Oh, damn it, I'm gonna have to do this the hard way, aren't I? I look over to the geth and then run out of cover. I rush over to the spot where the hunter is climbing up just as he gets there.

All right, you sneaky bastard, how do you like this?

I raise my shotgun, butt-down as I look at it. Without so much as a warning, I bring it down with all my might on the flashlight head. It resounds with a rather loud chinking sound, and it loosens its grip, but it's not enough. Oh, down you son of a bitch! I hit it twice more, the flashlight head crinkling under my melee attack. Okay... I bring it down one last time, and then the hunter finally loses its grip, falling back to the lower level. I pump my shotgun for good measure, and shoot it on its way down. It falls to the floor loudly, and then it sputters out, its life gone.

Okay, that takes care of that. Thank Jesus.

I look back on the battle that's taking place to see the geth gaining on Thane and Kasumi. I watch as the assassin comes out of his cover, his hand glowing blue with biotics. Okay... I see Kasumi raise her omni-tool as well, and then they both strike.

The results... are nothing short of spectacular. The group of geth troopers that was ascending the staircase suddenly finds themselves flying back, and they're all knocked over like fucking bowling pins. At the same time, they explode in another shower of sparks, and I look up as a lot of them crash against the floor decidedly. The sound of their monumental hitting of the ground afterwards rang in my ears for a little bit. My eyes widen in awe as I watch them slowly attempt to get up. It's all for naught, though as the geth there are instantly peppered with all sorts of small-arms fire from Thane and Kasumi. I see almost all of them go back down.

Wow, we're really coming together as a team now. I wouldn't have thought of ourselves that way, but here we are... I think the Collector base will come together beautifully when we get there...

Okay, so I look at the mess of troopers that are being pelted by fire...

And then back down to see a juggernaut walking into the room.

...

Oh, crap.

"Guys, look out!" I shout as I dive behind cover incredibly quickly. A stream of rounds flies over my head almost immediately after, impacting on the wall across from me. God damn... My shields took quite a beating from the troopers when I meleed that hunter... Crap, they haven't recharged.

But... I peer out at the scenery again... Hm... Yes, that might just work... Okay, I think I know what I'll do.

I quickly rush under cover to the edge of the staircase, and then look to Kasumi and Thane as they both look at the juggernaut. I nod, and then cock my shotgun again.

"Kasumi, go invisible and punch this motherfucker," I say. "Thane, switch to your sniper rifle. We're gonna try something crazy."

The two of them nod. Okay... I guess they aren't questioning me because of the juggernaut. Well... I just hope this idea works as well as I think it will... Because if it does, that will be fucking awesome. And it will be fairly effective. Okay... the juggernaut is almost at the stairs.

"Falcon Punch!" I shout out. It takes a second of hesitation, but then Kasumi comes out of cover and punches the juggernaut. A whole shower of sparks emanates from where her fist impacted with the geth, and it stumbles back a little bit as she rushes back up the stairs with her pistol. Okay, there's my cue!

Without so much as a second thought, I vault over the railing, feeling myself land squarely on the railing of the staircase. I fire two shotgun blasts at the juggernaut as I slide down, and then I feel myself lose my balance on the railing and fall back. Before this, though, I see the first one take its shields out, and then the second making the juggernaut stumble back. As I roll in the ground, I hear the loud report of a sniper rifle go off twice in quick succession. I hear a few more pistol shots go off, but I can't see it as my view is partly obscured by my own body. Okay... yeah, that definitely wasn't as climactic as I was hoping on account of not landing in the right place, but I think I got my point across anyways. Okay...

I sit up then, pulling myself back up as I look at the juggernaut. Kasumi fires a couple more pistol rounds into the bloody thing, and then I nod as it stops moving.

Okay... I think that was that for the geth here. I slowly stand up as I look to Kasumi, who is standing against the stairs panting lightly. I see Thane deftly descend as he places his sniper rifle on his back. He looks to the juggernaut before turning his gaze to me.

"Reckless, but effective," says Thane.

I nod. "Hey, it worked," I say, gesturing to the juggernaut. "That's all that matters."

Kasumi nods, joining us at the bottom of the stairs. "I don't get something, though," she says. "What the hell is a Falcon Punch?"

... I blink. "You mean you haven't heard of that one extranet meme?" I ask.

"Uh..."

Oh, Jesus Christ. "Oh, man, I'm gonna have to find something to demonstrate it with!" I say, throwing my arms up. "But we'll get that later. For now... it's the moment of truth."

I glance at the door, my gaze hardening. There's that blasted hallway. I glance back to Thane and Kasumi. Neither are saying anything; I think they know what I mean by 'moment of truth' anyhow. I walk forward, not bothering to take out my weapon yet. We won't run into any geth during that cutscene, I don't think. I walk forward, hearing the footsteps of my two companions behind me as we advance into the Alarei. Okay... down the corridor we go... Okay, that door is where we face off with the Geth Prime and its lackeys...

And in front of the door...

...

Jesus Christ on a pikestaff!

"There's nothing here!"

I rush forward, kneeling on the ground where Rael'Zorah's body should be...

...and where there isn't anything on the ground. Oh my God... the body's not here! It's not where it should be!

"Art?" asks Kasumi.

I turn to them. Finally, some hope! "There's nothing here!" I say, gesturing to the space in front of me. Oh, man, this is incredible! I... I can't believe my luck! "There's nothing here!"

"I do not understand what the significance of this is," comments Thane.

I stand up then, turning to them with my arms wide open. "This is where we were supposed to find Rael'Zorah's body in the game!" I reply. "But it's not there!" I gesture back to where his body was supposed to be. "There's nothing here!"

Kasumi raises an eyebrow at this. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asks.

"Hell if I know," I reply with a shrug. "But it gives me hope that he's still on this ship somewhere, and it gives me hope that he's still alive!"

Thane nods. "If he is alive, do you know where he would be?"

I frown, crossing my arms as I look around the hallway. "To be honest?" I ask. "The way things have been going lately, I wouldn't be surprised if we bumped into him right as we were leaving, you know? Or immediately after we do what he would have told Tali to do in his message, there could be something that happens that's because of him. So... if his dead body isn't anywhere else on the Alarei, and it's not here... either we'll find his body in the next room, or he's still alive."

Kasumi nods. "This is looking up for us already," she say.

I nod, smiling again. "That it is," I say. "If nothing else, we'll be able to find him."

"I imagine you will want a word or two with him before we leave," mentions Thane, clasping his hands behind his back as he shifts his posture.

I blink. "Honestly?" I ask. "Yes, I do plan on having a word or two with him. It's his fault that Tali's in this situation, and I intend to let him know about that no matter what. That, and I know he'll want to save Tali from exile. I need to convince him that showing that evidence to the Admiralty board will be the worst thing for her in the world. And especially since it'll put him in trouble, and will stir up enough controversy in the Fleet to cause ships to break away."

Kasumi crosses her arms. "Well, I don't think it'll be _that_ easy to convince him," she tells me. "Besides, you can't tell him that you knew all this before you even came on, right?"

I shrug, glancing off to the side before continuing. "Doesn't mean I won't try," I say. "And I have my ways to navigate around talking about things because I know them from the game. You'll see..."

"I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with," she says, smirking. Soon after, the thief nods, looking to the door behind me. "So what's in the next room?"

I nod. "The next room has a geth hub," I say, "Rael asks Tali to destroy it and retrieve some data from the console. He then wanted her to turn it in to Han'Gerrel and Daro'Xen, but we're not gonna do that as it's a one-way ticket to losing Tali's loyalty. So... we're gonna destroy the geth hub."

I draw out my shotgun as I look at the door. "Once we're in, we have to be careful," I say. "There's a geth prime in that room, and it will not be easy to take it down. So Kasumi, prepare your overload, Thane, prepare any biotics you might need, and stay behind cover as much as possible. And I should warn you that there isn't much cover apart from one glass wall that you can't use tech or biotics through. Got that?"

"Sounds easy enough," says Kasumi. "Go in, break the hub, get out. Got it."

I nod. "Okay, then," I say, cocking it again as I walk up to the door. "Let's get this party started."

Before I can do anything, though, I look back to see Thane and Kasumi both looking at me... oh, dear, that's a mischievous glint in her eye, isn't it? "You know, you're awfully cheery right now," says the thief. "I guess it's just good to see you're not getting all blubbery about Tali right now."

Oh, okay. "I've got hope we can stop her from being exiled now," I reply. "And I'm feeling better about it all in general now that Rael'Zorah's alive. She's going to be fairly happy when I get back, I think. We should get going. Now, let's _really _get this party started!"

With this, I touch the panel, and then see the scene laid out for us. Okay, glass wall, check... Geth prime, along with the hunter and the two troopers... All right, everything is in its right place. I come towards the wall as soon as I see them, sidling up against it as Kasumi and Thane do the same, the both of them taking out their best close-range weapons. I look to them, smirking slightly and nodding.

Okay, time to kick some more ass!

I quickly move to cover, holding my shotgun. I see one of the troopers standing listlessly around. Okay... This shouldn't be so hard to take out the troopers. It's the hunter and the prime that cause trouble for us all. This should be fairly simple before that. So I move beyond cover, and then peer out to get a good aim at the trooper. Okay...

I don't wait for Kasumi or Thane to make a move before I lean out of cover and fire a shotgun blast at the trooper. It's caught off guard and doesn't get an opportunity to fire back, and so it stumbles back, the programming lost. A split-second later, I hear Kasumi and Thane fire their own firearms at something I can't see. I'm assuming it's the other trooper, as I then see the hunter and the prime turn. Okay... The hunter is coming towards me, and the prime is heading towards them. Hm... I better make sure they're close when Kasumi unleashes the overload.

Okay, might as well, then.

I rush out of cover then, leaping as I get close to the hunter. Before it can fire its shotgun to take out my shields, my foot comes out in a kick, and... Okay, ow, that kinda hurt! But... it did send the hunter flying back. It does get to fire its shotgun, though, and then I feel a round barely graze my shoulder as my shields die quickly. Fortunately, I land a distance away, and so I manage to find a piece of cover close by. I quickly crab walk over to it, nodding in relief as I take in a few breaths.

Two seconds later, I hear the loud hiss of an explosion of sparks going off. I spare myself a second of peering over the edge as I see the hunter and the prime both stumble back slightly. Okay... the overload worked! And things are okay. All right, that will-

And right before I can celebrate, I see the both of them biotically glow blue for a fraction of a second, and then I see the prime crash against the far wall. The hunter also crashes against the wall, but manages to get caught by the pillar first. I instantly see the prime move...

...and he's too close to where I am.

"Damn it, Thane!" I scream as I scramble onto my feet. "At least knock first!"

I don't give him time to reply, though, as the Prime is getting up fast. Crap! Get to a new piece of cover! Get to new cover! I end up sprinting clear across the room, diving behind a pillar and planting my back against it just as gunfire rips into the wall where I was barely a split second earlier. I watch the accelerator rounds punch holes in the wall, and when I see this I take in a very shaky breath.

Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, I almost got shot. Fatally. By a geth. That was way too close a call, I think. I let out a breath as I turn to look at Thane and Kasumi as they fire at the prime from the opposite side of the room. I take in another breath, and then I hear a beep. Okay... my shields are back up, it seems. Good, good. At least I won't get my ass killed.

Although... to be perfectly honest, Thane was probably just doing the same thing for himself and Kasumi. And since we can't exactly hit that console there... I'm just thankful this room is as small as it is, or my ass would have been grass. Like, big time.

I cock my shotgun then, peering over to look at the prime as it rushes towards us. It's already taken some heavy damage, with a few holes from where the rounds must have punctured through the metal. As I see the frayed wires spark a little bit, I frown. Well, you son of a bitch, let's take care of your fraying problem now while we still can.

I frown, aiming my shotgun.

...

Ah, what the hell.

"You're _terminated_, motherfucker!"

With this, I fire two shotgun blasts at the thing, the first one causing it to stumble back. The second one proves fatal for our geth friend, and then it falls back, its neck snapping as Kasumi adds a couple of pistol rounds for good measure. It falls to the ground with a rather massive crash of metal, and then all is silent in the small space we've just had our confrontation in. I take another breath, and then stand up, looking right at the geth. I turn to Kasumi and Thane then, nodding as they both stand up.

"Well, that's the last of these things," I comment, crossing my arms.

The two of them approach, and then I see Kasumi squarely place her hands on her hips, giving me a raised eyebrow. "A _Terminator_ refernce?" she asks. "And it wasn't even one of the clever ones!"

I shrug. "And?" I ask. "I needed an action one-liner. It was the first thing that came to mind, you know?"

The thief apparently isn't amused by this. "Still, you could've done a bit better, I think," she comments.

"Oh, hush," I reply, gesturing with my arms as I turn to Thane. "I'm just thankful I didn't get a hail of mass accelerator rounds in my face from when the prime landed next to me."

"Apologies," replies Thane. "I did not see you cross to the other side of the room."

"No hard feelings," I reply, gesturing with my arms as I look over there. "At least I'm not dead, and honestly, I think that's more important than one little mistake. Just be a little more careful next time and we'll be good." I turn over to the panel where things happen. "In the meantime, we've got evidence to destroy."

With this, I walk over to the center of the room, Kasumi and Thane both following close behind as I walk up to the console. "Is it disabled yet?" asks Thane.

"It should be," I reply. "When this console got disabled, it pretty much ensured it killed any geth we might have missed. So the Alarei is safe."

"I'll bet the admirals will be happy to hear that," says the thief from behind me. "What about the evidence?"

I frown, looking at the console. "There should still be a few files," I say. "We got a holo vid of one such thing in the game. That's the evidence I'm looking for... and it's the evidence I'll make sure the admirals get no chance to even _hear_ about."

With this, I turn back to the console, frowning slightly as I work on it. Okay... video files... where are my video files...? Hm... This actually isn't so hard. There's almost nothing on the console here, probably because it needed a hell of a lot of space to run an entire geth neural network. Well... either way, there's not much... Hm, I'll try that file over here... Okay... move the hand over... and...

Presto! A video comes up onscreen, and then I see a female quarian and a male quarian off on the sides of the shot. The middle is empty... Okay, this is it!

I nod, smiling as I look at the video.

"_Do we have enough parts to bring more online?_" asks Rael'Zorah's voice from off-camera. Yay! I'm hearing that voice in real life now! Although... I have to admit, his Slavic accent isn't as thick as I thought it would be. Oh, well.

"_Yes_," the male scientist replies. "_The new shipment we got from your daughter will let us add two more geth to the network._"

I can almost feel Kasumi take a step behind me in shock as I nod. Yep... I don't get anything from Thane's side of the room, but my concentration doesn't waver from the video. "_We're nearing a breakthrough on systemic viral attacks,_" says the female scientest. "_We should inform the Admiralty Board, just to be safe._" Hm... I don't know how well that would've turned out, dear. On the one hand, you all could've been exiled. On the other, it probably could've prevented all this. But then, Tali wouldn't have a loyalty mission, and I wouldn't be here, so...

"_No._" Rael's voice is assertive here. "_I promised to build my daughter a house on the homeworld. I'm not going to sit and wait while the politicians argue._"

This time, I get something from Thane's side of the room. Maybe shock? Yep, definitely sounds like it. "_We'd have an easier time of it if Tali'Zorah could send back more working material,_" says the male scientist.

"_Absolutely not,_" says Rael's voice from behind the camera. "_I don't want Tali exposed to any political blowback_." Well... you're a bit late for that one, dear. "_Leave Tali out of this. Assemble new geth with what we have. Bypass security protocols if need be._"

I nod as the video cuts out. Before I can turn to my friends, however, I hear a sound, and then see an OSD pop out. A final line of text scrolls over the console, and then I see the console reboot. After it does so... hey, there's no files here!

... Huh. It must have been programmed to format the hard drive and give us this OSD when Tali came over. I pick up the object and hold it in between my hands. I raise my eyebrows at the thing. All the evidence is right here... and it's not going anywhere but hell. I turn back to Kasumi and Thane, then, beholding the thief's astonished expression.

"And there's why we can't show this evidence," I say.

"Damn," says Kasumi. "Just... damn... I didn't think a father would go so far to keep a promise like that."

"Even I never would have gone to such... extremes... for Kolyat," adds Thane, his voice betraying his surprise. Huh, Thane, surprised. That doesn't happen often. "Would Tali'Zorah have wanted it?"

I shake my head, crossing my arms as I look to my companions. "She wouldn't," I comment. "It's his fault she's in this situation, after all. But when it comes up in the trial..." I chew on my upper lip for a second, beginning to pace around the console. "It's enough to get him exiled. And... worse. Basically, if this gets out, Tali's father becomes the worst war criminal in the history of her people." I pause, standing closer to Thane than Kasumi. "And that's not a good thing for her."

The other two occupants of the room nod. "Right," says Kasumi, rubbing her chin. "So what do you plan on doing about the OSD?"

I shrug, holding it in my hand. "I'm not going to keep this thing any longer than I have to," I say, holding it up in the air. "I promised myself I would help Tali in her time of need two years ago after Virmire. I intend to keep that promise."

With this, I let go of the OSD. It falls to the ground, laying there in one piece as I hear the slight clink of it. Okay. The OSD is there...

Should I keep the OSD just in case to show it to Tali? I mean... it would help her understand... and...

I shake my head. No, Rael'Zorah is probably still alive. We're better off destroying the OSD here and now than holding on to it just to give Tali something to think about. This ends here.

I bring my right foot up in the air, looking down at the drive as I frown. With only a split-second of indecision, I slam my foot on the OSD, the rather loud boom of my foot against the ground resonating loudly within the small chamber. I feel the crunch of the OSD breaking under my foot, and I take my foot away to get a good look. When I get this look, I find that the OSD is in several pieces from where my foot impacted against it, the light refracting off of the small thing as I nod.

"Okay," I say, bending down in front of the OSD. "That takes care of that."

I begin gathering the pieces of the OSD in my hands, being careful to pick them up... well, as careful as I can, given the circumstances. "Clearing the evidence?" asks Kasumi.

I nod. "Daro'Xen looks through the ship when we're done," I say. "It would suck to destroy the piece of evidence that would prove Tali's father a traitor, only to have her find it and continue his experiments. Or... possibly use them as blackmail against us. You know?"

The other two occuppants of the room nod. "I must admit... I am now firmly of the believe you were telling the truth on the Rayya," replies Thane.

I glance up in surprise, feeling the pieces of the OSD in my hand as I stand up. "Really?" I ask as I store the broken thing in a different pocket from the one I stored Orange in.

"Well, it's kind of hard not to believe that something's strange when you pretty much knew exactly what was going on here," replies Kasumi. "I can see plenty of other explanations for you knowing what's going on, but really, they're all just as likely as what you told us." She shrugs, her hands splayed out with the gesture. "It's like you said. We found our proof here."

Okay, good, they got it. With the price of meat what it... Gaaaah!

"And aside from this, we know you know things about the future," adds Thane. "This is unusual in and of itself. We have every reason to believe what you say."

I nod. "Glad you see it that way," I say as I begin to walk back towards the door. The two of them follow close by. "Speaking of which... I've gathered the people that know about me into a small group so we can help keep track of each other's secrets, you know? So... I'd like to extend an invitation to you to come to the next meeting."

"A support group," says Thane. Hm... I can tell the faintest hint of a smile comes to his face. "Intriguing. I shall see if I cannot make this next 'meeting', as you call it."

I nod. "Of course," I say, walking towards the door. "Anyway, that's enough about that. We should go find-"

There's a very loud hiss that suddenly sounds, and then the lights pulse for the briefest of seconds. No sooner do I see this, then the consoles we were just at explode in an array of white light. The sparks fly off the console screen, and then one of the lights does the same, showering sparks on a different area of the room. My eyes widen and shock, and before I know what's happened, the lights in the room go out. This leaves me standing in the middle of the room for a few seconds, dazed at the incredibly sudden darkness that's overtaken the room. Like, it's completely dark in here. No ceiling lights, no lights from the door, from the console, just plain darkness. And there are no windows outside, so yeah. I blink at this, but right before I can say anything the lights go back on, with the exception of the one that exploded in the shower of sparks. And then, everything is back to normal.

...

"What the _hell _was that?" I ask, looking around.

Kasumi looks up at the ceiling before turning to face the two of us. "I don't know about you, but that sounded like a power surge to me," she says. "Art. Do you know any places where we can access the power grid?"

... "Honestly? I really don't know," I say. "We'd have to know where things are, and the only people who know where something like that would be..."

Wait a minute. Rael'Zorah's body wasn't there, the drone wasn't there, and now there's this inexplicable power surge.

... Could it be? Maybe...

I bring my hand up to my head, right where the comm unit on my helmet is. "This is Serviceman Art*** ********* broadcasting to all people on the Alarei," I say, turning to Thane and Kasumi. I see the drell nod in approval, and then I go on. "I am broadcasting this throughout the entire ship. If any of you are still alive, reply immediately on this comm channel so you can tell me what the fuck just happened. I repeat, if you hear this, reply immediately on the comm channel I'm on."

I see Kasumi frown at this. "Vulgar language?" she asks. "In a transmission? Hopefully they won't take too much offense to that."

I glare at her. "Oh, come on, Kasumi," I say. "If there's anyone who's alive, they've been through hell and back. What's there in one word that's to be taken as an-"

"_Serviceman *********? This is Rael'Zorah vas Alarei, the captain of this ship. I have just caused a ship-wide power surge in an attempt to mask what has happened here. Where are you?_"

...

_Holy shit on a shit sandwich!_

"_He's alive!_" I scream this out as loud as I can, jumping higher than I've ever jumped before.

Yes! He's alive! He's alive! Tali's father is alive! That message I sent wasn't in vain!

As soon as I land, I start doing a silly little dance and chanting "I did it" several times. Yes! He's alive! Thank God, he's alive! Now we won't have to rely on Tali having been on the Alarei. Now we can have her father's testimony to help out! And now Tali won't be a complete orphan like I... kind of am, now. And hopefully, he'll be more open to coming onto the Normandy to speak with her a little more! Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes!

After a few seconds of doing my little victory dance, I quickly snap out of it and bring my hand up to my helmet. "We're in the room where the main hub was," I reply. "We were just leaving, as a matter of fact. Are you all right?"

"_I have seen... better days,_" says Rael'Zorah. "_But I'll be all right with some rest. The hub is destroyed, and my daughter should be safe from exile. That's all that matters._" Oh... so even when talking to others he still cares. Well, that's nice to know. "_I'm somewhere in the science labs at the moment._"

I nod. "Okay, stay put," I say. "We're coming for you. Just sit tight and we'll get you off this fucking ship."

"_Very well,_" he says. "_Keelah se'lai._"

And with this, he cuts the transmission. I turn to Thane and Kasumi then, my arms shaking in my excitement.

"He's alive!" I exclaim again, gesturing towards the door wildly in my excitement. "Come on! We've gotta go over to him, see how the fuck he managed to survive all this!"

"Yeah, I'd be interested in hearing that too," comments Kasumi. "Right behind ya!"

And the three of us rush towards the door of the room we're in, breaking into a run as we go through the Alarei.

Jesus... he's still alive! I didn't send that message for nothing after all! I guess a part of me told me he was already lost, but... but that part was wrong! He's alive, god damn it, and the fact that he's still alive in real life instead of being dead is so damn good it's... well... I don't know what it is.

Rael'Zorah is alive.

I think Tali will be really happy about that.


	22. Chapter 21

_A/N: All right, here we are, returning with yet more in the Mass Vexations saga._

_And Rael'Zorah is alive! There shall be much that changes with this, let me tell you guys that. How does it change? You'll see..._

_Anyhow, let's go see what happens now that he's alive, yes? I'll bet you there will be plenty of fun times had. Just you wait, 'Enry 'Iggins!_

_..._

_Okay, that reference aside, I'll be wrapping up Tali's loyalty mission in this chapter._

_And you know, it's funny that we're in chapter 21 of MV2 at this point: for those of you that read the first installment of Mass Vexations, this was where the epilogue went. And yet, I think it's a testament to Mass Effect 2's braoder sense of scope that there is so much more material to cover in MV2 than there ever was in MV1. So keep that in mind as we go along. Also, I haven't even gotten to half the ideas I want to with MV2, so this is gonna be an incredibly long ride._

_And yes, I got this chapter out hella fast. Shut up: I've had the trial and the conversation with Tali that comes up at the end written up since the original ended. I only needed to write a couple other things and do some continuity doctoring and voila, I had the chapter. Consider this the last chapter of this semester, actually: after this, I head home on Sunday, so this is the last chapter you'll get from school. Fun times abound._

_All that said, I should get going. So here we go._

* * *

Chapter 21: Loyalty: Red Night, Part 3

We can't get to the science labs soon enough, and yet it feels like I've been running for only a split second when I get there. Excitement seems strange like that. I mean, Christ, he's alive! I think I did a better job than Shepard did if I'm bringing people that're supposed to be dead- wait wait, bad thoughts, bad thoughts! I didn't save Ash on Virmire, and there are probably people who are still gonna die. But... I did intentionally want to spare Rael'Zorah, so I guess I did better than Shepard in this case.

Now if only we had Legion here...

Hm... Speaking of which, I better not procrastinate with telling Tali about him, now that all this has happened... Yeah... Note to self: tell Tali about Legion as soon as possible! And don't dally this time! Jeez, it was bad enough not being able to tell her about the loyalty mission.

Though... this time, I think I do have a way to tell her she's going to be working with a geth soon, seeing as I had the factions talk back on Feros with her. If she still remembers it... I might be able to work with that. So there we go.

Right... Back to other things.

If I remember correctly, I'm heading to where the drone was missing in this world. Okay... Almost there...

I glance to my right, and then see the door. There it is! I slam the door panel with a fist, turning very quickly as my body nearly comes in contact with the door. The door opens, and then I rush in, Thane and Kasumi not far behind me as I stop just after the doorway. Without so much as a second thought... Okay, here's the moment of truth!

I turn, and then see a male quarian leaning against a lab table for support. He looks like he's only leaning on it as a matter of precaution. His leg is stained with... something, but other than that he looks to be all right. His faceplate is towards me, and then I behold him... Okay... his suit colors... It's mostly white, with some pink touches. He's got the black around his neck, though...

Yes... his suit is all the right colors... And we're good! Yes! He really is alive!

I look to him with a nod, approaching as Thane and Kasumi come through the door. But then... something catches my eye. I look in front of Rael, and then see a drone laying on the table with a gun sticking out of its small body.

Huh. So our hypothesis about the repurposed drone was correct after all. Okay. That... changes a couple of things, but it's nothing that's threatening my existence in this universe, I don't think. Besides, it must have helped him survive anyhow... But that can't have been the only reason. I'll have to ask about that.

In the meantime, though, I have more important things to worry about. Like, talking to him.

"Rael'Zorah?" I ask.

"Indeed," he replies, letting out a breath of relief. "I've sustained a leg injury, but I've managed to treat it with what I can in these circumstances. The infection is contained, if you must know."

I nod. "Good," I say, approaching the table he's leaning against. "At least you won't be dying on us." I nod, gesturing to my companions. "This is Thane Krios and Kasumi Goto with me. We came to help you guys out."

And almost instantly, I see his hand stiffen slightly against the lab table as he looks up at me. "Where's Tali?" he asks. "Where is my daughter."

...

Oh, dear... I really should've seen _that _question coming. Well... I can maneuver my way around it, I think.

"She's back on the Rayya," I say, glancing to the side. "She got... a little upset about how things were turning out." I bite my lower lip. Ah, what the hell? It won't make sense if I don't add that I certainly didn't help. Plus, I don't really have to tell him how I didn't help, now, do I? "I... had done something idiotic before hand, and that kind of got her more upset than usual. So... I sort of took matters into my own hands." After a second of silence, he regards me. Hm... "And without any orders from my superior officer," I add. Oh, God, I hope he doesn't take to that too badly.

A chuckle comes from the male quarian. I frown, looking back at Rael as he looks up, a little life dancing behind his eyes. "The rebellious youth," he comments. "Ah, I know that feeling all too well. I remember I had to defy orders of a superior officer once... I ended up being regarded as a hero for it. I imagine your superior officer might do the same."

"That... depends," adds Thane from behind. "To the best of my knowledge, our superior officer did not have any knowledge of his departure from the Rayya until it was far too late."

"Still, you managed to save my ship," says Rael'Zorah, keeping his gaze trained on me as he stands at his full height, a hand still planted firmly against the lab table as he takes a step to the side. "I guess you were worried about something like this happening?"

I shrug. "I... had a hunch," I mention. "Tali told me about the geth parts you were sending her. And... you know what they say about things like this. It tends to end in complete disaster. So... I thought I'd give you a warning." I look over to the wall on my left side after saying this, crossing my arms. I look to the right soon after, and then look at Rael while giving a slight movement of my shoulders. "Looks like my hunch was right. As they usually are..."

"Indeed," he adds. "I did get your extranet message about a week before this occurred." Ah, that gives him enough time. "I... did a little bit of research. I managed to find a cloaking technology to mask my life signs to the geth all around."

"Ooh, I can see how that would come in handy," comments Kasumi. "Couldn't they see you if you were in plain sight, though?"

"I made sure to keep well-hidden at all times," he says. "If you are careful, you can hide from a geth. As well, I repurposed the drone you see before us and linked it to a seperate neural network." With this, he gestures to the drone with the hand that's not supporting his weight against the lab table. "I... I do not know why, but it seemed to... cooperate with me when the geth turned on us."

I frown. Wait... "Why'd you do that?" I ask. "Why not link it up to the same network everyone else was on?"

"And wouldn't the other geth have linked up to that neural network?" asks Kasumi from behind me.

"Again, I do not know how I did it, but I linked it up to a separate network," he says. "It was on the opposite end of the ship from the main geth hub. I suppose it was a miracle sent from the ancestors themselves to ensure I survived that the second hub did not get taken over. It was... as if some higher power was making sure I was alive."

Haha, yeah, fate decreed it my ass. Fate dictates that you're supposed to be dead. Well. "I wouldn't know about that. Fate is a little funny like that, you know?" I reply, smirking under my mask for a split-second before I uncross my arms and gesture to the drone. "It's out now."

"The secondary hub was where I started the power surge," replies the admiral. "I unfortunately had to destroy it to start the surge. It... went a bit further than I intended to, honestly..."

I frown. "Why start the surge in the first place?" I ask.

He gazes off up there. "I wanted to make sure the geth hub could never be reactivated," he says. Oh, okay. So he wasn't doing it because of Tali. God damn it. "It did wipe the hard drives of every console on this ship, though... The console I checked after the surge was not functional, either. I guess... I overdid it?"

I shake my head. "I wouldn't say that," I say. "I'd say you managed to do it."

He turns to me then, looking at me. "Still that shouldn't matter," he says. "What matters, however, is that the data is safe. I imagine you have the evidence needed to clear Tali's name?"

...

Oh, crap. He's gonna be pissed, isn't he? Damn it, I shouldn't have destroyed the OSD before talking to Rael. Yep... I think my ass could be grass. But... I've got a way around it. So we'll see what happens.

"Uh..." I say, going over to the vacuumed pocket... Okay. I take out a piece of the OSD that I smashed under my foot, holding it up as I brace my mind for the verbal firestorm that's probably coming.

"In pieces."

He stares at me, and I can tell from the way his shoulders shift slightly that he's dumbfounded that I've done such a thing. I look, blinking as his posture changes. He looks right at the OSD shard in my hand, and then I hear the exhale. Oh, Jesus, I hear the exhale.

"You... you destroyed it?" he asks.

I shake my hand. "Yes," I say, simply. "It... I think it had to be done."

He looks at me, coming around as his body tenses. "Do... do you know what you have done?" he asks, his voice still quiet. Oh, dear, it's gonna raise soon, isn't it? "You... You have ensured Tali will be exiled forever!" He starts moving towards me, his hand slowly leaving the table. "You have ensured she never has a home again! You've hurt her even worse than any of us!"

"And what, _you_ did better than I did?" I ask, gesturing all around us. "It's not exactly _my _fault that she's being tried for treason in the first place!"

"I have come to terms with that," he says, his voice betraying his anger. "But you have ruined my one chance to save her from exile! And you've caused her more pain than I possibly could have!"

I frown at this, taking a step back as he rounds the table, his hand leaving completely. "I warned you if you ever hurt my daughter that I would take appropriate action," he says, voice snarling. "It seems my warning went unheeded. You-"

He rushes towards me, raising one of this hands at me. Fuck, I blew it, I blew it! I take a second step back, moving to shield myself with my arms from the beatdown I now is coming when he suddenly takes a step on his bad leg a little too hard. He cuts himself off mid-sentence with a loud yelp of pain, and then he starts falling to the floor. Without thinking, I reach out, hoping to grab his arm to keep him from falling. Thane moves faster, though, and he manages to catch Rael'Zorah as he falls, his arms winding around the quarian's torso. It's enough to stop Rael from hitting the ground that he was on a collision course with, and I let out a sigh of relief as I see this. I look down to him then, kneeling with a concerned look on my face as Thane readjusts his grip. Rael is seething, and I notice that his eyes are closed as his hands subconsciously move towards his leg injury.

"Are you all right?" I ask.

He breathes in a little more. "I'll be all right," he manages to say in between pained breaths.

I nod, looking to Thane. "Prop him against the wall," I tell him. "And make sure he's sitting. We'll worry about having him walk when we get there."

The assassin replies with a simple nod, and then slowly drags Rael so his back is resting against the far wall. He's still breathing a little in pain, and when Thane lets go his hands rest on his thigh, looking up. Man, I imagine he's got his teeth grit in pain at the moment. Yeah, having a bullet lodged in your leg can't be fun. I nod, walking over to him and kneeling by his side as I look down. I look to Rael then, waiting for him to get his bearings as he grips his leg. He turns to me then, not daring to say anything about his injury in front of me. However, I can see him still looking at me in anger. Well... at least I got an opportunity to gather my bearings. I let his breathing quiet down, and when it's barely audible to my audio receptors, I bite my lower lip.

"I know it could've exonerated her," I say, crossing my arms. "But... what about you? I... I watched that evidence you wanted to present to the admirals. If I know anything about the Admiralty Board, I know you would've been exiled yourself. Straight off. Without a trial."

He turns to me, then, and I can feel his gaze soften... Though that's kind of like saying his gaze wasn't hard to begin with. "Do you think I don't know what would have happened to me if that evidence got out?" he asks me then, his frown still there. "I knew that if anything ever happened to the Alarei that resulted in the death of its crew, Tali would be the first person they would go to for answers. I knew they would have tried her for treason. And I know I would be treated as a war criminal if this ever escaped this ship. I know I would be regarded as a monster. But I will not have my daughter exiled from her home for something that was never her fault. If I have to sacrifice every good deed I've ever done for this Fleet to make sure she has a home to return to, then so be it."

I look to him then, my eyes widening. "You...?" I ask. "You were prepared to sacrifice _everything_?"

"If only to make sure she would never get hurt by the political blowback," he replies, his voice going soft. "She's all I have. I did this to keep my promise to her to build a house on the homeworld... And I will not drag her with me because of my failure to fulfill that promise."

He closes his eyes then, and then his hands leave his thighs ever so slowly. He shakes his head, and I can see the sadness emanate from his slumped shoulders.

Damn it... And here I thought Rael was a terrible father... Here I figured he never cared about her, using his last message to her to order her around. But... It seems I was wrong about that. He does care... I mean, god damn it, he was prepared to be exiled posthumously... That's a heavy weight, if Tali's fears are anything. And yet... He accepted it... for her sake...

God damn...

But he's not completely right about one thing.

"We can still save your daughter from exile," I reply then, looking at him. "Even without your evidence."

"How?" he shoots back, opening his eyes. Okay, his gaze is a little hard right now. "Without that evidence, there's no hope for her to be saved! And even if we could keep the trial from ending with her exile, they may open up another one when they-"

"-find out what happened here," I finish for him, crossing my arms. "But all the consoles on this ship suffered memory wipes when you caused that power surge." He seems to shift against the wall in surprise, and he looks at me. "The admirals have nothing to find in here except a whole ton of geth bodies and all that stuff. You made sure of that."

Rael isn't convinced by this. "They will know what has happened when they find the geth bodies," he says.

I shrug. "Who says they have to know the true cause?" I ask, splaying my arms out. "There's nothing here but a bunch of dead geth. Nothing else. Technically, you can say whatever the hell you want and they'll buy it. And the admirals won't be able to double-check it against what's on the ship, because there's nothing on it! Say a rogue scientist did it and don't mention names. Since you don't give a name, they can't exile any of your crew, so they're safe. And since there's nothing left, nobody can prove otherwise. Tali is cleared of all charges, you don't get tried for treason yourself, and everybody's happy."

He looks at me then, his expression difficult to read. "You are..." He pauses then, his facemask averting to the ground briefly. Come on... He looks up to me again, nodding. "You are right," he finishes. "But... I still would have preferred to show the evidence to the admirals. It would have helped us take the homeworld back."

I frown, crossing my arms. "I don't think so," I reply, my tone harsh. "The rest of the admirals are using this trial as a front for their views on the geth. Zaal'Koris wants to make peace with them. Daro'Xen wants to control them. And I'm pretty sure even Han'Gerrel has a hidden agenda. Whatever it is, they're all hoping to get something out of this trial. They're hoping to get a major victory for their side. And it's gotten to the boiling point. If this gets out, not only will you have your name stricken down from the registry of every ship you've ever served on, but there'll also be massive political strife all throughout the Fleet. And it could get worse than you could have anticipated."

He pauses then, looking at me as I shake my head. "Tali wouldn't have wanted this," I reply, gesturing to the Alarei. "Do you know how much it would have torn her apart to find out you did all this? And then when she sees what would become of the Fleet afterwards? She wouldn't have wanted any of this." I shake my head. "Please, Rael."

The admiral looks to Thane and Kasumi first, and it's then that I notice the thief moved from her previous place to a kneeling position close to where Thane is. I look to Rael expectantly, seeing him turn his head back to me. He looks at me for a moment, the silence being unbearable as he contemplates what he has to. Finally, he faces forward, past us.

"That... would have greatly hindered all sides, the disunity that would have followed," he admits. "And then, nobody would gain anything from the revelation of my work."

He turns to me then. "You are right," he says. "I... I wish I had the foresight to see what could have happened had the evidence ever left the Alarei. I..."

I shake my head. "You were fearing for your life," I say. "It's understandable."

"At any rate, I am glad you have the foresight to see what I could not," he says. "Thank you."

"Hey, don't mention it," I reply, smiling softly as I place a hand on his shoulder. "Tali's important to me too. I wouldn't have taken matters into my own hands the way I did if I didn't care about her." I look around then, looking at Thane and Kasumi. "I think we're done here," I comment. "What say you two?"

"Well, we went in, kicked some geth really good, and saved the father," says Kasumi. "Yeah, I think we're good."

"I do not see any concerns in the near future," adds Thane.

I nod, standing up. "Well, then I think it's about time we returned to the Rayya, yes?" I ask. "We shouldn't stay here for too much longer. They probably think we're dead by now, so we should get moving. Thane, help Rael to the shuttle. I think he's going to need it with his leg the way it is."

Without a word, Thane nods and wraps one of his arms around the area just under the admiral's armpits. With a single motion, the quarian is hoisted up, the drell looking to us as Kasumi also rises. With one hand on the quarian's, then, we go to the door of the science lab. My hand touches the door panel, and it opens with a hiss. The four of us file out of the room, Thane falling into step as I walk on the side of Rael'Zorah that isn't occupied by anyone.

"You know, Tali never stopped talking about you," he tells me, a small light dancing in his eyes from behind the projection. "She would always talk about you when she returned from her Pilgrimage."

Oh? I turn over to Rael, crossing my arms. "She introduced me to Shala, actually," I comment. "What say you about it?"

"I didn't know what to think of it," he says. "At first, I figured your friendship was distracting her duties from the Fleet. That proved wrong, but I was still suspicious. Seeing you here, now..." He nods. "Now, I think her faith in your friendship is well-placed."

I smile, nodding. If only he knew... "I'm... glad you see it that way," I reply nervously. "She's not too happy with me now... but I did do this for her, so..."

"Everyone is happy, as you said," he replies, a light amount of cheer entering his voice. "Or will be."

I chuckle at this. Hm... I thought he wasn't supposed to have a sense of humor. Well, if Han'Gerrel is the nice guy and was Rael's best friend, it must have rubbed off on him a little bit. And that's better than nothing, I guess.

I nod, looking to him. "What about the research you compiled?" I ask.

The admiral gives me a quick shrug. "I have a copy of it on my person," he replies. "Anything that is on the ship is lost. But now that you bring up the political strife, I think it would be a bad idea to present to the admirals. As someone who knows more about what is happening than anything, what would you recommend?"

I look over to the admiral, holding my hands behind my back. "Well..." I say, looking over to him. Hm... "To be honest? That research might be helpful against the Reapers. I say keep it, and don't tell anyone outside of the Normandy it exists."

Rael'Zorah gives me an odd look as we trudge on through the Alarei. "If you say so," he says. "I have my doubts about the existence of these... Reapers... but it cannot hurt to be prepared just in case."

I smile then, looking on as we near the shuttle. "I wish the Galactic Council had the same attitude you do," I comment. "We'd get a lot more done in that regard."

"Possibly," he says. "By the way, you did mention at the end of your message that you would explain that last line you used at the end of the message. That one where you said "you will know my name is the Lord"?"

"Wait, you used the quote from _Pulp Fiction_?" asks Kasumi.

I glance over to the Japanese girl, suddenly feeling myself put in a spotlight.

"Uh... maybe?" I ask.

And with this, we continue on to the shuttle, explaining the reference to Tali's father as we go. Well... I saved Rael'Zorah's life with an extranet message. That feels damn awesome. And I'm going to love telling Tali about how I managed to save her father from certain doom. Especially when she finds out he was supposed to be dead.

Well... we'll see what happens when we return to the Rayya.

* * *

The shuttle pulls up to the docking bay without a sound. The airlock's decontamination cycle goes through without a hitch, with Thane still supporting Rael against his own body. I feel the excitement coursing through my veins as I stand there, waiting for it to end. Come on, we're almost done with this mission! And it's ending much happier than it did in the game! Come on, how could I _not _feel great about that? Tali's gonna be cleared of all charges, her father is still alive... it's all gonna be good!

When the doors open...

"-have no reason to believe any of them returned from the Alarei alive."

"You don't know Art quite like we do, Admirals. He's a lot harder to kill than that."

"Perhaps. But he has been on the ship too long, and this matter still needs to be resolved."

...

Oh, for the love of three oranges! We've just gotten off the ship, and already the trial is proceeding without us! It's just like it was in the game! Oh, if only I could punch a quarian in the face...

Oh, god damn it!

Thane helps Rael out of the shuttle as Kasumi listens in. We both look to each other just as we hear this bit exchanged.

"They couldn't even be bothered to _wait?_" asks the thief, looking over to me with a very heavy frown on her face that's visible from her hood. "That's pretty low of them."

"I know, right?" I reply. "Come on! We don't really have a lot of time to lose here."

And so Thane helps Rael along with his arm slung over his shoulders, Kasumi tapping things on her omni tool as we move as quickly as we can. As we go down the winding passages, I grab my shotgun from my pack. At this, I feel aghast stares at my back, holding it by the barrel in my left hand as I walk forward past some quarians.

"Art, I should not think it a good idea to shoot anyone in your anger," comments Thane.

"I'm not planning on shooting anyone," I reply, pumping the shotgun with a flick of my arm. "I plan on making an entrance that the admirals won't forget any time soon..."

"Please, I beg you, give them a few more minutes!" I hear Tali shout, her voice strained as she cries out.

Oh shit... Her voice... I've never heard her in such grief before... It's also higher than it usually is... Shit... I'm sorry, Tali, but I... I'm sorry... Fuck, I shouldn't have left her on the Rayya... I can't imagine what it would be like to lose the two people in the galaxy that you care about most. I... I'm a fucking idiot. Yeah, I'm a fucking idiot. I intend to make it up to her by having Rael testify, though, so I think we'll be fine.

"We've waited long enough!" Oh, damn it, Zaal'Koris! I'm going to mention your ship's name for all it's worth in the future! "We will not sit by waiting for them to decide your fate!"

"They have to have found something!" says Tali, her voice breaking in fright as we advance down the corridor. "They wouldn't just leave me alone! Especially not Art... Please, just give them some more time!"

"We have already given them more than enough," replies Daro'Xen. "I think it's-"

Oh, no, Apostate. You're not going to finish that sentence!

At this point, we've reached the door to the chamber where Tali's trial is taking place. All right, time to make an entrance. Kasumi is already keying things on her omni tool, and then the door in front of us opens unceremoniously. The four of us step out, the trial proceeding without much notice of us entering the room.

Let's change that.

I grab my shotgun by the butt. Raising it as high in the air as I can, I pull the trigger, the mass accelerator rounds impacting against the ceiling. The loud report of the shotgun blast cuts off whatever else Daro'Xen was planning on saying as Kasumi and Thane both follow, Rael hobbling by Thane's side.

And for a few seconds, all is silent. A bunch of pairs of eyes suddenly meet us underneath visors and stuff. All right, I've got their attention. Time to do a Heath Ledger impression.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" I begin, shouting out so that all could hear and swaggering just a little bit in exaggeration. "We're tonight's entertainment!"

I give a subtle hand motion to Kasumi and Thane, and then they're both scurrying along with the drell half-carrying the injured admiral as I move along at about equal pace.

"What is the-?"

"Oh, now, Zaal'Koris vas _Qwib Qwib_," I taunt, holding up my finger. "I think we know how this goes. You keep your mouth shut, and I go on until I finish." With this, I move along, such that we're now more or less facing the platform where the admirals are standing. "You really should have waited. We've retaken the Alarei. Not only that, but we found your good colleague Rael'Zorah. _Alive. _So yeah, that was a bad move, sir. And really, is that any way to greet someone who just saved your ship for you? I'm so horribly wounded."

Murmurs go through the crowd as we slowly make our way through it. I see Tali stand there in such shock that she's petrified where she stands. I see Shepard shift a little as Thane brings Rael'Zorah to the front. I nod to Shepard, who simply looks on in surprise, and then nod to Tali. She's speechless as I stand there, and I fold my arms in front of my person as I turn my attention to the admirals. Okay, that's enough heat for them.

I put the shotgun away as I step forward. "Okay, with that reference out of the way, I hope you consider Tali's innocence now that her father is here," I continue. "He can tell you a little more about what happened on the Alarei."

I step back, and then Thane brings Rael'Zorah forward. He gently brings his arm up over his head before letting it go. Rael'Zorah stumbles a little bit, but before we know it he has a hold of the platform that he has to give his testimony on. He steadies himself, and then looks up at the admirals.

"You will have to forgive me for my... less than presentable look," begins the elder quarian. "I've endured a leg injury since I have seen you last. Rest assured, though, I shall live."

"It is understandable," says Han'Gerrel. "I hope you have some more information about what happened on the Alarei that would bring Tali's judgement into question."

I can see Rael'Zorah's arms twitch slightly as he hears this. Okay; it's good to know I'm not the only one who thinks this is ridiculous. He gives a look at the admirals before steeling himself on the dais, looking at each of them.

"I myself am not sure how it happened," he begins. "But... I had asked Tali to send me geth parts that she found. They were to be studied, as you know. This much, I think has been established well enough."

"That it has, Rael'Zorah," adds Shala'Raan. "Continue."

He shifts slightly. Man, this must feel uncomfortable lying to keep yourself and your daughter safe. "I thought I had things under control." Oh... Oh, wait a minute! Rael, we've been over this! I thought I told you- "But something strange happened; I think there was a rogue scientist on the Alarei." A few collective gasps sound from the crowd at this revelation. Oh, okay, that's better, sir. "I do not know how it happened. I was working on a geth part one minute, and then the next thing I know I am fighting for my life against a whole group of fully constructed and reactivated geth. I do not know what he was attempting to do, but I think he was trying his best to keep it under control. But even then... There was a power surge, I am sure of it; none of the terminals I checked afterwards worked properly. The surge must have reactivated the geth somehow despite this scientists' best efforts... I would have brought evidence, but I was trying to fight for my survival the entire time after the incident. And to be truthful, I couldn't find any evidence of anything having gone wrong, or even who the scientist was."

There's a murmur within the crowd as Zaal'Koris looks among us. I turn to look at Tali, and I see her recoil in shock. Poor thing doesn't even know the truth yet. That's gonna change as soon as we get on the Normandy, though, as Rael and I both agreed on. "The fact that you wanted to speed the trial along does not help matters, Zaal'Koris," comments Shala'Raan. "Had you blazed ahead as I continually advised against, we would have exiled her without any proof!"

"You don't have a guarantee that Tali was sending you parts that were useful to this rogue scientist, however," shoots back the other male admiral.

Rael'Zorah shakes his head then, and I can see his hand clench into a fist afterwards. "I assure you, Zaal'Koris, that my daughter had no hand in these affairs," replies the admiral. "She only sent geth parts that were deactivated, and even then they were never parts that could become a major threat to the people of the Alarei. I checked every single geth part she sent me myself before turning them over to the science labs of the Alarei. If I did not know the plans of this rogue scientist, Tali did not know about them either. This much, I swear."

I give a glance to the admirals. Well, Shala'Raan seems pretty satisfied by this. Daro'Xen doesn't, though. I'm not surprised, bitch: I know what you're up to. Zaal'Koris and Han'Gerrel... I'm not so sure.

Finally, I see Zaal shift slightly where he stands. Does this mean...?

"How can you be sure that Tali'Zorah did not keep communications with this rogue scientist behind your back?" asks the admiral. "Perhaps the surge was intentional?"

...

_You son of a bitch!_

"What?" asks Rael'Zorah. "How... Why would you suggest such a thing? Is my faith in my daughter not enough?"

"You do not know about these things..." adds Daro'Xen. Bitch, don't even talk! "Perhaps there is something missing... why is the scientist unnamed?"

"Again, I was focused on surviving," replies Rael. Shit... he's starting to lose his cool. I can't say I blame him. "I could not figure out who was going against me..."

"Then you will need more definitive proof," says Zaal'Koris.

I feel not so much as see the visible twitch from both members of the Zorah clan as he stands his ground. Hell, even Han'Gerrel gives a look of shock to the other two admirals. Shit... This is worse than I thought it would be. I thought that with her father here they'd listen. Son of a bitch!

"How could you doubt my word?" asks Rael'Zorah. "I have been honest with you for the entire time I have served on the admiralty board! How could you doubt my good judgement?"

"We are not doubting your judgement," counters Zaal'Koris. "We are only doubting Tali's judgement."

I can hear a low growl emanating from Rael's throat. "You had set your mind on exiling her from the beginning, hadn't you?" he asks.

"There is insufficient evidence to prove that your daughter is loyal to the Fleet," replies Zaal'Koris. "I regret this turn of events, but it is how it must be."

"Zaal'Koris, you do not know that," says Han'Gerrel, his voice tinged with anger.

Shala'Raan looks to the admirals below her, and I can see the worry in her body language. Rael, too, is getting worried. Oh, for the love of...

And then I set my eyes on Tali. The poor woman is quivering in fear, her hands wringing faster than I have ever seen them work before. I can tell from here that she's positively terrified... Kasumi has walked over and set a hand on her arm, but it's not working to calm her down. But probably the worst part is that in the game this was not her original reaction. I mean, she had found out about what her father did, but... She doesn't know here. And somehow, having your own father's testimony not be enough to save you must also be really bad for her...

Oh, Christ...

"How is the word of a father not enough?" asks Rael'Zorah. "Tali has been nothing but loyal to the Fleet! I can confirm this with my own eyes!"

"Her loyalty is being brought into question at this very moment for bringing geth parts onto the fleet," replies Daro'Xen, looking coldly upon Tali. "If she was in conspiracy with this man, she-"

All right, _that_ does it! I thought saving Rael'Zorah would save her from exile, but it looks like I was wrong. And now, this is proving to be ridiculous! I came here to help Tali, not to watch idly by as even the testimony _of her own father_ isn't enough to save her.

I've had enough of these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!

I step forward resolutely, coming up to the platform with the greatest hate I can muster up. When I get there, I slam my fist against the dais, surprising Daro'Xen into stopping as I promptly raise my hand and point an accusatory finger at the admiral.

"That's _bullshit,_ and you know it!"

An impenetrable silence reigns over the makeshift courtroom as I stand there, breathing in and out with feeling as I glare down Daro'Xen. I can sense Zaal'Koris recoiling slightly out of the corner of my eye, and I can feel every single soul in the room staring at me in shock. I should be nervous. I really should. But I don't fucking care. These bastards are not getting away with exiling Tali! Oh, hell no!

"Tali saved the galaxy," I continue, still huffing and puffing. "She stopped Saren and the geth. She proved the worth of the quarian people to the entire rest of the galaxy! She also saved Veetor'Nara on Freedom's Progress! And she was perfectly willing to throw herself into death's arms without a second thought to make sure the Alarei was safe for you overzealous ingrates! I don't know who the _fuck _you think you are to be saying that Tali isn't loyal to the Fleet: her actions have consistently shown otherwise!"

"I don't see how this is relevant to the case at hand," replies Zaal'Koris, his voice taking a shaky edge.

I glare at him. Wrong move, asshole!

I throw my hands up in the air. "Of course!" I shout as I walk in a circle around a point on the floor by the dais. "How the fuck could I have forgotten? Oh, how fucking stupid of me!" I look back on Zaal'Koris. "This trial isn't about Tali! It's about the fucking geth!"

I see the cowardly admiral rear back slightly. Han'Gerrel is the one that speaks next, however. "That is out-!"

"And if it's not, you're doing a terrible fucking job of staying on the fucking topic!" I add, gesturing to all of them. "The only ones I don't see making some kind of fucked up grab for power are Shala'Raan and Rael'Zorah! I look at the rest of you unhelpful fucks and I see a a self-serving coward and the slimiest opportunist I have ever had the displeasure of knowing!" I point at Zaal'Koris and Daro'Xen in that order as I list them off. "Hell, I'll bet even Han'Gerrel has a fucking ulterior motive with this fucking trial!" I glare at Han as I huff and puff a little further. "You all want to further your goals with someone you could care less about!"

This effectively shuts them all up as I send a glare in their direction. "She also knows more about the fucking geth than any other quarian _alive_," I point out. "And don't you fucking _dare_ pretend you know otherwise! She's fought them first-hand. She's had more experiences with them than I care to count! _You_ three should be _listening_ to her, not putting her on some trumped-up trial to advance your own fucking aims!"

I throw my arms up then, looking at the admirals with nothing but the blackest disdain in my eyes. "You know what?" I ask. "Go right the fuck ahead. Exile Tali. Go ahead! Exile the one who's done more for this fucking fleet and the quarian people than any of you three fucking Muppets likely ever will, and then take a look at how far it will get you! This trial is a sham, and I will not fucking stand here quietly while she's getting exiled for the political squabbles of three fuckwits who don't give a fuck about her as a person!"

I hear a few murmurs in the crowd as I look around me. I see Rael'Zorah shift in place, courage in his stance.

"If you exile my daughter, then you should exile me as well, _admirals_," he says, a strength in his voice that I had never even heard in the voice overs for the game. Oh, yeah, and the venom from his uttering the word 'admirals' could kill a whale. "I care about Tali too much to sit idly by if you exile her!"

"You might as well do the same to me!" What? I turn around, and suddenly I see Kal'Reegar step out of the crowd, holding himself with dignity. "Art, I hope you've got room for two extra quarians on the Normandy!"

I shrug. "I'm sure that can be arranged," I reply.

I turn slightly as I see Veetor come out of the crowd as well, the chatter really beginning to pick up. "Me too!" he adds, a newfound strength in his voice as he raises it against the admiralty board. "Tali saved me... I would've been taken by those... those monsters if she hadn't come..."

As we behold this, the courtroom at first explodes in a sea of murmurs. I hear everything slowly begin to spiral out of control in terms of volume, and before long the crowd is engaged in shouting at the admirals loudly. All of the shouts are disapproving, and then I look around the courtroom as undefinable Khelish words begin to fly up. I can see the admirals quaking in their boots as they look at me. Oh, yeah, bitches. You fuck with Tali, you fuck with me!

And as the great Faye Dunaway once said, "don't _fuck_ with me, _fellas_!"

"Order! Order!"

I hear Shala'Raan's voice rise up over the entire rest of the room. And eventually, it simmers down to a more acceptable level of calm than it was before. All is quiet as she looks down at the admirals below her.

"Is the admiralty board prepared to render judgement?" she asks.

The three admirals all look down at us, and I can sense the fear in their expression. Han'Gerrel is the first to raise his omni-tool, pinging a few things onto it as he looks down at me. I see Daro'Xen cast her vote next, and then Zaal'Koris follows soon after. Huh, it took him less time to get his vote in than it did in the game. Shala'Raan collects the votes, and looking at her omni-tool, I can see her shoulders relax. Does this...?

Oh... I hope this means what I think it does...

"Tali'Zorah," she begins. "In light of your extensive history of service and the testimony of Rael'Zorah vas Alarei, we find insufficient evidence to convict. You are cleared of all charges of treason."

Yes... Yes, I saved Tali from exile! Oh, yeah! I did it, motherfuckers! And I did it _without _Commander Shepard! I... I can't even begin to describe how awesome that is. I took what could have been a disaster and turned it into the best thing to happen to Tali in ages! Yes! I saved her from exile, and there's _nothing _you bitches can do about it! Suck it, Admirals!

"Serviceman *********, we cannot thank you enough for representing one of our people with such dedication," continues Shala'Raan. She keys some things on her omni-tool then, looking to Shepard. "Commander Shepard, please accept these gifts as thanks for all you and your crew have done for Tali."

Shepard looks up in surprise, holding up her omni-tool as she raises one of her eyebrows. Huh. I hear the ping of something being received, and then she nods. "I will accept them," she says. "Thank you, Shala'Raan."

But I still have one last thing to say. If you think I'm done with you, admirals, you've got another thing coming. "With all due respect, Admiral, I didn't do this for one of _your_ people," I reply, a finger setting itself on the dais. "I did it for the one person I care about more than anybody else in this galaxy." I can't even describe how much Tali means to me. So I won't.

"Of course..." says Han'Gerrel. His reply comes with a slight bit of hesitation, and then there's a hush that falls over the plaza.

Shala'Raan regards me with a soft nod, turning her attention to the crowd. After about five seconds, she gestures out to Rael'Zorah. "Rael'Zorah, will you request anything from the board?"

He glances at me briefly, his two fingers drumming against the dais as he contemplates his next move. Finally, he looks over to Shala'Raan, standing up straight. He nearly wobbles to the side, though, but he manages to catch himself before he falls over.

"I would like to request leave to accompany my daughter on the Normandy," he adds.

Okay, that's good, and-

_Wait_.

I can't mask my surprise as I turn to Rael, the shock wide in my eyes. "Rael'Zorah?" I ask, unsure of why he's doing this. I mean... he's taking leave? What? I thought he was too loyal to the fleet for that!

"I have my reasons for requesting leave," says the admiral. "I will tell you more later."

Oh? Well... that's... certainly unexpected. I... guess I can see why you would want to do that already, but I'll let you explain later anyway for your own peace mind.

But... reconnecting with your daughter? That's... actually kinda sweet. And all happy and stuff. The lone Admiral, hoping to reconnect with his daughter after nearly dying on us... I guess a part of me is really happy that he's considering such a thing. I actually really want to know how he would behave if he were still alive. That would be interesting to see what he's like when he's not burdened by so much work...

Yeah, save the speculation for after the trial, Art.

The other admirals don't seem to mind. They just look at each other, and somehow they just know their answer without even having to key anything in on their omni-tools.

"Granted," replies Han'Gerrel. "You'll likely need it after what happened on the Alarei."

I look to Rael'Zorah as his shoulders slump slightly in relief. My smile turns a little warmer as I look at the man, and I look back to the admirals. After this... there isn't much to say. We're all silent, such that Shala'Raan decides that enough is enough. She shifts slightly at the top of the stand, and looks out to the crowd.

"This hearing is concluded," intones the admiral. "You may go in peace, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. _Keelah se'lai_."

I hear the intoning begin. And I... I just feel so relieved right now. I managed to save Tali from exile. I saved her father's life. And I managed to do all this on my own. I've got too many reasons to celebrate. In fact, I might just throw a party at the next Brotherhood meeting. To celebrate Tali not being exiled, and her father being alive. But that'll have to wait. For now, we've got this trial to conclude, and with everything surrounding it, I think we're in good hands.

And so, I utter out the words that conclude a successful trial to keep Tali from being exiled, almost like a sigh.

"_Keelah se'lai_."

* * *

It's shortly after the trial when I find myself looking back at the plaza. Tali and Rael are both standing off to the side, the two of them talking as Tali hugs her father harder than I figured she could hug anything. I look to the two of them, a smile coming to my face. Looks like he's looking for a reconnection between himself and Tali somehow... I guess nearly dying does that to a person, eh? Well, I'm at least glad he's taking the chance. Tali will need it as much as he does, I think, to know that he really does care so much about her.

But... that can wait for other times. In the meantime... I still have to deal with Shepard...

I nod, looking over as Shepard comes over to my side. The frown on her face as Kasumi and Thane come behind me tells me all I need to know. She looks right at me as she approaches, her brows knit in fury. Before I can say much more, she raises her hand and delivers a harsh slap to my arm. The sound sort of resounds in the chamber, but I don't care to see if anybody is looking at us. I flinch as I feel the sting of it against my arm...

Okay, ow, that hurt. A lot. My hand comes up to my arm and grips it.

"Damn it, Art, what the hell were you thinking?" she asks. "You nearly got Tali exiled with that little stunt you pulled with the shuttle! And I had to answer for fifteen minutes of chaos that was caused by your steeling that damn shuttle! You could have told me about it first!"

I look up to Shepard. "I..." I look down. "Well... It... wasn't totally my idea." I look back up. "But I still agreed with it, so I'll take full responsibility for it. I wanted to help Tali as much as you did... And I basically felt I should take matters into my own hands."

"You almost jeapardized the mission," she says, her voice still firm. "And for a stupid reason, too! Or did you forget that Tali going to the Alarei was part of what could save her from being exiled?"

"Of course not," I replied.

"Then why did you get onto that shuttle, knowing you were getting us all into big danger by doing so?" she asks, her stance indignant.

I shrug. "I don't know what I was thinking, Shepard," I reply simply. "But I didn't want to sit by and watch as Tali was exiled by a bunch of people who don't care about her. I... I'll admit I didn't really think it all through. I sort of improvised as I went on. I just didn't want anything bad to happen to her, you know?"

She shakes her head. "Well... I must say you did a pretty damn good job of improvising," she says, crossing her arms. Her expression softens a little, but her voice is still harsh. "Things went to hell here the minute we discovered the shuttle was missing, but somehow you managed to keep Tali from being exiled all the same. I'm just thankful you didn't fuck up the trial any more than you already had."

I glance down, gazing to the side. "I... did I do anything else that might have caused anyone harm?" I ask.

"You terrified the ever-living daylights out of Tali," she replies. I frown. Wait... "You going onto the Alarei terrified her to no end!"

I frown, glancing down. "That's... strange..." I say. "The last time we spoke, she was pretty pissed off at me."

"Well, you terrified her after we found out about the stunt you pulled," replies Shepard. She shakes her head. "Look, I can understand that it came out for the better, but I still can't understand why you couldn't tell me about it first. You nearly jeapardized her status within the Fleet with this stunt."

I nod. "At least I got her father out of there alive," I comment, gesturing to where the two are reconciling off to the side. "I think she's happy about that and the fact that I managed to save her from exile."

She chuckles then, looking back. "Yeah," she says. "I've gotta admit, I didn't think you had it in you to shout the admirals down like that. It was fun watching you tear them all down."

I smile underneath my helmet. "What can I say?" I ask. "My confidence tends to improve if you piss me off enough. Especially when it's in relation to my friends." I turn to the commander. "You know what they say. I fight for my friends. And if you fuck with my friends, you'll get no sympathy from me."

She nods. "Indeed," she says. By now, Shepard's calmed down a bit from her previous rage. "I still don't like that you went off without telling me what you were doing, but I can't fault you for it because it got the job done. So I'll be confining you to the Normandy for our next two missions. If we stop by the Citadel, though, feel free to take your shore leave with the rest of the crew."

I guess I kind of deserve to be confined to the Normandy for two missions. After what I pulled, anyhow. "Very well," I say. "I'll take the punishment necessary. But please, don't do the same for Thane and Kasumi. That's all I ask."

She glances over to them, a frown setting on her features as they both look at the Commander expectantly. "But you did say it wasn't your idea, right?" she asks.

"And you think that matters?" I ask. "I agreed to it anyhow, and then I dragged them into it. Just... please. I couldn't have done this without them. And because they were so helpful, I don't want to drag them down with me. It's the only thing I'll ask of you."

Shepard nods before looking over to Thane and Kasumi. "All right," she says. "If you think it's for the best, I won't punish either of them."

I nod, an appreciative feeling gathering in my veins. "Thanks, Shepard," I reply. "How long until we go back to the Normandy?"

The commander spares a glance at Tali and Rael for a second before nodding. "About half an hour," she says. "Shala'Raan actually wanted to talk to you after I was done with you, Art."

I raise my eyebrow. Wait, Shala wants to talk to me? "Really?" I ask. "Why?"

"She wouldn't say," replies the Commander. "But now that I've figured out what your punishment is, I don't think you should keep her waiting."

I look over to the admiral as she stands off to the side, looking on our conversation expectantly. Yes... that is Shala'Raan waiting for me right there. I nod, crossing my arms. "Yeah, I shouldn't," I say. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for putting you through all that crap."

Shepard nods, and that's all the indication I'm given that I'm forgiven. She nods over to Shala. "Then you should probably get over to her, see what she wants," says the commander.

"That I will."

And with this, I look to Shepard for a few seconds as she turns her attention back to Thane and Kasumi. As they begin talking, I slowly move off to the side, seeing the admiral look up when I walk towards her.

Hm... I wonder what she wants to talk about. Probably something in relation to Tali. Yeah, most definitely. I could tell from that one chat conversation I had with Tali where she introduced me that she and Shala'Raan are both very close. I imagine it was Shala she would have gone to about Shepard's death were he male, not her own father. Shala understands, after all...

Wait... does that mean...?

...

Oh, _fuck._ She told, didn't she? Wait... No, no, she wouldn't tell unless she had a damn good reason to... Or... I don't know. I won't reserve judgement about what happened. I'll see whether Shala mentions anything about it soon enough.

Within a few seconds, I've made the strides over to her, and before long, I'm standing in front of her. She looks on me kindly, and as I hold my hands in front of me. With this, I begin the conversation as she looks at me.

"Shepard told me you wanted to speak with me," I say. "What's this about?"

She nods, glancing around. It's almost like... she doesn't want anyone to listen in...

Oh, Jesus... "She told you about my secret, didn't she?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"In a word... yes," she replies. "After she spoke with you, she was very distraught. I asked her what was wrong. I must say, it took a great amount of convincing for me to finally get her to come sit somewhere private and tell me what was wrong. Having heard what I know now, I can understand her trepidation."

Oh, so she didn't give it willingly at first. Okay, that makes sense, I suppose. "You're not planning on telling anyone, are you?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "Quarians have... a sign," she says. "If we take this sign, we swear that we will never tell the secrets of that conversation except to the relevant parties. It is used mainly to keep unity within the Fleet. If one's secrets are safeguarded by someone, it allows us to do our duty more competently."

I nod. "I see," I say. Okay, she's not planning on telling... Okay, Shala was the most trust-worthy admiral in the game, and Tali probably would tell her anything if it distressed her enough. Plus... she was pretty pissy with me, so I guess it was warranted. "So she told you about me, and why she was distressed about it."

"I will ask one thing," says Shala. "Did you have a good reason for hiding what you did?"

I blink, looking over at Rael'Zorah. He and Tali have broken their hug by now, but they're still very close to each other as they walk over to Shepard's side. She's very busy in a conversation with Thane... Hm... I'll bet they're getting the conversation moves on at the moment... I gaze on them, a sad expression on my face. Now, how do I tell Shala this without explicitly saying 'I knew it was gonna happen' for any eavesdroppers...

"If things had been any other way, Rael'Zorah wouldn't be alive," I say, turning back to Shala when I finish saying this. Okay, yeah, I got this. "By all accounts, he should be dead. The fact that he's alive is a god-damn miracle, but I didn't expect to find him alive when I boarded the Alarei. That's what I didn't tell Tali." I nod. "Apart from... well, all this. And she got appropriately pissed at me. I just... how the hell am I supposed to tell someone their father is probably dead?"

"It is as I thought, then," says the admiral, giving a broad gesture with her arms as I look on. "I told Tali that he likely had a good reason to not tell her what you knew. I... I cannot imagine what it could have been to tell someone that their father may be dead. I imagine it would be... difficult for her to take the news so early. I asked her to hold out hope; it is clear to me that you did not hide what you did out of malice."

"That's exactly what it was," I comment, holding my arm. "I didn't want to hurt Tali... I had been fighting for a way to tell her that... well... if she returned to the Fleet, it wouldn't necessarily be by choice, you know? I... I wanted to tell her, I really did, but... I just got so stumped with how to tell her, that..." I shake my head. "I still deserve her anger. I deserve it for just not trying to crash and burn with telling her." I glance down at the ground briefly, feeling the regret come back. But... well, I've got nothing to fear now... I look back up to Shala, nodding. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her she should give you the benefit of the doubt in such a situation," she says. "She... was infuriated at what you did not tell her, but at the same time... she was unhappy that she became angry at you." Wait, really? Huh... I guess she had mellowed out before I even came back from the Alarei! Well... I guess that'll make our impending conversation easier. "After I spoke with her... she felt better about it. She wanted to talk to you immediately after I had spoken with her. And when it was revealed that you had stolen the shuttle... she was terrified for your well-being. She felt she had unknowingly sent you to your death, and was even more distraught than when she came to talk to me."

I raise one of my eyebrows at this. "She did?" I ask, feeling myself grit my teeth in surprise.

"You would be very surprised," says Shala, giving another arm gesture. "Part of the chaos was caused by everyone trying to calm her down from how terrified she was. She blamed herself for what you did... I told her not to blame herself, but she felt she had sent you to your death without intending to."

I bite my lower lip. Damn... did I really scare Tali that badly by stealing the shuttle? Oh man... I shake my head soon after. "I made that decision on my own," I say. "I wanted to help her even if she had squarely told me no. Death be damned."

"I would not be surprised," she says. "You are her closest friend. It is a good _hesh'alan _who goes to any lengths for the one he cares most about."

I blink, my shoulders drooping. "Oh, Christ, it's that word again!" I moan, closing my eyes and bringing my knees in tight as I give my most pained expression. Oh, God damn it, I got the word! "Why will nobody tell me what it means?"

"Some things are better discovered for yourself, Art," replies the admiral warmly. I guess she's smiling behind that thing.

"Yeah, but it's not fun stumbling in the dark with that!" I complain, letting out a very audible sigh.

"Rest assured, you shall know what it means soon enough," she says with a bow of her head.

Jeez... She's really not keeon on telling me, is she? Well, damn it all to hell... I guess I'll find out whenever people think I should find out. Which is, to say, I won't find out for a while. Oh, well. It could be worse I suppose.

"Well, okay," I say, standing back up as I open my eyes again. "But it better be worth the wait when I find out what it means!"

Shala simply stands there, nodding as she looks down upon me anyhow. "I shall await your thoughts when you do finally find out its meaning," she tells me. "Anyhow, I wished to tell you that I know about your secret, and that it will not be so easy for me to tell anybody else about it."

Well... I guess I can be thankful for that. I mean... Jesus Christ, I've been exceedingly terrible at keeping my secret lately. First Madison and Garrus both found out, then Thane and Kasumi found out, and now Shala knows. Watch; before the end of this mission, everybody and their mother is going to know about me. Jeez, I really need to be more careful about how I keep my secret. Well... depending on what happens next, anyhow. That means being careful. Right, no more details.

"Very well," I say. "I appreciate you not saying anything."

"I imagine it must be difficult for one such as you to keep it a secret," she says. "Rest assured, I will help you with this in whatever capacity I can." She pauses, looking behind me for a second. Eh, probably checking on Tali or something. Isn't that cute, though? "I am also glad you were able to exonerate Tali. I must admit I did not think it was possible."

Really? I scoff at this, crossing my arms and giving a goofy smile from behind my helmet. "Well, remember who I'm with," I mention, gesturing to Shepard. "As far as I know, doing the impossible repeatedly is kind of our spiel."

The admiral lets out a soft chuckle. "Indeed," she says. "I have said all I needed to."

I nod to her, holding my hands together in front of me. "Thank you for keeping my secret, Shala," I say. "I'll... I'll see if I can talk to Tali sometime in the next hour. I think she'll need it."

"Indeed," she says. "Hopefully, we shall meet again in the future."

I nod. "I hope so too, Shala'Raan," I say. "Until we meet again."

She simply gives me a nod, and with that our conversation ends. Well, that went rather well. Shala knows now, apparently, but isn't too keen on telling anyone. That's a good thing, I'm sure. It's always nice to know that people won't tell your secrets on you. Especially since Shala knows; I can't keep track of her on the Normandy the way I can everybody else, which makes her knowing a bit of a tricky thing to work around. But hey, I'll do what I can with that. After all, it's all I can do, right? So I'll trust Shala to keep my little dilemma a secret from the Fleet.

Right... Well, Tali is still talking with Shepard, with Rael by her side. It seems Rael'Zorah is asking other things...

Hm... I might as well socialize with the other people on the Rayya while waiting for Tali's time to get freed up.

* * *

"Well, if it isn't the _hesh'alan _himself!"

...

Oh, God damn it! It's getting so bad I'm beginning to lose the game whenever I think of that fucking word! I mean, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, it's really getting to that point! I'm going to punch something if I hear that word again!

I glance over, and there I see Kal and Iya both standing to the side. Surprisingly, Veetor and his caretaker are also by the two marines. Okay... Almost instantly, I glare at Iya as I look at the four of them.

"How in God's name did I know you guys were going to pounce on me with that the second you saw me?" I ask, crossing my arms and shaking my head.

"I can't tell you that, sir," says Kal, looking straight at me. "At least Tali hasn't been exiled yet."

I nod, placing a hand behind my helmet. "Yep, at least she isn't exiled," I comment. "Even if I did have to do something stupid to get there."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous!" replies Iya, crossing her own arms as she take a step towards me. "If you hadn't given that big speech, she'd be exiled."

I blink. "I dunno..." I reply. "I think Kal and Veetor coming out and inciting the crowd helped a lot more than that speech probably could've."

With this, Veetor's caretaker steps forward. "Honestly, I was surprised he did that," she comments. "He should still be in that phase where he's afraid to speak out in public. But... I think it's good for him that he did something like what he did during the trial."

"I needed to say something," says Veetor, looking to the caretaker as his hand twiches slightly. "It... felt kind of good, actually."

... Oh, man, I have to fight back the urge to laugh. Fight it...! I look over to Veetor, smiling softly as I chuckle. "Looks like you just got a confidence boost," I reply in an upbeat tone, uncrossing my arms as I give him a hand gesture. "It seems all you needed was to stand up for a pretty girl and, boom, confidence boost!"

He nods. "I think that's what it is..." he says.

"Good to see you've got confidence," I say, turning back to Iya. "I trust you guys will be back in service with the marines soon?"

"I think so," says Iya with a shrug. "I think I can work a little easier now that Tali's all right."

I nod. "I think I can too..." I comment. "Well... when I can get over the two-mission time limit. I'll bet Shepard's going to stretch it out as long as possible for the stunt I pulled back there."

"I don't think so," says Kal. "You damn well saved Tali's ass back there. I don't think Shepard will forget that soon."

You'd think. She's pulled other surprises on us before. "I hope not, Kal," I reply with a shrug. "She doesn't take kindly to insubordination, you know. I got yelled at about it after Virmire and got my shore leave taken away. Now that, she wasn't so willing to forget."

"There's a first time for everything," says Iya, crossing her arms. Oh, Christ, is she getting smug on me? "Like, I think this might be the first time Tali's snuck up on you mid-conversation."

Yeah, something like-

Wait, what?

I turn around suddenly, and then jump back in surprise when I see Tali standing right behind me. Holy crap! I take in a deep breath as the quarian looks on... Jesus, I don't know what she's feeling right now. But... Well... she's holding herself in some kind of apologetic stance. But, she's definitely not as angry as she was the last time I saw her.

"Jesus, Tali, I'd think I'd be better at seeing you approach by now!" I exclaim, holding my hands up to my breast as she simply looks at me.

She shakes her head softly. "That... doesn't matter all that much," she says, her voice having mellowed quite a bit since the trial. Is that a hint of relief I'm catching? "I just... I wanted to talk to you in private when you have a chance."

I glance back at the two marines and Veetor as they look on. Okay, it's time for payback, Iya. "Well... I was just finishing with these guys, actually," I reply stepping forward. "I mean, seriously! Your timing's impeccable!"

Yeah. Fuck you, Iya. That's what you get for cutting the conversation short!

"Aw!" protests the marine in question. "And here we were having such a good time!"

I snort at this, shaking my head. "In your dreams, my dear," I reply. "In your dreams. Anyway, I'm gonna go talk to Tali for a second."

I turn briefly to see Veetor nodding in approval. "I hope your talk goes well," he says. "You make a good _hesh'alan_ for Tali."

... "I imagine you people still aren't going to tell me what that word means," I say. "Fuck it. I'm done asking. Hopefully I'll see you guys again in the future."

"We hope so too, sir," says the male marine as he nods.

And with this, Tali and I walk away from the group, and I look to the quarian at my side. Well... I'm glad that's over with. They're nice people, but god damn it does their use of that fucking word get on my nerves. Seriously, what the hell are they calling me? It can't be something bad, as Veetor already cast that doubt away, but seriously... Oh, Christ, I need to stop monologuing about what a _hesh'alan _is or I'm going to endure a head explosion. Hopefully I won't get shot in the face by John Travolta first.

I feel pressure on my arm suddenly. I turn to Tali, and my eyes widen in slight surprise as she gently takes a hold of my right arm with both of her hands. "Art..." she says. "I... I can't believe you did that. When you went onto the Alarei... I thought I was exiled for sure."

I nod, looking to her. "To be honest?" I ask. "I'm surprised everything turned out as well as it did. We should find somewhere more... private to talk about this."

"I think so too," she says, leading me very gently. She leads me past the various people in the group, and then I look on as we enter the exact same room we were in earlier. She's much gentler about everything this time... I guess I'll take that as a relief. And this time, we're standing dead center in the middle of the room, facing each other as she nods to me. Wow... I really must have terrified her.

"Art..." she begins. "When you went onto the Alarei..." The machinist shakes her head. "I was so terrified... You had gone in with only two people when entire strike teams had been killed on the Alarei. I... I was so afraid you were dead when they began. And when you came back in with that shotgun blast... and with my father alive no less..." Her voice is breaking slightly by the time she gets to this point. "Art... I didn't think... I thought..."

She is silent for a few seconds, unable to say much more. I look to her, chewing a little on my lower lip. Well... she's run out of words... so I guess I better tell her everything...

"Tali. Your father... he was supposed to die in the game," I reply softly. This effectively keeps her quiet, but the slight jolt in her motion doesn't evade my eye. "That's in reply to whatever questions you might have about his fate as it was in the game. I tried to warn him through the extranet when Shepard got a message from him after you came with us. It seems he took my warning seriously. That, and I got to him in time. As soon as we get his leg patched up, we should be fine..."

The quarian nods, unable to say anything. Her hands are clasped together, and she's not quite sure what to say. She looks back at me, and I can sense the worry in her voice.

"There..." she says. "There was no rogue scientist, was there?"

I bite my lower lip. No, Art, she's got the right to know. You already caused enough damage by hiding the truth; lying to her won't help. All right, here goes.

"No," I reply, shaking my head. "There was no rogue scientist. Everybody on the Alarei knew exactly what was happening..."

"And what was that?" asked Tali.

I brought my hands behind my back tentatively as I spoke. "They were reactivating and constructing whole geth," I tell her. "And then they were linking them in a neural network to run weapons tests on them." I hear her gasp in shock at this as she rears back. "And yes, your father knew about it. He was the one ordering the tests..."

Tali looked over to the door, the shock evident in her body language. "But... why...?" she asks softly. "He knows that's dangerous... So why... Why did he...? He endangered the Fleet! What if the other admirals had found out? What would have happened if you hadn't stopped them from exiling me? And what of the data? Where is it now?"

I shake my head. "It would have thrown the entire Fleet into a massive political argument," I reply. "The admirals represent the extremes, as I pointed out. It would have caused massive disarray... And that would have made you angry. And your father would have been exiled and had his name stricken down from the records of every ship he ever served on. You would've been declared innocent, but that wouldn't have mattered at all. Because in the game, you actually wouldn't mind being exiled so long as your father's good deeds for the Fleet wouldn't get taken down by what he did on the Alarei. And as for the data..." I shrug slightly. "He's got a back-up of it. It might help against the Reapers. But every bit of evidence on the Alarei is wiped. They can't hurt your father from here, Tali. As far as I know, you're in the green zone."

I glance down at her see she is standing there expectantly. Slowly, I reach for her hand. She looks down, and somehow our hands just clasp together as I speak.

"But in the game, you could have it both ways," I add. "Even with your father dead." I breathe in a little, shifting on my feet. "We could save you from being exiled, even without your father's testimony."

She nods at this. "But... I don't understand," she says. "My father... He never went to such lengths for me. And now... he's coming with me onto the Normandy. Art... I... Why? Why would he pay attention, only now...?"

I nod at this, knowing the trepidation in her voice. I smile softly, even if she can't see it behind my mask. "Tali, you want to know why your father conducted those experiments on the geth?" Her silence is all that greets me as she looks up. I'll take that as my cue to continue, then.

"He wanted to build you a house on your homeworld." I hold her hands completely still then, watching her visor to see what she would say. She doesn't say anything, but I can see that she's having a hard time not crying by her body language. "He... hasn't talked to me about his leave yet, but I've got a feeling he wants to reconnect with you. Tali... your father cares about you more than you could possibly fathom. He always did. He may not have paid all that much attention, he may never have linked suit environments with you... but all the same he loves you. You should go talk to him further as soon as he gets settled on the Normandy. You owe it to him and to yourself."

She's speechless for a second before looking down. I hear her sniffle slightly as she shifts her feet where she stands.

And then, without warning she launches herself on me, burying her visor in the crook of my shoulder as her arms entangle themselves around me.

"I've been such a _bosh'tet_..." she said, shaking her head. "I almost got you killed... I'm sorry..."

"No, Tali," I reply, shaking my head. She looks up at me expectantly, but I find I can't gaze at her. My eyes suddenly concentrate on the floor, and I continue. "_I'm_ sorry. I..." I swallow a lump in my throat. "I shouldn't have kept you out of the blue for your loyalty mission as long as I did. I should've just told you everything. If I had just told you, we could've avoided all this. It was a dick move on my part and... for what it's worth... I'm sorry."

She glances down, and I can see the glowing white orbs disappear for a split second before she nods. "Just... tell me one thing... Why?" she asks.

I look up at my best friend then, arching one of my eyebrows in surprise. "Why what?" I ask. "Why didn't I tell you, or...?" Yeah, help me here, please.

"Why did you go into the Alarei with only Thane and Kasumi?" she asks. Ah. The thing we haven't touched on yet. "You knew I was angry at you. I mean... knowing you, you would've crumbled at having lost my friendship... So why did you...?"

I bring my hand on her shoulder and offer her a weak smile that she can't see. She looks up at me expectantly. "Remember when we were at the Citadel before we attempted to go to Ilos two years ago? When you had gotten my viola and all that other stuff?" I ask. She glances to the side for a second before nodding.

"You said that I had made you the happiest man in the galaxy..." she says. "And you also said... you'd repay me someday."

Good, she got it. "Yeah," I reply, nodding my head. "Well... this is my thanks for everything you've ever done for me... If I had been unable to save you from exile, I never would've forgiven myself. I wanted to help you any way I could've. Even if I had to go against what you told me to do to do it.

"And Tali..." Here, I hesitate, looking directly at the quarian as she looks to me expectantly. "I also did it because I care about you. Even if you wanted me dead after what I hid from you, I..." I take a small breath as I ponder my next words. "I would swim halfway across the galaxy if it meant I could make you happy. You've got no idea how much you've come to mean to me throughout the past two years, Tali. I wasn't kidding with my aside after you had been spared from exile; I really do care about you more than anyone in this galaxy. And I'll be damned if I let one argument get in the way of that."

I see her look up at me with a new shine in her eyes. There is silence in the air of the Rayya around us, and I allow it to sink in.

And finally, we both just sort of pull ourselves into an intimate hug. My arms lace around her back as hers pull me closer to her body. We... we've never quite hugged like this. Not this close, anyhow. Our heads seem to rest against each other as our helmets seem to touch.

"Thank you..." she says, and I can hear the sniffles take over her as she shudders against my body. "Thank you so much... You don't know... Thank you..."

And she says nothing more as she cries on my shoulder, with me patting her back comfortingly. I whisper a few things into her auditory receptors that are soft enough to not be translated effectively, and I smile at the fact that I've done some good for Tali in my time here.

My heart swells as well. I was able to save Rael'Zorah. I was able to clear Tali'Zorah of all charges despite the odds against her. I destroyed the evidence. Well... almost, anyway, except for what I have... And... I'm so glad that I was able to do all that for her... It makes me feel so much better...

And that's when I realize for sure. It's not just a feeling anymore. I know that my feelings about Tali are much stronger than I thought they were.

I love Tali'Zorah vas Nee... uh... Normandy nar Rayya. And I would do anything to see her when she's happy. There's nothing more to say. I love her.

I tighten my arms around her just a hair as I realize this. I let out a quiet sigh of contentment as I hold her in my arms. I saved her from exile, and I... saved our relationship.

... Jesus, it feels wierd to say that. Tali and I are in a relationship. Am I really in a relationship for the first time ever? I don't know, but I know I don't regard her as just a friend anymore. But does she feel the same way about me? I... Damn it, this is too tough. I guess I better just see what happens later then...

For now, I've got Tali in my arms, and I don't intend on letting go of whatever it is that we have any time in the forseeable future.


	23. Chapter 22

_A/N: All right, stuff happened in the last chapter__. And it was all relatively happy stuff from the stuff that happened throughout the rest of the loyalty mission. And now, Art and Tali are in... whatever it is they are again._

_Yep, the ship tease between Art and Tali is going to end soon, I can tell you that much. And soon enough, they'll become an official pairing of Mass Vexations. So stay tuned!_

_Oh, and by the way... if you haven't checked it out yet, be sure to check out _Christmas Vexations_. I figured I'd do a Christmas special, but... I couldn't fit it in here at the point we're in now. So... go check it out and tell me what you guys think!_

_Anyhows... not much has happened. I'm back home now, doing stuff, composing, arranging, the whole shebang and all that. And I figure, well, I'll bring you this now that the loyalty mission is ended. Fun times will be had for all._

* * *

Chapter 22: Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty: Pas d'action

As soon as the decontamination cycle in the Normandy's air lock ends, my hands go to my helmet's seals, popping them open very fast. I let out a sigh of relief as I breathe in more or less fresh air again, the door into the Normandy opening with a rather loud hiss.

I look over to Rael and Tali, again with the father supported by Thane. Shepard follows my lead soon after, and then I run a hand through my hair.

"God, it feels good to be back inside a ship where I don't have to live in a helmet all the time," I comment. "I don't know how the quarians manage to live their lives in an entire suit..."

"We have our ways, Serviceman," says Rael'Zorah, looking over. "But we all long for the day we can be out of these suits..."

"I can imagine," says Kasumi as she comes forward a little bit. "Here's hoping that day comes soon."

I nod, looking over as we all step into the ship. I look over to the two quarians, and then realize something... "Oh, don't look now, but our ship has an AI," I say to Rael'Zorah.

At this, the male quarian visibly shudders, looking straight at us. "Your ship has an AI?" he asks. "Do you realize how dangerous that is?"

"We know how dangerous it is to have one on the ship," says Shepard, crossing her arms as we enter into the ship. "Frankly, though, I didn't have a choice in the matter. The AI came with the ship thanks to Cerberus. And she is a part of the ship, so unfortunately I can't do much about that."

I shrug. "And plus, EDI's actually been really helpful to us throughout the mission," I say with a shrug. "She hasn't gone rogue, even though she's had plenty of opportunities to do so by now. And frankly, you should see our pilot and EDI go at it in the cockpit."

"They're like an old married couple," adds Kasumi from behind me. "It's so cute, in a way."

Rael'Zorah looks to us all before looking to Tali. "And you have worked with this AI?" asks the admiral.

Tali looks to her father, a slight annoyance being visible in her gestures. "You forget who gave us the ship, father," replies the younger quarian. "I'm not on this mission for Cerberus. I'm on this mission for my friends."

Her father simply nods in reply. "That's very true," he says. "Especially if the Serviceman is of any indication."

... Oh dear. "Well... uh..." I say, placing a hand behind where I have it tied up into my little ponytail. "I'm flattered, sir. But no, I trust EDI enough not to turn on us."

He glances at me before he nods. "Very well," he agrees with a gracious gesture. "I'll trust your word on this EDI being trustworthy. I hope it doesn't come back to haunt us."

I blink, my eyes meeting Rael's without so much as a single turn of my head. "So do I, Admiral," I say with a brief nod. "Anyway, we've got a debreifing to take care of, so why don't we get that over with?"

Everyone else that was on the ground team nods. Without much else in the way of stuff to say, we work our way through the tech lab over to the debreifing room. This is gonna be a fun debreifing for everyone involved. Me? I just want to get this over with.

I've got a Brotherhood meeting to call, after all. And now, with Kasumi and Thane involved, no less.

And the sooner I can get to that, the better. Because I need to tell Tali about Legion, and I don't want to wait to tell her about the fact that we're recruiting a geth at all.

* * *

Well... debreifing certainly went well. Thank Jesus Christ, we got Jacob to do debreifing for Rael'Zorah. And that's good, because bless his heart, he may be suspicious of me, but Jacob's a really, really nice guy. I don't know what would've happened if Miranda had come to greet Rael'Zorah, but I doubt it would've been good. She's been getting better about being more sociable ever since we saved her sister, but she still can be a bit prideful. But hey, I can overlook that...

Speaking of which, I wonder if Miranda's gotten a chance to talk to Oriana again yet. I'll ask her about that after the Brotherhood meeting, with Ian McKellen in attendance, of course. Or someone. I dunno. They have about as many secrets to keep as I do at the moment... Yeah, now that I think about it, they definitely do keep a lot of secrets in that, don't they? Although... they're definitely not afraid to flaunt said secrets when they can...

Oh, god damn it, why am I still thinking about that? I stopped watching the movies after X2... Ah, well.

Debriefing went well thanks to that. Rael'Zorah's looking quick to get along with the crew pretty well. Let's hope that trend continues...

With debriefing all said and done, it's only a quick trip to the med lab to get Rael's leg all fixed up and I'm done. I volunteered to help Rael over to the Med Bay, and so I walked along with him. Tali came along as well, following close behind the two of us as I held Rael's arm over my shoulders. I move around the ship, looking to Tali as we move on in silence.

Hm... you know... I wonder what's gonna happen with the quarian people now that Rael'Zorah's alive. They won't need to get a new admiral... but as it is now, the majority of the board is for war efforts to be made. Daro'Xen with the control, Han'Gerrel with the war, and Rael with those expriments. But then again, we meet Legion during the mission, so... maybe his opinion will change. I don't know. Either way, it's something to think about.

As I think about this, I find myself in front of the med bay. Tali, seeing that my arms are a little occupied at the moment, moves in front of us to tap the door panel. She does so, and it opens with a slight hiss.

And before I know what I'm looking at, I see Chakwas and... Sturge? Really? I see them both sitting on chairs close by one of the berths, Sturge with a glass of fluid in his hand. Is... is that Serrice Ice Brandy he's drinking? Son of a bitch! The two of them turn, with Chakwas setting her drink down as she approaches the door.

"Ah, and here's our admiral," she says cheerfully. "Good. I was told to expect you, Rael'Zorah."

The quarian nods. "Dr. Chakwas, I take it?" he asks. "A pleasure. The commander tells me all sorts of great things about your work."

"Well, I do my best," she says. "Here, let's see about that leg of yours. Sturge, a moment."

"Of course," he says, raising a hand. Wait... Hold on... In the one hand, he's holding that blue stuff... So... Were he and Chakwas chatting? Like, what the commander would do after buying the brandy? Now why would Sturge want to hang out with her? I mean... maybe it isn't Serrice Ice Brandy... I guess it can't hurt to ask.

I glance over to the old man. "Is that...?" I ask.

"Serrice Ice Brandy?" he finishes, holding up the glass. "Yes. Best damn liquor I've ever tasted, too."

I blink, looking around in the office as Chakwas maneuvers around Rael so she can lead him to one of the berths. Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, he is chatting with her! Whoah... Okay, this is a little wierd. I'm watching my best friend, someone who I know for his reclusiveness, actually going out of his way to drink and chat with someone he doesn't even know as a student! I mean, I can get behind the fact that he likes to hang around intelligent people, and Chakwas is kind of intelligent herself, but seriously? I didn't think he had it in him!

Damn... this is a bit much to take in.

I raise my eyebrows. "I wouldn't have expected you to be chatting with anyone else on this ship," I comment.

Sturge shrugs. "What can I say?" he asks. "I meet quite a lot of people while serving them food, you know?"

I shrug. "True, I guess," I say. "I'm just... surprised." I thought you were the recluse...

"It seems we're not the only species that likes to socialize in our downtime," comments Rael as his arm comes off of my shoulder slowly.

I turn to the admiral. "But Sturge isn't quite like most people," I comment. "Most of the time... he keeps to himself." I look back to my old proffessor. "So this is a bit of a shock."

"I'll bet it is," replies Sturge. "But... a lot has been happening lately, and I can't really avoid people on this ship. Might as well get along with them as best I can, right?"

I look over to Chakwas, crossing my arms. "Some more than others, apparently," I comment uncertainly. Are they...? No, that would be silly...

The former science teacher looks over to the quarian as he nods. "So you're Rael'Zorah?" He asks this as he places his own glass down on the table and stands up. "I'm Michael ************, assistant mess sergeant. Most people call me 'Sturge'."

"I see..." replies the admiral as Chakwas leads him to a berth rather quickly. "You say you've spoken with my daughter. How might this be?"

I shrug, looking to Sturge as Rael is led to a berth. "Well... I'm a very good friend of Art's," he replies. "And they've both had their fair share of conversations with me about the quarian people."

"Ah." The admiral says this as he is sitting down on the berth, Chakwas lifting his leg. "Well... it's a pleasure to meet another friend of the Serviceman."

With this, the quarian holds his hand out to the science teacher. Sturge looks down at the hand, blinking at it for a second before shrugging and taking it. With a rather harsh shake, he lets go, a rather broad smile on his face.

"I guess it's finally nice to meet another quarian as well," comments Sturge as he grabs his glass of Serrice Ice Brandy. He downs it in another small ship, and then leaves the glass on the counter by Chakwas. "Anyways, I should probably return to my duties soon. Doctor, it was nice having drinks with you."

I blink. Wait... since when did Sturge go to have drinks with women? I mean... I know he never married, and I know he had relationships... but I thought they all ended! And I _know _he had no interest in ever being in a long-term relationship. So what in the world...? What...?

"We should have another chat in the near future," replies the doctor, pulling Rael's injured leg up so she can examine the wound.

"Definitely," says Sturge with a nod. "I'll stop by whenever Gardner is manning the kitchen."

With this, he turns to me, crossing his arms. "Anything you want to add, Art?" he asks.

I blink, looking at Chakwas and Rael. Well... the code was designed to intentionally confuse anyone in the room... so I might as well. "Well..." I say, crossing my arms as a slight smirk plays across my face. "If you see Garrus and Madison, tell them they need to get me their firebird feather. They promised me that much."

This causes Chakwas to pause mid-motion as all eyes in the room go to the old man. I can sense an expression of great confusion on Chakwas' face, as well as a rather non-plussed look from Rael. The man himself raises one of his eyebrows, looking at me as if I've just committed murder. He looks at us then, and then uncrosses his arms before replying.

"What, have you just fallen in love with a beautiful princess?" he asks.

... Wait... Oh, crap, what was I thinking with that? I literally just have fallen in love with a girl! Well... a girl, I guess. I don't know what she looks like, though. I mean, I'm sure she's beautiful and all that... but I don't even know! Damn you Bioware! It's all your fault that I don't know what to expect if Tali and I ever do the deed! Damn you all to hell!

Well, at least he's got it. "And the puppet comes alive," I reply. "We need to make sure virgin sacrifices go according to plan, you know. Oh, and tell Thane and Kasumi to join us today."

He nods, a light smile playing across his lips. "Got it," he says, walking towards Tali and I before passing us. "You take care of yourself, Art. Chakwas, I trust you know what you're doing with our new quarian friend here." And with this, he exits the room, the door closing behind him as I nod. Yep, he definitely got the code. I was afraid he wouldn't, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised by Sturge. After all, he is a very smart kind of guy, so... Must be all the Wagner speaking.

"What the bloody hell was that?" asks Chakwas.

Oh, right. Should've remembered you'd be confused as all hell. "Oh, just banter between old friends," I say. "Stuff only a few of us on the Normandy know about, mostly. We like to keep it amongst ourselves." After a brief pause, I raise my hand. "And no, no virgins were harmed in the making of that banter."

"We never said anything about virgins being sacrificed..." says Rael. Oh, God. There are things I would never expect any videogame character to say... and you just said one of them. Fuck my life. After he says this, he turns his head towards the doctor, nodding. "How bad is my leg, doctor?"

"It could be much worse," she replies. "Especially for a quarian. But everything looks like it's in good working order. You should be out of here within two hours. I can't say for any illnesses you might have, but we will cross that hurdle when we get there."

"Of course, doctor," replies Rael'Zorah. "Will that be all?"

"I believe so," says Chakwas, looking over to Tali and I as she nods. "All right, he should be fine," she tells us. "You two are free to go when you are done."

I nod at this, looking to Tali briefly before nodding. "Thank you, doctor," I reply. "Rael; if you want to talk after you get settled in, I'll be right on this deck. My room is on the side of Life Support that's closer to Port Observation."

"Very well," says Rael'Zorah. "I may stop by in the future."

"I'm looking forward to it," I reply with a smile. "I'll see you later regardless."

"I hope you feel better soon, father," says Tali.

From where he's sitting, I can tell Rael'Zorah is beaming at Tali. "Don't worry, Tali," he replies. "I'll be all right."

I can tell in the subtle way Tali's head moves forward slightly, and she gives a nod. I can tell she's probably smiling under her helmet, but the way she waves at her father afterwards signifies something. And it only seems to come even more when her father gives her a nod in acknowledgement before turning to Chakwas.

Well... looks like their relationship is already on a good footing with being rebuilt. I don't remember Rael ever being this warm, but perhaps it's for the better in this regard. After all, their relationship was pretty icy before the events of the game. So here... they get the chance to reconnect. Funny how he had to almost die for that.

With this, both Tali and myself turn away from the male quarian. I look to her as we exit the med bay. Almost as soon as the doors close behind us, I hold my hands behind my back, looking to the quarian with a smile on my face.

"Well..." I begin. "Your father is still alive. And... things are looking up, eh?"

"I think so," she says. "He... gave me a nod when I waved goodbye. It's an improvement over what I'd normally get. I... guess I wouldn't have that opportunity without you."

I shrug. "Glad to hear it," I say. "I hope you and your father get some semblance of a good father-daughter relationship from before. It's not all the time that people get second chances with their family. Take it from me." I gesture at myself as we move towards the elevator.

"That is true..." she says. "You never got the chance I did..." She turns to look over at me as we walk to the elevator, her hand absently touching against mine as we approach it. "I intend to use this chance as much as I can."

I smile. "Good," I say. We approach the elevator then, and as Tali hits the call button I bite my lower lip and look to the door. "Oh, Tali? I've got... something I need to tell you. Well, technically, I'm going to tell the whole Brotherhood about it, but I thought you might like a heads-up before I say anything to them."

She looks over at me. "Is it another thing I won't like?" she asks.

I blink when she replies, and I glance back to her. "Uh... yeah, actually," I reply, giving a nervous smile to her. "I think this time I'll get right to it instead of waiting until you know about it from something else."

"Of course," she says. With this, I can feel her hand grab mine absently. "I'm glad you're going to tell me about it this time."

I nod, smiling at her. "So am I," I say.

I look at her, feeling... like I'm flying. My hand clasps around hers and then we stare intently at each other as we stand there waiting for the elevator to open. I glance away briefly, but find that I can't keep my eyes averted from her orbs for long. So I look back at the lights from behind the visor that are her eyes, feeling so intent on wondering what color her eyes are... or even if they have one... Either way, I'll bet they're beautiful. The eyes are always the best thing about a face, I think, and-

It's at this moment that the elevator door opens. We see a step get taken, but then the person who was on the elevator pauses.

"Well, look at this, mate! You really are fallin' for each other."

Gah, Jesus! I leap away from Tali about an inch, and then she quickly turns before placing both of her hands over her face mask and taking a step back in shame. I turn to look at the person who-

...

Oh no. Oh, no no no no.

God damn it! It just _had _to be Jenny McKansa, didn't it?

Fuck my life!

* * *

After being pestered by Jenny for five minutes without rest about Tali and I being in a possible relationship (which may be true now, but please, Jenny, for the love of god, don't announce it to the whole crew deck! _Especially_ when her father is in the next room!), I finally find myself back in my room. I let out a sigh of relief, glad that the ship tease is over with and I now have other things to occupy my minds at the moment.

Like... composing. Yes, something like that.

With this thought in mind, I walk over to my terminal, sitting down in front of it as I drum my fingers against the desk. I start it up, then, watching it as it goes through all its runtimes. Hm... what should I work on today?

Hm... Well, I still haven't written up that song about love yet... Maybe I should try to get that written up once this stupid terminal boots up. It's taking unusually long today... But hey, what can I do?

It boots up, and then I look at the terminal as I go to my compositions. Yeah, I'll try to work on the song about love.

I open the blank document I had made for that purpose with a nod, looking right at the screen as I stare, looking at it. I bring up the text I was going to use on my omni-tool, and look between the blank document and the text. Hm...

Well... wait... Hold on. I think I've got something.

I look up to the computer and then key something on the interface. I look up, my hands maneuvering around the interface as I place a few notes onto the blank piano staff. Every time I've done this... it's always felt wrong. But as I place the notes on the staff this time, I think I might have it. I look at the notes, frowning as I input a second measure of notes. No, don't be silly, Art. You always say this to yourself, every time you get started. Or maybe things will be different this time, but we'll see.

I continue thinking like this as I fill in about ten more measures on the blank document. Okay... this chord works... but this one... Hm... let's move that note up... Okay, that might work... The contour of the line looks perfect... Yes, let's see what happens.

I look over to the playback on the interface, seeing the arrow pointing to the right. After all this time, it still points in that direction. Fun times are had, but it does make it a bit easy to figure things out, I think. But hey, one more victory for me, right? My finger comes up to the arrow, and then I hear the music I've written begin to play back to me.

And I sit back and listen to the eight measures. It's only adagio ma non troppo, but hey, it's only a tempo marking. The gesture is what's important. I listen to it, then, nodding my head along as I listen to it. Okay... the line goes up... straight into the Tristan chord, which resolves to that other chord I wrote there... And the melodic line continues in the middle voice of the piano, the chords being laid aside... And then, the flourish, and the chord is suddenly filled up to the extreme, with four fingers on the right hand plunking out the chords. The crescendo... and then the swell down, and the soft finish of the introduction. A couple more chords, followed by a Tristan chord...

...and then it stops. Enter the singer, whose line I haven't written yet.

I look at the terminal, smiling.

"Well," I say out loud. "I finally got it."

I smile, tapping my fingers as I look at the terminal screen. Okay, finally, something I'm happy with. I maneuver my hand to save my progress, hitting the square on that part of the interface. It saves, and then I nod as I look back at the text. Okay... the first line...

...

Wait.

I minimize the text on my omni-tool... I thought I saw something by the door? I look right at the area I thought I noticed, standing up as I do so. I slowly walk over to the door, looking down at it. Before I know it, I'm leaning next to the door frame, frowning as I try to concentrate. Okay... the frame is still there, the door is still white...

Except... that bulge wasn't there before, was it?

I run my hand along it, feeling something jut out from it... Something round, small... and disc-shaped.

Oh, Jesus. Couldn't they at least try?

I shake my head, my fingers coming around the small disc-shaped object where it's rooted into the wall.

"Ah, Cerberus, Cerberus, Cerberus," I comment, shaking my head. "You'd think you'd have learned by now to hide your bugs better. Seriously, either change the model or don't bother." I glance down, shaking my head. "Some secrets can't get out, you know."

With this, my nails dig just under the bug I've found, my tongue tracing over my lower lip as I think about this again.

"Seriously. The mosquitos were bad enough back home."

With this, I give the bug a harsh tug. Before anything else can be said, I feel the bug come loose. Okay... I wedge a finger in there, the extra space forcing the bug out of the wall. Before long, I hear a slight rip, and smile in satisfaction knowing that the bug is... well... destroyed. But for good measure... I tug the bug all the way out, glancing down at it as I nod. I set it on the floor close by where I'm kneeling, and then raise my foot about an inch. Without much hesitation, my foot crashes down on the bug, and I hear a rather loud snap beneath my foot.

All right. Art-13, Cerberus-0. They've yet to get a point on me. Every bug they've put into this room has... well... it's been rooted out by this time. Tali helped me make sure of that before the first Brotherhood meeting.

Well... at least we can tell secrets in peace now.

With this said and done, I stand back up and walk to the terminal. I sit down in the chair, looking at the blank document and smiling. Well... I'm finally making progress on this. I guess I better keep going.

I maximize the text on my omni-tool, nodding with a light smile on my face as I begin to set the text itself on the document directly.

* * *

A few hours later, people start coming into the room for the brotherhood meeting. Surprisingly, Kasumi was one of the first people here. Or perhaps unsurprisingly... I wouldn't know. It made for a bit of an... awkward explanation when Madison and Garrus came in. Sturge and Tali both had some awareness that the Japanese thief knew the truth about me, and that we were also expecting Thane to arrive. This... sort of set the two of them for a bit of a loop, but they adjusted pretty fast. Thane joined soon after Sturge managed to get off-duty, and he quietly locked the door behind him as he entered. After a few words of greeting... well... there's silence here now.

I guess I better take that as my cue to start. I look to Garrus, sitting in the chair at my desk. Tali is sitting on the bed in between Kasumi and Madison, with Sturge sitting next to the thief. Thane is content to lean against the wall close by the bed...

Something doesn't seem right about this...

Oh yeah.

"I think we're going to need a bigger room soon," I comment offhandedly.

I see Madison bite her lower lip, nodding her head in agreement. "I think so too," she says. "This small space is starting to get a little cramped."

"And that's definitely not good, I take it," replies Kasumi. "I'd be open to hosting it over in Port Observation if you guys don't mind."

Sturge was quick to raise an eyebrow at this. "That place with the drinks?" he asks. "Well... it's a nice space from what I've seen of it... Yeah, I wouldn't mind if we went in there."

I roll my eyes at this. "You're only saying that because you get to look at the stars the whole meeting," I reply. "You always did like astronomy."

The old man turns then, all eyes falling on him as he replies. "It's too bad I can't recognize stars from the specific constellations now..." he says with a shrug. "But still... I can't get over how it is to be flying amongst the stars after only being able to look at them for so long. I don't really know how to describe it, but... it's incredible how much larger this universe seems when the stars are in places you can't recognize..."

"It is a common feeling amongst us all, it seems," says Thane absently. I see him pause again, and then... "_Light motion beneath my feet. Smell of steel in the air. A window. Black expanse, with various lights within._" He pauses again, nictating with his second pair of eyelids as he remains stoic. "I had never seen such a sight in my life... Perhaps all sentient species feel this way when we set out into the stars for the first time."

"You can say that again," says Sturge.

I nod. "Okay, then... all in favor of moving over to Kasumi's area of the ship?" I ask.

And just like that, all the hands in the room go up in agreement, even my own. Jesus Christ... Well... this is certainly unexpected... But... it's welcome. Especially seeing as how we'll need the extra space soon with the way things have been going in keeping my secret under wraps...

"Right," I say, putting my hand back down. "Okay, the next Brotherhood meeting will be in Kasumi's room. Kasumi, there are probably going to be bugs in your room. Seek them out, and disable all of them."

"You got it," says the thief, nodding as she looks on. "Anyway... was there something you wanted to mention to us?"

"Well... yeah," I mention. "Tali already knows she won't like it, but... just a word of warning, I doubt anyone in this room is going to like anything about what I'm going to bring up next."

Garrus frowns at this. "Well... it can't be too bad after what happened with Tali, right?" he asks.

Oh, dear... If only you knew, Garrus. "Well..." I reply, slowly raising my arms. Okay, how do I put this... "It's... not exactly as bad as someone nearly being exiled. But that said, she really won't like it."

"I don't know if there's anything that's not to like about where we are," comments Madison. "But... anyway, what is this thing she's not going to like?"

Okay... All right, Art, spit it out. You can do this. And you can deal with the fall-out and tell Tali to give the damn thing a chance. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. It's gonna be all right. You can do this.

Okay... I think I'm ready. Here goes.

"Well..." I say. "We... get to recruit a geth over the course of this mission."

...

And there's the palpable silence. Cue Tali raging about it in three... two... one...

"_What_?" shouts the quarian, standing upright off the bed.

"Are you serious?" asks Garrus almost immediately after as his mandibles widen in shock. "We recruit a geth?"

I bite my lower lip, holding my hands behind my back. "I'm afraid so," I say. "It's a long story... the geth in question is found on that derelict Reaper some of you may have heard about. It saves Shepard's life... so she'll bring it aboard. From there, she has the option to reactivate it within the AI core and let it join the party."

Almost instantly, Tali is looking at me in disbelief. "Impossible!" says the quarian. "Shepard's battled thousands of geth in her lifetime! She knows how much of a threat they can be! What if it's waiting for an opportunity to stab the Commander in the back?"

I blink. Oh, boy... "If it did have the opportunity, it sure hadn't taken it under my watch," I say. "Otherwise, the game would be pretty short." Then again, though, there _was_ that one non-standard Game Over with Morinth, but I'm pretty sure the guys at Bioware wouldn't do the same for someone who can only come up with 'there was a hole' as a response to why he fixed himself with Shepard's armor.

I glance to the side. "Yeah... that's where things get a bit interesting," I comment. "The geth platform in question was actually tasked with finding Shepard."

"Ooh, so Shepard had a stalker all these years," says Kasumi. "That's actually really creepy..."

Madison glances over to the energetic girl. "Yeah, you can say that again," agrees the Journalist. "I've had more than my fair share of stalkers that I encountered over the course of my life..."

"That's not the point!" says Tali, shaking her head. "This... Art, how could Shepard even _think_ of activating a geth platform on the Normandy! She knows how dangerous it is!"

"I'm pretty sure that would be out of character for Shepard," adds Garrus. "So why would she activate a geth platform?"

"Well... it talks." With this, the others look at me with confused expressions on their faces. "And I don't mean equation speak, either. Like, it literally adresses the Commander as 'Shepard-Commander'. It says her name! Oh, and it also fixed a hole in itself with a piece of her old N7 armor that was taken from the wreckage of the first Normandy."

Sturge looks to the others. "Really?" he asks. "That's the only thing that defines this one geth? I wouldn't be pressed to think about it differently."

Garrus frowns, his mandibles closing. "I wouldn't be so sure," he says, his voice flanging in skepticism. "None of the geth we ever encountered were able to speak."

"And from what I have heard, I doubt they would steal armor to fix themselves so readily..." adds Thane.

The quarian standing close to me in the room holds her head in thought at this. Hm... I've never seen her do that. She's really thinking hard about this one. Hm... Finally, she looks up at me and nods. "I see... I can see why Shepard would activate it, then," says Tali. "The geth were never programmed to speak, not even when we were fighting Saren. And it addresses her specifically. That... is something strange. And they never repair themselves with salvaged parts... So I can see why the Commander would be curious, then. I would be myself if it were to address me as Machinist Tali'Zorah."

"Exactly," I say. "And that's why she gets that option. I'm sure curiosity would get her."

"But what's to say it won't turn on us later? They worship the Reapers, remember?" Tali's next questions come very quickly for all of us.

Okay... Now here's the part where I can bring up the conversation we had so much earlier. "Well..." I say, crossing my arms in front of me. "Tali. You remember when we were on Feros two years ago?"

The quarian rears back, tilting her head to the side. "What does that have to do with anything?" she asks. "I mean... it's a geth! A very unusual geth, granted, but still a geth!"

"Tali, please, answer the question," I reply quickly.

I can feel the frown she gives me from behind her facemask, and it's enough to almost make me backpedal towards the door and accidentally unlock it in the process. "Yes, I do," she says. "And there was that time where we had to reactivate the reservoir together..."

I nod. "Yeah, you remember," I say. "Remember the conversation we had back then?"

"What, about artificial intelligence and the mind?" she asks then. "I mean... yes I..." She pauses, her features going stiff as she stands there. "With the disagreement... and the different... factions..." The pause this time leads to a rather lengthy silence, one that is spent with nobody daring to move a muscle. I look over to the quarian. Yeah, she must be procesing a lot at the moment. Sorry, I really hate having to dump so much on you, but I'm not willing to risk my friendship again. Trust me, you'll thank me for it later when Legion joins the ship.

Finally, she utters a single sound.

"Oh."

I nod. "Yeah, that's why I mentioned that so early," I comment. "You've been thinking about it... right?"

"Wait, hold on," says Madison, looking at the two of us. "What is this about factions?"

"A little, I'll admit," replies Tali, ignoring her question. "But... I never thought it would be applied to something like this... I mean... a geth... Working with us...?"

"It plays into Madison's question," I comment. "See, the geth are divided into two factions." This gets a surprised gasp from Garrus. The others try not to think about it too much, but I can't help but notice all the surprised stares. Well, can't say I blame them for being shocked at the fact that everything they know about the geth is being torn apart before their very eyes. "The geth we fought with Saren aren't 'true' geth. Those are a broken-away sect of the geth. The platform we'll get with us will refer to them as 'heretic' geth. According to our platform, the 'true' geth seek to create a future for themselves. And they don't see it with the Reapers. So technically, our goals are mutual. So that's why it works with us."

"And you're sure about this?" asks Tali, her voice laced with a slight amount of skepticism.

I nod. "As sure as I can be about something," I say. "You're taking it pretty well..."

"I don't know, Art..." she says, shaking her head. "All this information... it's... a bit much for me to take in all at once..." She looks at me. "Can you imagine it? My people have hated the geth for as long as we have been roaming the stars. And when someone comes along one day and tells you everything you know about the geth is wrong... how are you supposed to take that? I don't want to believe this is true. I really don't. And yet..."

"I'm asking you to trust me with this," I tell her, looking directly at the machinist. "Because I swear by the river Styx that everything I'm telling you is true."

She nods. "But it's so difficult to believe," she says. "A big part doesn't want me to believe what you're saying... I... I just don't know what to think..."

"I think we all need time to digest this," suggests Thane where he has been leaning against the wall. "We can reconvene at another time once we have thought of it."

I glance over to the drell as soon as he finishes speaking. So... let them think about what I've just told them...?

Yeah... that sounds like a good idea. They did just get a gigantic information dump. It's not like the game where we were given it gradually after Legion first appeared; here, they're getting it dumped on them in one unceremonious motion. So yeah... Digestion would be good. So yeah... I'm sure they'll all agree to trust me on this, but we'll see what happens. And if not, I'll cross that hurdle when we get there.

I nod at this, looking to the others.

"Yeah, I'm totally up for that," replies Kasumi.

"So am I," says Garrus, gesturing with a talon. "I mean... that's enough information about the geth to last me at least a week of thinking."

I nod. "Okay, then," I say. "I say we don't bring up the geth again until a later meeting, to be determined at our own leisure. Awesome."

Tali nods, sitting back down. "I'm just glad you mentioned this now," she says. "I... think having time to digest that fact will help us all when he does come..."

All right, I have gained +4 approval from Tali, I take it! Yay! I give her a smile, then look to the others. "Okay, with that out of the way, I think that about settles it for mind-blowing reveals for the day, eh?" I ask. "Anyhow... We've got other things to discuss, am I right?"

"Pretty much," says Madison. "You mentioned the derelict Reaper. What else are we going to find on that thing?"

I blink, biting my lower lip. Ah, yes, more on the derelict Reaper, I see. "Oh, we're going to find quite a bit aside from Legion," I comment. "And we're going to find out that even if they're dead, they can still mess with people's minds..."

And with this, I begin talking about what we find on the derelict Reaper, and what happened to the scientists there. Yeah... this will be fun to see in action.

* * *

It's a fairly short time after the Brotherhood meeting when I'm chillin' in the rec room. Wow... it's been a while since I've had time to sit here for a while.

Apparently, Shepard managed to get a new Unchained for the Normandy. I don't know when the hell that happened, but it's a nice change back. We've got all the mandatory stuff for the console on the Normandy, too, I think. Damn, I didn't even know this existed until Gardner pointed it out to me. I guess I'm damn thankful that he did. It's been nice getting back into _Dead Space _on the Normandy again, if only because it brings back some good times. When I first played it with Shepard, when I'd play it when I was bored out of my skull... and all that other beautiful jazz.

So I'm reclined against the couch, controller in hand as I play. Man... it's still satisfying to see zombie guts flying everywhere. Especially when you remember that they're out to kill you in the most violent ways possible. I can't believe I forgot about this! This... is a bit crazy how much I'm rediscovering. When Garrus would come in and trade banter about zombies... when others would sort of come in and do whatever as I sat here playing...

I wonder who's gonna take notice on the Normandy.

I hear the footsteps almost as soon as the door opens with the loud hiss. I bite my lower lip, keeping myself concentrated on the game in front of me. Okay... we'll see who it is in a moment.

"Eh, you played this game too?"

I blink in surprise, my thumb almost instantly hitting the pause button as I turn.

"Zaeed?" I ask, raising one of my eyebrows as the mercenary in question comes around the couch. "I... didn't think you were into video games."

"What else is an out of work mercenary gonna do when 'e wants his fix of blood and can't get it right away?" he asks, sitting down next to me as I hold the controller in my hand. "I found myself sittin' and playin' stuff like this whenever I could."

I nod, looking over. "I see..." I say. "Well... sometimes, a guy gets bored between all the practicing and the sketching he has to do for his occupation, you know? So sometimes, I'd go ahead and play some video games." I look back to the screen as I gesture with the controller. "Although, I'll be the first to admit I didn't use to like shooters." Well, at least not until I discovered the wonders of aiming with a mouse instead of an analog stick. Now _that_ made my life _so _much easier.

I don't get a question from the merc, instead looking as he turns at me. "Lemme guess," he says. "You were always into those RPG's that all the pansies play, weren't you?"

I blink, frowning at Zaeed. "I'll have you know that some of them were actually pretty action-packed," I comment, raising one of my fingers. "Like-!"

...

Oh, fuck. Did I almost just reveal that this is all a game to Zaeed? Fuck...

I pause midsentence, my eyes widening at this.

"Like what?" he asks, resting an arm lazily across the couch's armrest.

Oh, fuck... He... Crap... Okay, how do you catch a cloud and pin it down? "Well... uh..." I glance to the side. "There was this... really old game that came out waaaaay back when..."

Fuck fuck fuck...

"Really?" asks Zaeed. "Like...?"

Oh, crap... How to keep it going...? "Well... it was about this guy... And he went around in space..." I say. "Whose gender you could pick..." Oh, fuck, no, I'm talking about the Commander! Quick, quick, backpedal! "And... he could wield this sword, you know...?"

...

Oh, shit, I'm talking about _Dragon Age _now? Fuck! I'm terrible at hiding my secret! Fuck... Oh, crap...

"It wasn't made of light by any chance, was it?" asks Zaeed.

...

Wait...

Sword made of light...? As in...? Star Wars...?

...

Oh, crap, there _was _an entire collection of games that were made before _Mass Effect _and _Dragon Age_, wasn't there? Maybe I better give it a chance...

"Wait..." I say, glancing to the side. "I... I think it might've been called _Knights of the Old Republic..._"

And at this, Zaeed raises his good eyebrow. Wait... what? "Really?" he asks. "On that one Unchained rerelease?"

...

Holy crap, that exists?

Yes! Thank you, George Lucas! Useless knowledge about your near-innumerable movie tie-in games has saved my hide! And thank you, Bioware-stand-in, for still creating that game!

"Yeah, that's the one," I say, smiling a little brighter now. "You've heard of it?"

"Eh, I downloaded the bloody thing out of boredom one day," he said with a shrug. "Turned out ta be the best damn thing I ever got for the bloody system. There was one time I almost showed up late for a job because I was so busy playin' that one game. I'll tell ya somethin', kid. You've got good taste in games."

... Wait, Zaeed? Liking a Bioware game?

... Good Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, I can't even begin to describe just how... I mean, really? Zaeed? Into a game of the company that made him?

"I didn't think you'd be the type," I comment, gesturing back to the Unchained. "But that was only one of the ones I played. Yeah, I used to be into the non-action packed RPGs too." Yeah, because the sooner I go away from this topic, the better. Especially since I never had a PS2 or Xbox back on Earth and thus never actually played KOTOR. "But anyway, that's my take on games. Never played too many shooters until I was out of the house and studying elsewhere, you know?"

He nods. "I see," he says, looking over at the controller. "Ya mind if I play a little?"

I glance over to the mercenary, wondering what's up. Hm... I sense a little agitation in his hand.

"Sure," I say, tossing him the controller. He catches it, nodding his thanks. "It looks like something's on your mind, anyhow."

"On my mind is understatin' it a little, I think," replies the mercenary as he unpauses the game. "We're goin' to Zorya soon."

I raise my eyebrow. "Oh?" I ask. "Based on Harkin's info?"

"That's the one," says Zaeed. "That son of a bitch Vido's gonna pay for what 'e did ta me, I tell ya."

I glance over to him, my glance concentrated on his pale eye. "I'm guessing he's responsible for... whatever that scar in your head is?"

He glances at me briefly, shooting another zombie as he sits there. "That 'scar' was caused by a gunshot," he replies, a grimace settling on his features. "Vido had his men hold me in place when enough was enough. And then, the bastard shot me, right in the head."

Yeah, that's still shocking, but to keep in character... I gape at him. "You got shot in the head?" I asked. "And lived to tell about it?"

He pauses, moving through the empty corridors in-game as one of the NPCs began a conversation with the hero. "Rage is a hell of an anesthetic," he replies.

"I can imagine..." I say, nodding my head. "It's not every day you get shot in the head by a friend..."

"Friend?" asks Zaeed. "As far as I bloody well know, Vido's no friend of mine, and never was. I'm not gonna rest until I see Vido Santiago dead on the ground."

I nod. "I guess twenty years is a hell of a long time to hold a grudge," I say. "A grudge against a guy who tried to kill you, granted, but-"

In one fluid motion, Zaeed's paused the game, and is sending a glare in my direction. Holy shit! I jump back slightly in fear at the fire that's raging in his eye. "'Ey, don't you call it a grudge," says the mercenary. "I trusted Vido, and 'e took it and shot me in the eye! He's all I've been dreamin' about for twenty years. So don't you go tellin' me it's just a grudge!"

I blink, still frightened at the threatening tone Zaeed just used. Jesus Christ on a pikestaff... I knew he got touchy when you devalue it, but I didn't expect he'd be that intimidating about it... Jesus, that scared me right out of my mind.

I raise my hands up slowly then, glancing to the side. "Okay, okay," I say, backpedaling a little bit. "Sorry... It's just... How does one manage to hold... well... whatever it is you've got for twenty years?"

"Haven't you ever hated someone so much that the mere mention of their name makes ya want to strangle someone?" he asks.

... "Yeah, actually..." I say, pulling my legs in. "Too many to count. But I don't know any of them personally, so... It's not exactly the same."

"It doesn't have ta be," replies the older mercenary. "It's close enough, anyhow. I just need to blow off some steam. Twenty years and I finally get my revenge..."

I wouldn't be so sure about that, Zaeed. I look over to him, biting my lower lip. "Just don't do anything reckless," I tell him. "You might not get your chance at revenge if you do anything that might get the Commander to stop chasing Vido."

"Like what?" asks the mercenary.

I shrug. "Well... he's at a factory, right?" I ask. "Don't do anything to endanger the innocents, and you should have a clear shot at Vido."

I see him glare at me, still looking a little angry. "Vido goes down, no matter the cost!" replies Zaeed. "That son of a bitch has had it comin' for a long time, and I'm gonna go after 'im no matter the cost!"

...

Well, I can see you're not gonna listen to me then. Well, I tried. And unfortunately, I can't tell you the truth about what's gonna happen, which I can't risk since way too many people know about me already. Well... I guess I can try to get one more word in edgewise.

"If I know the Commander as well as I do, I know she'll stop helping you the instant you endanger any innocents," I reply. "Keep it in mind, Zaeed."

With this, I stand up, gesturing to the controller. "You can play through the rest of this save file if you wish," I comment. "I'm gonna go hang out around the Normandy."

And with this, I walk out of the rec room, leaving Zaeed to his own devices. If he's taking a look at my backside, I really couldn't be bothered to care enough. Besides, I have more people I need to talk to about other things...

Namely... a certain quarian Admiral. Now where in the world did he go...?

* * *

I look around the ship for Rael'Zorah, looking high and low and all that jazz.

And when I find him out in the mess hall, I'm a little surprised. He's sitting there listlessly, around where Hawthorne would usually hang out. Uh... huh... Interesting. I nod over to him, and walk over to where he's sitting, finding myself taking a seat across the table from him.

"Rael'Zorah," I say, giving him a smile. "It's nice to see you're up and about already."

The male quarian nods as he places his hands in front of him. "A leg wound never did manage to completely incapacitate me," he says. "Dr. Chakwas is something else. I've never seen a finer doctor, on the Fleet or anywhere else."

I nod. "We're fortunate to still have her as a hold-over from the original Normandy," I comment with a smile. "She was one of the best doctors in the Alliance before... well, you know."

"I still find it difficult to believe that this is a Cerberus ship I am on," admits the quarian.

I frown, pulling my hands together. "Not if Shepard has anything to say about it," I comment. "Cerberus' leader already pulled a fast one on us before. I personally wouldn't be surprised if it happened again."

"Yes, the Commander told me about that," says Rael. "As well, you would think there would be far less people who are as... accepting of alien on such a vessel. I have had quite an interesting introduction to some of the crew."

Oh, boy. "Lemme guess," I say. "You spoke with Kelly and Jenny."

Rael nods at this. "I believe I did," he says simply. "Speaking with Kelly was... interesting, to say the least. Such a cheerful woman, and a very open one as well. Our conversation ventured into some rather strange territory, but I could tell she did not mind."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, she tends to go around..." I provide with a hand gesture. "If you know what I mean. She's got a fascination with alien cultures and all that."

"She mentioned that," says Rael, his eyes alight good-naturedly. "It is good to know there are humans such as the yeoman on this ship. And then there is the matter of Jenny... She had so many questions about life on the Fleet I honestly felt a little overwhelmed..."

I nod. "One of her best friends is a quarian," I comment. "He never returned from his Pilgrimage."

"Nogond'Viraliz, she mentioned," adds Rael, glancing to the side. "I must admit, I never thought he would return to the Fleet. He spent far too long outside of the Fleet. I think the outside world is his home now... And it's good to know people like Jenny are looking out for him."

Yep, that it is. I glance down to the side, looking at him. "She's also pretty excitable," I comment. "You should see her when she's piloting the shuttle. Now that's something that you can really see her get all happy about."

"Indeed," replies the admiral. "Meeting such agreeable humans is gratifying. And then... there is the matter of my daughter... She seems happy on this ship, with everybody here."

I nod, bringing my elbows onto the table. "I guess this is the part where you bring up your hopes of reconnecting with your daughter?" I ask, giving him a goofy smile.

As I watch the admiral move, he first leans back, and I can see the white lights that are his eyes squint slightly. "How did you know those were my intentions?" he asks, his hands splaying against the table.

"Well... going by what you mentioned in the trial, it was an educated guess," I reply, gesturing with my hand. "You said you cared about Tali." I shrug, nodding at this. "I think it's a good thing to do, reconnecting with your daughter like this. Have you spoken again since you left the med bay?"

"Not yet," replies Rael. "But I plan to very soon. I... We spoke after the trial." His gaze averts towards the floor. "I... have been blind to my daughter's needs. I told her as much as I could about the trial... I trust you told her the rest?"

I nod. "Yeah, I did," I say. "You at least cared to mention the part where you endangered the fleet, right?"

"Tangentially, yes," replies the male quarian as he shifts his arms against the table. "I didn't realize how... detached she felt from me as a result of my actions. I thought she understood that I care about her in all I did for the Fleet. I did the experiments on the Alarei for her sake, after all... I misunderstood how I was coming across to her, it seems."

I shake my head, looking at him. "I can't blame you for that," I say. "But sometimes what's obvious to you isn't obvious to anybody else. You know, Rael, my parents used to hammer it into my mind that they loved me." My fingers entwine within themselves, and I close my eyes as I think about my family again. "It used to get on my nerves so much I honestly didn't want to hear it. But... spending two years away from them tends to change your opinion of things very quickly." I take in a deep breath. "I haven't been able to contact anybody from my life on Earth for two years... And you don't realize what you've got until it's not there, you know?"

I take in another deep breath as I look at the admiral. "I didn't tell them I cared enough," I say. "And now... wondering what could've been if I had actually made it obvious I cared for them as much as they made their concern known to me is probably what hurts most about everything with them. Don't make the same mistake I did, Rael'Zorah."

The quarian regards me with a solemn look, slowly nodding his head. "I shall attempt not to," he says. "I thank you for giving me this second chance with my daughter."

I nod, smiling. "It's no trouble, Rael'Zorah," I say, looking at him.

We're silent for a little while as I say this, and after a brief amount of time, he gives me a nod. "Tali tells me you write music," he says. "What, exactly, does this music sound like, if I may ask?"

I raise my eyebrow, giving him a broad smile. "Well... this is gonna be a long conversation, so sit tight!"

And I begin going on and on about my music to Tali's father.


	24. Chapter 23

_A/N: Okay, so there's more socialization out of the way._

_And with that... It's another conversation chapter that covers two missions that Art is not going to be in! This will inculde Zaeed's mission, as you'll see soon enough, but... You'll see what happens with that._

_Oh, and I just broke 400 reviews. Jeez, I'm breaking all these review milestones I never thought I'd ever surpass in my time on this website. Especially given my history; my oneshots are usually my most reviewed things, but some other things... nothing's compared to this. It's just so surreal..._

_For now, we've got other issues at hand. Like..._

_I've decided, ah, fuck it. I've teased you guys with the ship tease for long enough. So we'll finally put it to rest here. Yes, everyone, this is the chapter all you Talimancers have been waiting for: they finally admit their feelings for each other! And it will be glorious!_

_And for that... we have other stuff to listen to. So as in the first time this happened in MV1, look for the symbol _-%&%- _and we'll be good. Now, what I have to play you is actually in two versions... So..._

_I'll post both of them. They both come from Stravinsky's Firebird ballet, and are more or less at the same point in the ballet. However... orchestration and a couple of notes differ._

_The version I can find on a separate track can be found here: www .youtube .com/watch?v=n4tax6oCuTM This is from the popular suite version of the balleth from 1919; it's generally the one you hear all the time._

_And the version I prefer is here: www. youtube .com /watch?v=JefBA7t1GbI&feature=related Note that this isn't on a separate track: wait for the video to load, and when it does cue it up at 1:10 and you should be on track. Note that the excerpt you're supposed to hear ends before the video itself does (at 6:02), but it should be obvious when we reach the end of the excerpt in question. And this is my preferred version for a lot of reasons, so yeah._

_So behold!_

* * *

Chapter 23: Stravinsky: Firebird: Ronde de princesses

I walk around the ship, noting how it hovers over Zorya. Jenny's don in the Kodiak with Shepard, Zaeed, and Jack, so there goes any talk of Baudelaire or any French symbolists I can have with her. Thane and Madison are also down there with her, unfortunately, so I can't really speak with them about too much. Well... I guess I had it coming for not doing things well.

But... it does leave me with a few other people to talk to. Like... Tali.

Who I haven't spoken to since the Brotherhood meeting, shame on me. Especially now that my feelings for her have gone beyond friendship.

I decide to head on down to engineering then, finding everything in place. I walk on the side Tali is working off of as opposed to Ken and Gabby's side. Seriously, the last thing I need is Ken teasing us about our relationship too. I already have my hands full with Jenny being how she is about Tali and I... I don't need Ken also jumping down my throat.

So with that said, I walk around to the quarian engineer as she's typing away on her console. At the sound of my footsteps, she turns, her eyes brightening a little as I come to stand next to her in front of the panel.

"Hey, Tali," I say, smiling at her.

"Oh, hello Art," she says cheerfully. "What can I do for you?"

I nod, looking over to the quarian. "You got a minute to talk?" I ask.

"Oh, of course," she says, keying a few things at her workstation. After she stops keying things in, she turns to face me, and I can sense the happiness in her features... Could it be? Does she feel the same way about us as I do? "I wanted to talk to you about what you told us in the Brotherhood meeting..."

I nod, glancing over at Ken and Gabby. "You know they can hear us, right?" I comment.

"Of course," she says. "Let's take this to the drive core itself, shall we?"

... God, you have no idea how suggestive that came across as. Especially given where Miranda's romance scene took place... and where we got to see that creepy black bra. Ugh, that's an image I'd rather dispel from my mind, thank you very much. At least Miranda has no chance of falling into the uncanny valley in real life. I'm thankful for that, at least.

I just nod at her, gesturing forward. "Lead the way," I tell her with a smile.

With this, the two of us walk over to the drive core, the quarian leading with a slight spring in her step. Huh... I guess we're back to where we were again before I fucked up with not telling Tali. I'd say we're good... maybe even better off? I dunno. We come to a pause at the drive core, the quarian holding her wrist close by her body as she glances down at the floor first. I can feel her gaze go back up to me, though, and then she speaks.

"I've been... thinking about this geth," she says. "I guess... if you know about this geth, and know it won't betray us... I'll try to give it a chance."

I smile. "That's the best I can ask for, Tali," I comment. "What with your history with the geth."

"I know..." she replies. "I'll try to give it a chance, but with the geth's history with my people... I don't know if I can."

I nod. "Well... there is one point where you got into a quarrel with the platform in question," I comment. "It... happens after he's been on long enough. I think it was after his loyalty mission, actually."

Tali's body language shifts slightly. "It has a loyalty mission too?" she asks. "But I thought our goals were mutual..."

"It's a bit more complicated," I say. "I'll tell the Brotherhood more when we have Legion on board. Let's just say it has to do with the factions." Tali nods, seeming to understand what I'm getting at. "But anyway, after that mission, he'll try to send some confidential data about the Fleet to the other geth. Well... specifically about the Alarei"

"What?" She rears back, her voice raised slightly as she rears back.

I shrug, gesturing to her. "Exactly," I say. "Although, when it does come up you'll be doing much more than that."

"Oh, I can't say you're wrong there..." replies Tali, her voice dripping a small amount of venom. "I can't let it send confidential data to the Fleet! Especially not about what my father did!"

"Figured as much," I say, holding my hands behind my back. "Fortunately, Legion can be talked out of it. Shepard comes in during the middle of your argument and has a choice on who to side with."

"So... can she side with me?" she asks.

"Yeah, but then we lose Legion's loyalty," I reply with a shrug. "And then it works the other way. But there is a way to have it both ways. If you bring up that it'll be detrimental when the Reapers come along, he won't send your information, and it'll all be more or less hunky-dory."

"Oh..." says Tali, cocking her head to the side as she glances down. "I see... I'll see what can happen when that situation comes along. I trust Shepard will understand that."

I nod, smiling. "Glad to hear it," I say. "You know, you're taking this whole business about recruiting the geth platform well."

She nods. "I think I am," she says, her hands coming in front of her as she holds them insecurely. "At least you told me about it this time. Well in advance, I may add."

"I didn't want to risk losing our friendship again..." I say. "Well... what I _think _is our friendship. Uh... Whatever it is at this point..."

She seems to rear back, a little flustered. "I'm still sure it's friendship," she says... Hey, wait, that was a bit quick, wasn't it?

"I... I just don't know anymore," I say, rubbing my arm. "It's just so odd thinking of this as something... Oh, I dunno..."

And now, I see Tali looking flustered. "Well... I mean, there's the whole sharing suits thing... and you knowing about it... and... my, it's hot in here..."

I rub the back of my head lightly. "What does that have to do with anything?" I ask.

"Well... you mentioned how it signals a need for... uh... intimacy," she says, her body language slowly betraying how flustered she is. Oh, dear...

"I did, did I?" I ask, crossing my arms. "Why do you bring it up now?"

"Well... what happened on the Fleet sort of got me thinking," she says. "About... uh... that. I was thinking very recently that I haven't trusted anybody enough for that... Well... except... no quarians. I don't know why... but I just did. Maybe... it might be because of what you did for me... And... you know... uh..."

No quarians. Jesus... does she feel the same way about me as I do about her? I... "Really?" I ask.

"I guess so," she says. Oh, dear, I can see the blush from a thousand miles away. "I just... I never thought about who I trust here... Well... how I trust them anyway... Ah... You know what I mean, don't you?" Her hand gestures get more and more excited as she continues going on.

Oh, dear... "You're not... suggesting anything, are you?" I ask.

Yep, this is getting awkward, and fast... "What could I possibly be suggesting?" she asks. "A dashing young man saves my life and goes on adventures with me throughout the galaxy while trying to save it. How could I possibly develop any... any feelings for him?"

I blink. Jesus, she used that exact line to a male Shepard in game. "Well... uh..." I comment, placing my hand over my mouth as if I'm about to cough. "You... you never know about these things, Tali," I say. "I mean... maybe it works the other way too?"

... Jesus Christ, I suck at this. Damn the fact that my love life was nonexistant prior to this!

Tali, for her part, is doing her best not to crumble under how flustered she is. That said, though, she is still very flustered, and not in the best way I'm afraid. "What do...?" she asks. "I don't think..."

Yep, I messed up. "Well... you never know about these things, Tali..." I say. "Maybe... the other person's interested as well...?"

... God, I hate being awkward here. We stand there for a while, just... kind of not saying anything. Neither of us says anything for a bit, our eyes expressly avoiding each other as we kind of just stand there. After about a minute or so, I bring my hand out and let out a single cough.

It's enough to say how we both feel, and then our eyes meet at exactly the same time, with Tali looking directly at me.

"I... need to get back to work," she says quickly. "I... I'll see you sometime in the near future..."

And with this, the quarian walks away, leaving me standing in the drive core as she very quickly leaves me in the dust. I blink as she disappears behind the cover of the wall, leaving me hanging here.

Okay... that was awkward. Blame it on my lack of romance skills that tend to swing between sappy and hopeless for me. I mean... god damn it...

Yeah, I need to think a little... Now that I have some idea that Tali's interested... I don't really know what to make of that. Jeez... I need to go think about it...

Wait... Kasumi mentioned that she was crazy about me... Yes... she does feel the same way I do about all this. Jesus... I... I don't really know... she's the first person I've ever felt this way about to return the sentiment... And... I don't know if I should be terrified or in joy about this... I really don't know...

Oh, hell, I'll just go seek someone out about this and ask how they feel about it... Hm...

I'll go ask Garrus! He's got Madison at the moment, she's not here now, so... Yeah. I'll go ask him what he did about it when he first realized he and Madison had a connection they were both keen on following up on.

I walk out of the drive core soon after, walking on Ken and Gabby's side of the room. I don't think I want to disturb Tali until I've thought about this a little more in detail. After all, now that I have an idea that she's interested... I think it'll be good for all of us.

Right. Go ask Garrus what's up, and we'll see what happens from there.

* * *

I thus strut right into the gunnery bay. Garrus' back is turned to me, and he's busy typing out some calibrations on that console there.

I step forward, and he turns his head slightly. "Oh, Art," he says, as he's typing. "What's up?"

I shrug, gesturing to him with my hand. "I've... got stuff on my mind," I comment. "You got a minute?"

He looks down at the calibration panel, clicking his mandibles together slightly. Finally, he nods and turns to me. "Yeah," he says. "I'm just killing time, anyway."

Okay, so I won't have to resort to using Mr. Calibratian. Thank Jesus. "Good," I say. "I wanted to ask you something about Madison. Well... if you don't mind me asking, anyhow..."

"Ask away." The turian's reply is pretty brief... Thank God. I've already got more than enough thoughts racing through my mind at the moment... "What did you want to know about?"

I shrug. "Well... obviously, it was a bit of a process for you two to hook up," I begin. "Nothing like that turian scout I told you about."

He shakes his head. "It was different for me this time," he says. "Back then, it was before a high risk mission. This time... there wasn't really much. It just sort of... crept up on me, I guess. Uh..." Oh, God, am I making Garrus flustered too?

I cross my arms. "It crept up on you?" I ask.

"Well... in a way, yes," replies Garrus. "I didn't realize my feelings went as far as they did for her at first. As time went on... that changed. A lot. I'm not the romantic type, you know..."

"Yeah, I pretty much figured that out that month I lived with you," I comment, my mouth twisting into a smirk. "What did you do about it?"

The turian looks over at me, a knowing glint in his eye. Oh dear... "It's Tali, isn't it?" he asks.

I blink in surprise. "Well... uh..." I comment, rubbing the back of my head and closing my eyes. "I mean... Well... she's just... and I... Yes."

I stop and open my eyes abruptly. Jesus, that's the first concrete answer I've supplied myself with all day about this subject. Hm... I actually feel pretty proud of myself. I managed to admit it to someone. Now I just have to do it to a certain someone else, and we'll be good.

The turian's mandibles flare out in a smile then, and he throws his arms out. "Finally!" he shouts. "I was waiting for you to say something like that!"

... Wait, what?

I frown, curving one of my eyebrows up as I look at the turian. "What the hell are you talking about?" I ask.

"You and Tali have been incredibly close since the first Normandy," he comments. "I think we've all been waiting for that time when you'd finally get past that."

... Are you...? "It was that obvious?" I ask.

"Oh yeah," replies Garrus. "Joker started a betting pool about it when Tali came back on the Normandy, actually."

...

Are you serious, Garrus? A betting pool? Oh, Christ, I thought we were done with that when Wrex mentioned it on the original Normandy with Shepard and Kaidan! Jesus... You've got to be kidding me Garrus! _I _was the subject of a betting pool?

"Oh no..." I say. "Don't tell me the entire ship is in on it..."

"Yep, it's in on it," says Garrus. "It's actually also in on Shepard and Thane..."

Oh, god damn it! I let out a rather loud groan, slumping forward slightly. "God damn it, does this ship know how to show _any_ decency in terms of respecting its romances?" I ask, closing my eyes. "It's a fucking private matter! Why the fuck are people on this ship always taking bets on people's love lives?"

"I guess not," says Garrus. "I didn't take part in your betting pool, anyhow, so you won't have to worry too much about that."

I nod. "That's good to hear, I guess," I say. "Garrus, can I ask you not to tell anyone?"

"Of course," replies the turian. "But you probably should tell them yourself. I'll bet there will be a few unhappy people from those who betted against you two hooking up."

I glance to the side, crossing my arms. "I... can't even admit it to the girl I like," I reply sardonically. "Do you seriously think I'm ready to tell other people at this point? Especially knowing they can't take the privacy needed for a relationship seriously?"

Garrus simply straightens as he looks over to me. "Point taken," He replies. "But... we're getting very off topic here. You asked me what I did about my feelings for Madison. I guess you need some advice for Tali?"

"Oh yeah," I comment. "I... I'm just afraid of stuff. Probably another irrational fear of mine, but..." I'm afraid of Tali pulling what every other girl I've ever developed feelings for has pulled on me, even if it is by accident.

The former C-Sec officer simply gives me a look before shifting against his place against the calibration panel. "Don't be afraid," he tells me. "If I read your question right... she's expressed interest. So don't worry about rejection. I... sort of came up to Madison privately and told her I cared about her greatly. Maybe that's what you need to do." He looks at me, pausing. "And... if there's anything extra you need to add when you're falling in love with a quarian... maybe you should add that too."

I glance to the side. This is the same guy who left the accidental innuendo with the heat sink thing? Well... whatever. I shrug at this, nodding. "Okay, that works for me," I comment. "I... it's just that things have usually gone wrong in my love life, you know? I just want whatever Tali and I have got to take some kind of form that isn't like what I used to have. You know?"

"I think so," he says. "I'll let you think about that. If you need anything, I'll be here."

I nod. "Thanks, Garrus," I reply, smiling. "I... actually have a loose end I need to figure out on other things too, so... I'll go ahead and get that out of the way now..."

With this, I turn around-

Ow!

I stumble back, shaking my head and taking a light hold on my face as I look in front of-

Wait...

I turn back to Garrus, pointing at the space in front of me.

"When the fuck did you close the door?" I ask.

He smirks. "When you started asking about how I approached Madison," he replies gleefully. "I figured you'd want the privacy."

I nod, turning back to him. "Thanks," I say. "But for future reference, I'd appreciate it if you would fucking tell me that the next time I decide to turn around and walk out of here."

Garrus nods at this. "Will do," he says.

With this, I hear the door hiss behind me- seriously, when did I miss that sound when we were talking- and the door opens behind me. I turn, satisfied to see the mess hall in front of me instead of a steel door with the wall panel there. I nod to Garrus briefly, and then exit the gunnery bay slowly, crossing my arms as I bite my lower lip.

Okay... so I should just get it out of the way. Okay then... I guess that'll take a bit of courage to do. But hey... There is still one last thing about everything that's going on.

And that... is the meaning of that one fucking word that Iya can't stop using whenever I'm in the same room with her... _Hesh'alan_, it was. I still have no god-damn idea what the hell that means, so... I guess it's time to finally find out. If my intial predictions of it being Tali's equivalent of _siha_ are correct... then that'll be something for the ages. And while Jenny probably isn't open to it, seeing as how she flat-out refused to tell...

Yes. I can find out from Rael'Zorah. Besides, I need to talk to the father anyway; it's his daughter I'm falling in love with, and I want his opinion on the matter. Or do I? I dunno... he seemed mildly xenophobic. Or did he? I dunno. He was just overprotective of his daughter, I guess. But what would he think of a human dating his daughter?

Ah, who cares? I better seek him out first, if anything.

* * *

Jeez, where is he? I've been searching for him throughout this entire ship for God knows how long! And yet... I can't seem to find him.

I'm wandering the Engineering deck now, not bothering to check if Rael's with Tali. That would be... a little awkward. I still need to find out what the fuck that word means. And I'm not talking to Tali until I find out, so that leaves leaving that there...

Jeez, Zaeed's probably back by now. I mean, really, I've taken so long to find Rael it's ridiculous! And I know he's around here somewhere; Kelly told me to check out the rec room, and when I was there I didn't see him there... It's like the Normandy is leading me on a goose chase here!

Seriously... Maybe he's where Zaeed would normally hang out. I dunno... It seems very unlikely that that's the case, to be perfectly honest. I mean-

I suddenly hear the door down to the hangar bay open, and before long I hear someone's laughing going off. I see Thane and Jack both exit the hangar bay, Shepard following closely by. As Jack saunters off to the hidey hole again, Zaeed comes up after Shepard...

Wait... is he laughing?

...

Oh fuck. Shepard went after Vido, didn't she...?

I suddenly feel some kind of strange horror fill my being, and then I stand there dumbfounded as the whole party walks past.

Did... did she seriously...? No, no, that's not like her! Oh, wait... what if she... No, she wouldn't needlessly sacrifice innocents when a mind-control plant was presiding over it! She wouldn't do the same for someone's petty revenge... would she?

No... This can't be right...

I shake my head. No, this can't be right! There's gotta be-

"Art?"

Holy shit! I jump back a little, turning to see Madison walking up behind me. Jesus Christ, it's Madison. I place my hand on my heart and take a deep breath...

...and then I walk right up to her and place my hands on her arms.

"Please, Madison, for the love of all things holy, _please_ tell me she didn't go after Vido," I say desperately. Fuck... don't let it be true.

The Journalist glances back at the shuttle as she hears this question, glancing back to me. "She did," says Madison.

... Oh, no... She went after Vido! Fuck... did she seriously just sacrifice all those factory workers? And... And Thane didn't even say any god damn thing about it! No... Damn it, no, this can't be right! Shepard wouldn't do that! And _especially _not in front of Thane! No... She wouldn't...

...Would she? Is she... No... This is part of her going Renegade on me, isn't it? Fuck... This...

I shake my head. "But... right in front of Thane, of all people?" I ask. "And... she let all those factory workers to die?"

Madison's eyes widen briefly for a second, looking down at me as she breaks from my grip. She takes a step back, bllinking as she does. "Wait, what?" she asks. "What are you talking about?"

... Wait... "You mean... you weren't presented with a choice to go after Vido or save the factory workers?"

The Journalist looks directly at me before shaking her head. "We were..." she says. "But she split us up. She, Zaeed, and I all went rushing after Vido. Thane and Jack went to go save the factory workers. Zaeed killed Vido, I saw it with my own eyes. And the factory was saved."

... Oh.

Damn it, I'm an _idiot_. I should've _known _that it wouldn't be an either or kind of thing with the arbitrary head count now being five people instead of three... Oh, damn it! Yes... she could've split the group up, and things would have worked like that. I... Yes...

I let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good," I say, rubbing the back of my neck as I stand up. "For a second there..."

"It was supposed to be either or?" asks Madison.

I nod. "Yeah," I comment. "But stupid me should've realized that with five people on the ground team instead of three, it wouldn't necessarily be an either or decision." I let out an audible whoop as I look up. "Man, for a second there, I thought Shepard had lost her mind."

"I can imagine why you'd think that," she says, glancing over to where Shepard and the gang passed us. "Hold on, though... You said there were only three squad members in the game?"

"That was one of the first changes I noticed," I comment, crossing my arms as I frown. "Not that I'm saying three squadmates is better, but... it threw me for a bit of a loop. And to be honest, I think it makes more sense that way myself. You know?"

"I guess," comments Madison. "For situations like this, it's really helpful. One group goes off, another chases the target..."

I nod. "Yeah," I comment. "I'm just relieved to know that Shepard didn't actually kill the factory workers. Renegade points are things I like to try to keep to a minimum with her, thanks."

"Glad to hear it," she says. "Are you looking for someone?"

I nod. "Yeah," I comment, uncrossing my arms and holding them behind me. "Do you have any idea where Rael'Zorah was when you left?"

The vigilante gives me a frown then, glancing to the side as she crosses her arms. She glances up, brown here falling slightly to the side as she thinks. After a few seconds of standing there, she turns back to me and shakes her head.

"I don't think so," she says. "Why do you ask?"

I shrug. "I..." Bah, the hell with it. "I was hoping to ask him what that one word that nobody will tell me its meaning means..."

Madison frowns when I mention this. "You mean _hesh'alan_?" she asks.

I nod. "Yeah," I comment. "I... I've been thinking about Tali and I a little lately... and I've just been wondering what it means..."

Madison shrugs. "I don't know," she says. "Have you checked the ship?"

"Except for the engine room," I comment. "And I'm not too keen on checking there since... well, that's where Tali is. And... our last conversation ended in the both of us getting extremely flustered. I... wanted to find out what that word means before speaking to her again."

"Then you shouldn't have been afraid of looking in the engine room."

Gah!

I jump again, turning around quickly as I look behind-

Jesus Christ on a pikestaff! And speak of the devil!

Rael stands behind me, his arms crossed with his head tilted to the side. He stands perfectly erect as he looks at me, and I can tell by the way the light plays on his eyes that he's probably got something resembling an eyebrow raised at me.

"Art... are you sure you're not easily scared?" asks Madison coyly, crossing her arms. "I've never met anyone that's ever been crept up twice..."

"S-shut up!" I reply, raising my voice slightly. "I don't like it when people creep up on me like that!" I look at the male quarian behind me. "How long have you been standing behind me?"

"Since you mentioned the term _hesh'alan_," he says, his Russian accent evading any emotions. "I have... heard people refer you as that of Tali's, yes..."

I blink, looking back to Madison, looking at her as she was keeping her sight trained on Rael. "Why didn't you say anything?" I ask.

"I figured you had noticed him standing right behind you," she says.

Before she can continue, the harsh slap of my palm meeting my face is heard, and then I let out a loud groan. "Madison, I would've said something if I knew!" I reply, shaking my head. "But anyway... I wanted to ask you if you knew what it was...?"

Rael looks at me. "Of course," he says. "I would be glad to impart its meaning to you... if you could find a suitably private place, that is."

I nod. "Okay, we'll take this to my quarters, then," I comment. "It's private, and we'll be in good hands there." He probably has a few choice words he doesn't want Tali to hear...

I wonder, though... How would Rael have taken his daughter falling in love with a human? Especially when everyone's calling said human her... well, whatever the fuck _hesh'alan_ means. Veetor mentioned it was good... but that just makes me a little more nervous. Because now, the father is extremely judgemental and all that. So what's he gonna say to me about that? Is he going to reject me? What?

Oh, damn it! Why did you have to die in the game? And especially before anything happened? God, you're not making this easy, Rael!

"Of course," says the quarian.

I nod. "Madison, you going up to the crew deck?" I ask.

"Yeah," she replies. "Garrus is probably lonely up there."

"He probably had his calibrations," I reply with a shrug. "But anyway, we'll take the elevator up there. So let's go."

With this, the three of us walk over to the Normandy's elevator. Okay... I guess I'll find out what Rael'Zorah has to say about my relationship with Tali soon enough...

* * *

We parted from Madison at the elevator, and soon after the two of us walked over to my quarters. As soon as we entered, Rael settled on the chair in front of my desk. Hm... fitting, I suppose. He is talking to me about something his people know, so... I settle down on the bed, looking right at the older quarian. Okay...

"So... _hesh'alan_," I comment. "What does it mean?"

The admiral nods his head. "I am surprised it did not translate effectively," he comments.

I rub the back of my head then. "Eh, translators can be like that sometimes," I comment. Like, when you're trying to romance a certain drell one room over. That makes for some nice times, though.

"I am not surprised," he comments. "Sometimes... translation can be a complicated business."

I let out a breath. "Oh, you're telling me?" I ask. "Human translation woes are even crazier. What with us having about twenty major languages back on Earth and all, anyhow." Seriously, have you ever tried to translate _The Inferno_? It's extremely difficult to do from Italian to English. Yes, you can do it in verse, but try doing it while preserving Dante's rhyme scheme. Now _that's _a god-damn challenge if I've ever seen one.

But... I'm getting off topic, so yeah. "I see," he says. "But anyhow, I should get on topic.

"Of course," I reply with a nod. "So... definitions?"

"Well..." Oh, dear, he's going about it the roundabout way, isn't he? "Before I can tell you what a _hesh'alan_ is, I must tell you something about the quarian people you may or may not know."

Yep, he's gonna go about it in the roundabout way. Damn it, I hate the roundabout way.

Oh, well, there isn't a whole lot I can do about it. "Right..." I say, crossing my arms. "I can't say I'm too happy about that, but... go on."

He nods. "Very well, then," he says. He clears his throat (no doubt from whatever he contracted on the Alarei), and looks directly at me.

"To the quarian people, the well-being of the ship is of the utmost importance," he begins. "To us, then, the captain of the ship is the most important person. He is what holds the entire ship together, and his responsibility is to the people that serve him. While the others may do things for the captain, the captain is the one who ultimately ensures the safety and happiness of the whole crew of his ship. And to the quarian people, this responsibility of the captain is what defines the great captains of our Fleet."

"So it's sort of like a guardian angel kind of thing," I comment.

"If you like to put it that way, then yes," replies Tali's father. "Even if I don't know what an angel is."

I shrug. "Well... in a religion I used to practice, they were these divine spirits that were kind of like guardians," I comment. "They directly served our deity, and sometimes protect the people."

"Then that is a fitting analogy," says Rael'Zorah. "Anyhow... I say this, because it plays into our culture more than you would think. The captain... becomes our ultimate symbol of trust for this symbiotic relationship. The captain will ask us to do whatever it can of the person he leads... and the captain will also act as a safe harbor for someone under his or her command no matter the cause."

I nod. "So..." Hm... Yeah, I think I get this. "You have more captains than just the ones on the ship. Well... metaphorically speaking, I mean."

"I would not have put it like that," he says. "Think about your best friend, for a moment. You would do whatever you can for him... yes? You would do it because you trust him. In turn, he will look out for you, as well as provide a good ear to listen to your doubts."

"Yeah," I say. "So that's a sort of reflection of your captain symbol."

"Yes," replies Rael'Zorah.

Hm... Yeah, I think I get where this going. "So this term plays into that kind of thing," I comment.

I look over to the admiral, who nods simply. "Yes," he replies. "The Khelish term for captain is _hesh_."

Wait... So if captain is _hesh_ in Khelish... "Then it's a term of endearment," I comment.

Rael nods vigorously, glad that I got it. "Exactly," he says. "If one is referred to as a _hesh _of something, it means that you have earned the highest honor of a relationship in the eyes of a quarian."

... Oh, dear. If his tone of voice is anything... I'm not gonna like where this heads next for me... "So then... how does the second part of that term play into it?"

"The second part... is one of the most intimate things one can assosciate with a captian," replies Rael. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my... "The quarian term for body is _nealan_. If someone is your _hesh'nealan_, then it is a vessel of the body, and that title is given to best friends. However... we consider the matters of the heart to stem from deep within. Hence, our term for the... soul, as you humans would probably call it... is _alan_."

Wait... Let me see if I've got this straight. "So... literally speaking, _hesh'alan_ is 'captain of the soul'," I finish for Rael.

"Of course," says the admiral. "This... is the most intimate title any quarian can give to another being. If you are the captain of a soul... your responsibilities are great. You are responsible for the well being of your ward, both physically and mentally. And in turn, she is meant to watch over you in much the same way. If you are the captain of someone's soul, you share a bond too difficult to break by anything that occurs. And this... is why the term is typically attributed to people who deeply care about each other. Many times... it's attributed to lovers..."

I blink. Jesus... they all saw it before I did! Iya... Shala... Jennh... And Veetor shipped us! What is this? The twitchy quarian is an avid supporter of human/quarian relationships? This... I'm not sure what to make of this revelation. How the hell did the quarian people figure out I was falling in love with Tali before I realized it myself on the Alarei? I mean... I thought... maybe... Maybe they saw it coming...

But... I look over to Rael. "I... I see..." I comment, wringing my hands together as I bite on my lower lip. I can feel the blood rushing up to my cheeks. Great, I'm gonna be blushing. "Well... Tali... is one of my closest companions in this galaxy. I've told her things about myself I didn't tell my family back on Earth. She... trusts me with so much. And I trust her as well... She's done everything for me... And... I don't know..."

My words die as I find myself running out of things to say to Rael. Jeez... I'm justifying a relationship with an alien to her father. Man, if only my sister could see me now. I'd bet she'd throw a party, given that I won't be single anymore by the time I go to bed tonight. Me? I'm about to throw a party myself; it's the first time I've ever fallen in love with a girl who's reciprocated the feelings...

Rael looks at me, nodding as he closes his eyes. "Tali would never stop talking about you when she returned from her Pilgrimage," he says. "You were always on her mind, in everything she did. I must admit... it unsettled me more than I cared to admit when she returned with your name constantly being brought up. I originally thought it was merely an infatuation, that it would fade with time. But... I see it has only gotten stronger. I saw it only get stronger when she took leave to spend a week with you on the Citadel. When I realized this... I was afraid you had turned her against the Fleet. It was... irrational, I know. Some small part of me thought ou would ask her to run away, and she would comply..."

I blink. Hey, where the fuck did he get that idea? I open my mouth slightly to reply, but promptly shut it as the quarian continues. "But... then the events on the Alarei occurred," he says. "You went far beyond what was expected of you there in that trial. You saved the Alarei on your own, you talked down the other admirals presiding over the trial... and all because you cared about my daughter's well-being within the Fleet. I... I do not know many men who would go to the lengths you did for someone you care about so. And the way you defended my daughter... that's when I knew you had no intentions of taking her away from the Fleet. Your aims were to make her happy, not fit her into your conception of happiness..."

He takes a breath then. "It's... unusual for a quarian to have had a relationship with other species," he continues. "However... you have proven a more worthy captain for my daughter than any quarian I know. I shall ask you one thing: if you enter a relationship with my daughter... please look after her. Tali's happiness will be worth more than anything else I can ask of you..."

... Wait... "So you approve?" I ask.

"Yes," he says. "You may be a human, but... you have proven that you are a good man for Tali. This is more important than anything I can say about your species..."

I blink then. So... he approves. Just like that. By saying that I'm right for his daughter. I... I don't know how to take such a great thing...

So I stand up and give him a soft smile. "I'm glad to hear it, Rael'Zorah," I reply, holding my hand out in front of mine. "Rest assured, I'll do everything I can to make her happy."

With this, the quarian stands up. He takes his hand in mine, and shakes it. I can feel the smile on his face from behind the face mask, and my smile only intensifies in turn. "Good," he says. "Now... you wanted to talk to her?"

I nod. "Yeah," I say, gesturing to the door. "I'm... I'm going to tell her."

"Good luck, Serviceman *********," he says. "You will need it."

I nod, and then the both of us exit my quarters. Rael goes off to the mess hall to chill, I guess, and I head towards the elevator.

Okay... it's time. No more beating around the bush. No more awkward motions. This time... I'm gonna tell her that I'm in love with her. And there's gonna be nothing that'll stop me. Nothing. Not even Jenny McKansa with all her ship teasing is gonna stop me. Hell, even the Reapers aren't gonna stop me, although I'd bloody well love to see them try.

With this, I press the call button with a renewed sense of purpose, and wait for the elevator to come up and take me to engineering.

* * *

The elevator can't get to engineering soon enough. But when it finally does get down to that level... okay. Tali is to the right. So I go off to the right and see the quarian working there. Okay... she's still where she was before. Ken and Gabby are both off in their work station.

Okay... It's time I broached the subject about our relationship to Tali. Let's do this.

I walk up to the quarian then, nodding as I stand behind her. "Tali," I say shortly, looking right at the back of her veil.

The quarian pauses, seeming a little startled by me being there. But then she turns, her face mask bright with the lights of her eyes as she takes a good look at me and stops what she's doing.

"Oh... Art..." she says as she turns her entire body to face me. "How may I...?"

I glance over to the platform by the SR-2's drive core, nodding at that. I also give a hand gesture, which... hopefully helps my meaning. "We need to talk," I say. "About us."

She shudders slightly as I say this. Okay... Her mouth light comes up briefly, and then... "Oh... yes..." says Tali. "I'd like that..."

And so, she gestures over to the same place I looked at. Okay, so she's just as keen on talking about it as I am. Okay... we're here to set the record straight. And I'm not leaving until we do. She slowly leads the way, and I follow behind her quickly. I can hear Ken mumble something to Gabby, but I pay it no mind as we go to the drive core. We stand by the console, the energy of the core casting a pale blue light on her envirosuit. As soon as we enter that small little outcropping, Tali looks to me.

-%&%-

"I've been thinking about what we talked about after your first real conversation with my father," she begins. And then, she tilts her head to the side, her knees bending slightly. "I'm sorry. I'm being selfish. And stupid... To think I could..."

I blink, placing my hands on my hips. "Really?" I ask. "You've never been selfish. I say you need to stop worrying. Maybe even schedule an appointment with Dr. Strangelove so you can stop worrying and love the bomb."

She chuckles slightly at this, but she holds her hands out in front of her. "That may be true for you, but for quarians it is different..." she replies. "You know that. If we don't think of other people... they could get killed."

She begins to pace around on the platform by the drive core. "Art..." she says. "I..." She pauses, not sure of her wording. Oh, dear... does this mean what I think it does? "Ever since I came to you after Virmire... I've never been able to stop thinking about you. You have done more for me than anybody else, as I for you... And... we've been through so much... But I can't help but feel that... Well... what I mean is... That... well..."

She takes a breath as she pauses, shaking her head. "I've... come to... how do you humans say it...? I... I care about you greatly. When I mentioned interest with sharing a suit environment earlier... I... I think you know who I was talking about now." She looks at me with a flustered look to the lights of her eyes.

I blink, my eyebrows arching high. Yes... so she does want to be in a relationship with me. Okay... if memory serves me correctly, I have some final pieces of angst I have to work out with her. Namely... that whole bit about 'I want to feel your skin on mine...'

"I..." I reply. "I see... Tali, I-"

"But it can't be, Art..." she says, turning around to face away from me. I sense the greatest sense of dejection in her own voice as she does so. "A relationship can't be possible between us. If we... I can't step outside of this suit without the risk of dying... And that means I won't be able to make you happy."

I raise one of my eyebrows. "Really?" I ask. "Why do you say that?"

"You know just as well as I do that everything intimate happens outside the suit," she says. "Nerve stimulation programs and such. I... I don't want that. If we're going to be in a relationship... I want it to be real. I would need to feel your skin on mine. I can't do that." I feel the crack in her voice as she speaks. "I could get sick... I could die, even..." She shakes her head again. "You... you deserve someone who can make you happy. I can't do that, Art..."

Yeah... It's just like the game. She's hesitant about a relationship, not because of what it means, but because she's afraid for herself and for me. But she cares for me too much. She doesn't want to pursue the relationship because there's too much risk for her... and for me, should the reaction be strong enough.

But the thing is... why the fuck should a species-wide AIDS stop me from falling in love? I mean, come on, hasn't she seen _Rent_ yet? Half the characters there have AIDS, but they all fall in love just fine. Who says that a relationship between a quarian and a human can't work? I say it can, Rael says it can, Mordin will say it can... She's the only one saying it can't work. And if I everyone else thinks it can work just fine... she just needs to get over that fear that I can't see past the mask. Because at this point... do I really need the face to see past that mask?

I've been dealing with my own feelings of love for Tali for too long by myself.

I think it's about damn time I finally took matters into my own hands in my love life.

I step towards her, and I can feel the shiver of her body as I press up close. She turns slowly, lifting one of her hands. I pull up close, one of my arms winding around her waist as the other one takes a hold of the hand that was lifted. I only then realize how surprisingly well three fingers fit into five.

"Tali..." I begin. Whoah, when did my voice get so husky all of a sudden? "You say you can't make me happy. But you already have made me the happiest man in the universe. And what's more, you've done it multiple times. Seriously, you don't give yourself enough credit, Tali."

She tilts her head up at me, and I can almost see her eyes as they actually are behind that visor. I gulp briefly as I continue.

"I... perhaps I haven't been up front about this whole thing myself..." I say. "But... ever since we met... I've never stopped thinking about you either." Okay, this is getting a bit sappy... "You're always in my thoughts. You were in my thoughts even before I came over here. And my thoughts of you have always been fond... Your fascination over machines... your suit... your accent..."

I slowly turn her around, my arm comes from her waist as her other hand comes forward. I clasp both of her hands in mine, and taking a deep breath, I hold her hands to my chest. I feel that I am staring directly into her eyes now... and my heart is flying away so fast it's ridiculous. Keep your cool...

"You've done more for me than anybody else in this galaxy," I continue. "One thing I've come to learn about love is that it's not all physical. You say our relationship wouldn't work. But we've been constant companions in everything... Suit or no suit, we've been there for each other when we've needed it most. You were there for me after Virmire... You were there for me after Shepard died... and... well... You know... You've been a constant companion in everything."

I adjust my grip on her hands as I breathe in. Okay, here it comes... "I... I love you, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy," I reply, smiling. There. I finally said it. "I know this, more than I know about anything else that's going on around us. And I love you too much to just walk out on you. I don't want anyone else, Tali. I want you. You... you make me happy like nobody else can... And... and I... I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that this can work."

I feel her hands shake weakly in my grip, and I can register the expression change behind her visor. She seems to melt in my hands as she looks at me then.

"I..." she begins, her voice very uncertain. "You don't know what that... Thank you... Art... I... Thank you... my _hesh'alan_..."

I lean forward slowly, getting the compulsion to kiss her right then and there. But... alas, I can't take off the face mask or she'll die. So... I bring my lips gently to the top of her hood, and I leave a soft kiss against the glass of her visor. My lips linger over the glass, yearning for her actual touch. We hold this, and the moment seems to stretch on for eternity as I leave my first kiss for someone who isn't part of the family. The moment seems to last forever, but when I pull away from her slowly I feel the slightest hint of regret that it was as short as it was. I smile at her as I hold her hands, the look that she gives me behind her visor telling me everything I need to know.

I just... I feel so beautiful right now... I wish this feeling would never end... So this is what it is to really be in love with someone.

I like it so well that for all I can tell I may never come down to Earth again...

"There... there must be a way..." she says. "I'll do some research. Maybe I can bolster my immune system for this to work. You would know right?"

I nod at this, still holding her hands as she looks at me longingly. "Immuno boosters, antibiotic shots, herbal supplements, that kind of thing," I reply. "But I'm willing to wait until you're ready. If there's anything I can do that isn't covered by the game, don't hesitate to ask..."

She nods at this, and then I can see the faintest light of a smile as I look at her visor. Niether of us are willing to move from our spots. I don't want to move because damn it, I love her. And she doesn't want to move either. So we just stand in the drive core holding hands and staring intently into each others' eyes. The moments turn into seconds, the seconds into minutes, and we spend what seems like an eternity there. The Collectors can go fuck themselves for this moment. For right now, there's only me and Tali. Sounds like something straight out of a Nicholas Sparks novel, sure, but I just... I can't describe the way it feels to be in love.

I guess Rodgers and Hammerstein put it best in _Cinderella_ when the two leads wonder if they're really dreaming as they fall hopelessly in love with each other. If this is a dream... I never want to wake up... But it's probably not a dream. It's too beautiful to be a dream.

But we both know we have to part. So then we finally break eye contact, but my hands are still holding on to hers. Those linger last before our hands finally separate, and we're left standing briefly. There's nothing said between us, but really, what can either of us say?

So I simply walk back to Tali's console in engineering. As we walk along, my hand compulsively reaches out for Tali's. She takes the hand without another word, and the two of us are walking hand in hand past Ken and Gabby. I take a gamble and turn to look at her as we do this, and then her head turns and meets mine.

And almost as soon as I do this, I know things are going to work out. They worked out in the game... they'll work out in real life.

I drop her off at the console, and after a few seconds of looking at me, she hesitantly turns back to the console. She gives me a rather long look, still holding my hand as she does so. And finally, she turns back very slowly to the console, going back to work on the console.

I simply stand there for a few seconds, watching her work. Her hands fly across the panel, hitting on things as she does so with a renewed vigor. I simply give her a smile as she works. And finally, I decide I have said enough. I then proceed to walk out of the engine room, smiling and humming _Ten Minutes Ago_ to myself as I go along. It's not until I get over to the elevator to take me back up to the crew deck that I realize there's a new spring in my step.

I'm in love with Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. And now... it's not just a crush anymore.

I can't think of anything else that would make me happier at the moment.


	25. Chapter 24

_A/N: And so the ship tease ends._

_From here on out, Art and Tali are an official couple within MV canon. So they'll be regarded as such, since they know they're in love with each other. Appropriately, there is much rejoicing._

_Oh, and for anybody out there who needs more reading material... well, a new SI modeled on Mass Vexations recently popped up in the Knights of the Old Republic section. It's called _Displacement in the Old Republic_, it's by CPunchMaster, and it's got all the fun SI antics we've started here in the ME section. I suggest you check it out._

_Anyhow, after that... there will be a few other things. So... let's get going with that, eh?_

* * *

Chapter 24: Mussorgsky/Ravel: The Hut on Chicken's Legs

I walk about the Normandy a couple of days later, still with a rather simple smile on my face. God... I'm in love...

And it feels so amazing I can't even describe it. I've stopped by engineering daily by this point, always waiting to see Tali. We have small talk quite unlike the 'I'm busy' dialogue in the game, and all that stuff. I... haven't revealed it to the Brotherhood yet, but I know Garrus knows definitively. Madison might too... but until I call the next Brotherhood meeting, I'm keeping relatively hush-hush about it to everyone else. I won't call it just yet... maybe after Kasumi's loyalty mission if she's open to talking about stuff with us. Depending on how that goes, anyhow...

Fun times are had.

I thus find myself wandering engineering after one of those talks. Hm... Well... I do have to talk to Zaeed about what happened, so... I might as well get that out of the way soon. I just need to know what the hell happened on Zorya, and how Shepard reacted to everything...

So I walk over to Port Cargo, my steps resolute as I hum a small little tune to myself. I just feel so great now... but I better pipe it down in front of Zaeed. He'll probably start gushing about how sappy it all is if I don't...

After a second or two, I find myself at Zaeed's door. Without too much hesitation, I step inside to see the mercenary looking at that krogan helmet he keeps around. Jessie's still over there somewhere, and there's that scowl fixed to his face. Fun times are had with this, I guess... I step inside, the door closing behind me. The mercenary glances up briefly, still admiring his krogan helmet as he nods.

"Ah, I figured you'd be here soon enough," says the mercenary.

I shrug. "Well, I did warn you about Shepard getting angry about threatening innocents," I comment.

Before I can continue, I hear Zaeed scoff. "No kiddin' about that," he says. "A krogan in blood rage would've been afraid of her anger, I can tell ya that. And she wasn't happy. She almost had all of us go for the hostages..."

I cross my arms. "Told ya," I comment. "You hurt the innocents, you piss her off. It's a hell of a concept, eh?"

"Bah, I don't know why she'd bother with those people," he says, giving a dismissive handwave as he sets the helmet down. "For me, it's only one objective when I get the job. Get it done, and everything else is good."

"Well... Shepard doesn't see it that way," I comment, shrugging as I move towards him. "You forget she was in the Blitz, you know. That had to be incredibly heavy on her when she was going through that... And with all the innocents there, no less."

"She hasn't said anythin' about innocents back then," he comments, walking over to the wall. "But anyway, I'm not too angry at her. Vido's dead. After twenty years I can finally sleep again."

I nod, looking over at him. "I see..." I say. "But still... you almost killed a bunch of factory workers to get your revenge. Don't you think that's a bit... excessive?"

The man frowns as he looks over at me. "Haven't ya ever had anyone ya wanted ta kill so badly that you'd kill every last bastard in your way?" he asks.

I blink. Damn... I have, haven't I? I bite my lower lip, looking to Zaeed. "Well..." I comment. "Maybe. There was this one guy I knew... Well... on the extranet anyway. He was... a pretentious dick. He and I were both on this website where we were busy typing stuff for other people to read, you know? So I'm reading a friend's story, and I tell him I like it, right. He tells me about this guy, you know?"

"It got all out of control from there, didn't it?" he asks.

"Like you wouldn't believe," I reply, shaking my head. "I tried to get involved... but the son of a bitch propositioned me!" I throw my arms up. "And when I didn't give him a satisfactory reply, he targed me too. And then he began going all over the damn place trying to get everyone. And eventually, it got out of hand."

I shake my head then. "And then I found out he wrote stuff," I continue. "And it was all some of the most pretentious shit I've ever seen in my life." I shake my head. "The guy wanted all that attention for one pretentious piece of crap. I never wanted a man dead more than I did with that son of a bitch."

Zaeed nods. "And what did ya do about it?" he asks.

I shrug. "I wrote a piece about it," I comment. That won third place in that competition I mentioned earlier, as a matter of fact. "That's how I dealt with it. It was... theraputic, in many, many ways. And also because I didn't actually know who the guy was."

"And if you did know where 'e was?" he asks. "Would ya still go after 'im?"

"I... don't think so, actually," I comment, crossing my arms. "The more you think about it, the more you realize people dying over a story is ridiculous. Well... that, and..." Should I, or should I not mention how it would have made me just as bad as him? I mean... that's something Zaeed doesn't seem to realize... No. I shouldn't. I don't want him getting pissed off. "I don't really know who he is in real life anyway. Plus, I've got better things to do."

The mercenary frowns at this admission of this, crossing his arms as he does so. "Fair enough," he says. "But still, I stand by my thought that Vido deserved what 'e got."

"It's because he betrayed you..." I comment.

"Yeah," he says. "Ya learn not ta get soft like that in my line of work, kid. But... I thought I had a real friend in Vido. I learned otherwise... the hard way."

I nod. "Yeah... In that case, yeah, I do think he deserve what he got," I comment. "Everyone else in that factory, not so much, but hey, what can you do? At least you can take comfort in the fact that he's probably squirming in a lake of ice at the moment. What with having betrayed an assosciate and friend and all."

Ah. I got to throw in a reference to Dante there! And... I confused the hell out of Zaeed, apparently, because he arches his eyebrow. "Now what the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?" he asks.

Okay. I smirk, crossing my arms as I approach from where I've been standing. "I take it you don't read poetry, then," I comment.

"Of course not!" comments Zaeed. "I'm paid to shoot people, not read 'em poetry until they drop dead! Though... come to think of it, that might not be a bad way to kill off a salarian..."

I shrug. "Well, then sit tight," I comment. "It's gonna be a long story."

And with this, I begin to talk to him about the _Inferno _reference I just used. Yep, it's fun talking about who's struggling in the lake of ice at the bottom of hell. Fun times are had with that, I think.

* * *

So... I think Zaeed liked the thought that Vido's ultimate afterlife fate was to be trapped in a lake of ice for all eternity. I must admit, it's a fitting punishment for people like Vido. It's too bad he had no chance of making it into one of Lucifer's mouths, though. That would've been a monumental punishment, I think.

And... it got him thinking about where he'd end up if he ever got into hell. I told him he'd probably be filed under wrath or something, and that he'd be fighting people on the surface of a river for all eternity. I think he took it well, right up until I mentioned it was all fist fights, from everyone around you. And then he took it really well. I never thought I'd see someone eager to go to hell, but I think I've found it in Zaeed.

Anyhow... I'm wandering engineering... who else...?

Ah. Jack. What's she up to now, I wonder? Writing more poetry? I guess I'll have to see about that.

I walk over to the stairway to the hidey-hole, and then nod as I walk down. Okay... Jack should be there somewhere.

As soon as I plop down, I see Jack hard at work on a datapad. Hm... so she's writing poetry. As I walk forward, she spares me a glance. Wait... is that a glimpse of fear in her eye? Yes... Well... it's passed now, anyway. Guess she doesn't want anyone finding out about her poetry. As I approach, she stands up then, holding the datapad.

"If it isn't the ballsy pussy," she says. "Just the guy I wanted to talk to."

I raise my eyebrow. God damn it, she's going with that again? "I thought we talked about why that doesn't work," I reply, shaking my head. "But, whatever. What do you need?"

The woman shrugs. "I got to writing again after the last time we talked," she says. "I... don't know why, but I've been writing quite a bit lately. It's fuckin' crazy, I think."

I smile. "Well, that's a good thing," I say. "What've you got?"

Jack simply glances at the datapad in her hand before holding it out to me. "Well, I was just writing something here," she replies. "You can look at it... if ya want."

I shrug. "Sure, why not?" I ask.

I lightly take the datapad from her hands soon afterwards, looking at the lines of text. Okay... she's doing verse poetry at the moment. Let's see...

_blue lights  
raging across the earth  
creating wind  
for small spaces  
no man is left alive  
from the rage of the storm  
its wake is terrible _

_yet, from a distance,_  
_this storm appears_  
_as a soft azure glow_  
_giving comfort_  
_to a girl_  
_crying_  
_in a black cage_

I blink as soon as I finish the verse, looking over at Jack as I nod. "Did you just finish this?" I ask.

"Well..." she says. "I'm just wondering what else can be done with that piece of crap."

I frown, sitting down on the table nearest her as I gesture for her to come closer. "I wouldn't think so," I comment. "This is actually pretty effective, I think. The imagery is still quite vivid, you get a point across, and it's pretty effective." I bite my lower lip, rubbing my chin. "And that last little line is also very effective. You wouldn't expect a girl to be in a cage. If I had to say anything... you used the word storm twice."

"Let me guess; don't use the same fuckin' image twice," she says.

My frown intensifies as I look on. "I wouldn't say that," I comment. "See, the image of the storm is part of the poem's... ah... well, it's a part of what makes it work so well." I gesture with my arms. "So you need to keep the storm image there, mostly as a matter of contrast against your second stanza. The contrast between the storm billowing and causing so much suffering to others and the comforting light is a key part of what makes this thing work. I'd say, try to find another way to say storm."

She nods, and I can see the barest hint of a smirk as she does. "I see..." she says. "Well... I don't like it all that much. It's just... I'm new to this whole thing, you know?"

"What, so you think your poetry sucks?" I ask.

"I think so," she says. "It's just... I'm bad at the soft and mushy stuff. I'm not supposed to be good at it. You're talking about a girl who defaced the hanar's favorite moon with a space station."

Well... that is true. But still. "You'd be surprised, Jack," I comment, crossing my arms. "You're getting better at this."

"Yeah, because you're better than me," she replies "Why the fuck bother helpin' me out with this?"

I frown as I hand her the datapad. "You think it just comes naturally to me?" I ask. "Oh, no. It takes hours and hours of fine-tuning to make a work of art, Jack. I can't begin to tell you how many drafts of pieces I've thrown out because I wasn't satisfied with how they came out. It's not that easy being able to create, Jack. I can tell ya that much. Hell, I don't think I'm as good as anybody gives me credit for. There's always room for improvement, you know?"

The ex-convict frowns, crossing her arms. "We're all perfectionists," I say. "If you don't like something you've written up, that's actually pretty typical. It's being able to tell when you're satisfied with what you've written when you can judge when you've created something worthy of showing to the rest of the world."

She shrugs. "Art is fuckin' wierd sometimes," she says.

Pff. I chuckle dryly. "Understatement of the century, Jack," I comment. "Also... in certain contexts, one of the best puns ever."

She blinks, confused by my meaning.

... Oh, Christ.

"Never mind," I say, shaking my head. "I'll let you think about the punchline for a little bit. And don't explain it when you get it." I gesture over to the datapad. "You got anything else you'd like to show me?"

She frowns, looking at her datapad briefly. Hm... She's thinking about it. I raise one of my eyebrows as I shift slightly were I sit. She looks at it briefly, and then nods as she goes through the datapad.

"Sure, why the fuck not?" she asks, going through it and bringing something up. "Here. This one, I'm pretty happy about."

I nod as she hands me the datapad. Well... she's not showing off her wrathful side as much. I guess this whole poetry thing is doing a wonder for her psyche. Even if she won't admit it, anyhow. It's interesting to read her poetry, anyhow. I never expected Jack of all people to be writing poetry on a ship like this. Well... I guess we all attract the misfits.

I look at the verse she's handed me, and nod as I begin reading it.

* * *

Well... Jack's poetry is certainly very interesting. And for more than the fact that it isn't that bad. It's just... interesting thinking of her doing poetry. I never would've thought her to be the type...

Fun times are had with her and poetry, I guess.

Anyhow, I wonder how Kasumi's doing. We're... about to head off on what I assume is her loyalty mission, so... maybe I should go see about her.

I step off the elevator onto the crew deck shortly afterwards, and then walk over to port observation. Okay...

Hey, the door's red! Hm... Must be either she locked it behind her to do something, or she's already left. Hm...

I better check with EDI then. I look over to the EDI console on the wall. "EDI?" I ask. "Do you know if Kasumi's in Port Observation?"

EDI's wierd little avatar thing comes up. "Kasumi Goto is indeed in Port Observation, Mr. *********," replies the ship's AI. "She is currently preparing Shepard for the heist in Donovan Hock's estate."

Wait...

I raise my eyebrows. "Wait, what?" I ask.

Before the AI can reply, the door panel in front of me flashes green. I blink, and then the door opens-

...

Holy shit...

Am I actually looking at the commander right now?

She's standing there, red hair back as it always is. But this time... God damn, her clothes! She's wearing a dress that goes down to her knees, leaving her legs exposed to us. It also exposes a bit of her cleavage, and across her neck is a futuristic necklace that shines in the light of the Normandy. As well, she looks to have had quite a bit of make-up applied to her, and she's carrying a purse with her. Man... she never wore this in the game! I mean...

"Whoah, Commander!" I say, taking a step back. "You actually look like a _woman _right now!"

Kasumi comes up from behind her, gesturing at her. "Well, we can't have a successful heist without a reasonably fashionable badass, now, can we?" she asks. "Special occasions call for special clothes, I say."

I nod. "No doubt about that," I comment. "You look absolutely smashing, Commander."

She flashes me a smile. "Thanks," she says. "It feels wierd feeling a dress again. I've never worn a single dress since I graduated from high school."

I raise my eyebrows. "Damn, that much?" I ask. "I always thought you looked better in pants, but... damn, Shepard! How'd you agree to let Kasumi put you in a dress?"

"It's one of those things I have to do," replies the commander with a shrug. "Guess it finally paid off somehow. I can't help but feel a little ridiculous in this!"

"Oh, you look great, Shepard!" says Kasumi. "Sure, heels probably aren't the best thing to wear to a heist, but that'll make it more fun, won't it?"

I raise my eyebrows at this. "I wouldn't know, but pulling a heist in heels?" I ask. "If you can do that, I think I'll buy you a drink when we're on the Citadel!"

Joc scoffs at this, waving a hand rather widely. "I'd like to see that," she says. "Besides, I think Thane would be more open to buying me a drink. Well... after we take care of some business for him on the Citadel, that is. We're going straight to the Citadel after this."

Yeah, because-

Wait. Business on the Citadel?

... Oh, boy. She got his loyalty mission. Yep, that is for sure. Well, at least the romance will be sped along. I mean, there's the off chance of Shepard failing, but seriously, knowing Joc she'll get Thane's loyalty one way or another. I'll bit it was wierd finding out that Thane has a son from a deceased wife. And since they're falling in love... what better way to cement that than going off to save his son?

Especially since she'd like him to buy her a drink after. Now _that _shows they're getting close.

Speaking of Thane, actually...

"I see," I comment. "I wonder what he'd say to seeing you now."

And right on cue, I hear some rather soft footsteps behind me. I turn slowly, and sure enough, there is Thane, standing with his hands held behind his back. I look over to him as Shepard takes a step forward. Damn, those heels really click against the ground strongly when worn by a soldier, don't they? Badass Weekly's got nothin' on Shepard except the sound of her heels clicking, I think.

I look over to Thane. "Oh, hi, Thane," I comment, rubbing the back of my neck.

He simply looks over to Shepard, taking her in his view. I watch, looking on silently as Kasumi steps away from Shepard. The commander simply gives a soft smile to the drell as he looks down on Shepard. His second set of eyelids nictate quickly, and then he nods.

"You look beautiful, _siha_," he says.

Holy- Oh my-

Did he just drop a _siha_?

My neck tenses for just the slightest bit. Oh, come on, Art, save it! Don't geek out now!

I don't think Shepard notices, but I instantly see Kasumi's expression shift for the slightest portion of a second. So she's in on it too... Hm... Fellow Thane/Shepard shippers unite! But Shepard simply shifts her weight on her feet.

"Thank you, Thane," she replies, giving him the smile she used to give to Kaidan. "It's going to be a rather... stately party. I wish I could have you by my side."

Wait... they're in a relationship before the loyalty mission even ends? Jeez, Shepard, going a bit fast, are we? I dunno. But... I can't really complain, to be perfectly honest. Because it's fucking Thane Krios she's falling for now. I dunno, but after Kaidan's Horizon stunt... I'm not so keen on forgiving him. But we'll see. Hopefully Thane and Shepard will be in love at the end of all this. And if they are, it shall be absolutely glorious!

"As I for you," replies the assassin. "But, if what Ms. Goto says is true..."

"Oh, definitely," says Kasumi, a playful smile dancing on her lips as she moves around. "Don't worry. I won't bruise her too much. If all goes well, we'll be out of there before Hock even realizes we've stolen the greybox."

I roll my eyes at this. "I dunno, Kasumi," I comment. "In my experience, Murphy's Law likes to get at you while you're stealing things."

"We'll see about that," says Shepard. "Anyway... the party's about to start soon. We should get going."

I nod to her. "You should wear that more often," I comment. "The look suits you."

"I'll... think about it," replies the commander, taking a breath in. "But not for going around the Normandy. Oh, no."

"Suit yourself," I comment. "And have fun."

"Oh, I'm sure we will," says Kasumi. "Come on, Shep. We've got a greybox to steal."

And with this, the two women walk past Thane and I. They hit the call button for the elevator as we look on, watching the two of them chat amicably as they hit the call button. I cross my arms, and soon enough the elevator arrives. And then, when Shepard and Kasumi both enter and the doors close behind them, I glance right at the drell. He is impassive as ever as he turns to me, and I give him a crooked smile.

"You called her _siha_," I comment.

"Indeed I have," he says.

I nod, looking ahead of me. Within a split second, I raise my index finger, biting my lower lip. "Excuse me for a minute, Thane," I say, glancing right at my door.

Without saying anything else, I walk straight for my quarters, opening the door and entering my room. The door closes behind me, and I'm left alone in my room.

Let the geek out begin.

* * *

Jesus... That was one hell of a geek out. Almost made me lose my god-damn voice, too.

Ah, well, at least I have confirmation that Thane and Shepard are falling for each other. Hard, I might add. Now, I just have to play the waiting game to see how Kasumi's loyalty mission played out. Yeah, that'll be fun.

Speaking of business on the Citadel, though... Shepard said we were going there, right? Hm...

Well, I've never been on a date my entire life. It's so strange... here I am, a 22 year old guy, and I've never even gone out with a girl before! Bloody hell, my love life sucked. Maybe Tali would be up for fixing that? Well, now that we're a couple and all. I think we could do with a nice date on the Citadel. If anyone gives Tali any xenophobic crap, I go in and punch them in the eye. Always the eye, because I'd break my fingers on a turian's nose.

That sounds nice. I'll have to ask her what she thinks of that when I see her next.

In the meantime... What should I do while I wait?

Hm... Well, I haven't spoken to Mordin in a while, so... yeah, I'll go ahead and do that.

I take the elevator up to the CIC, riding it all the way up to the second floor. Okay... Mordin is in the tech lab at the moment, so we're in good hands. The elevator doors open, and I walk over to the tech lab as quickly as I feel like. I walk into the tech lab, and there's Mordin working away at the table he's always at. I cross my arms, smiling.

"Hey, Mordin, what's up?" I ask.

"Ah, Serviceman," he says, looking up from his console. "Wanted to talk to you. Important information. Medical matters."

Medical matters?

...

Oh, dear. It's _that_ talk, isn't it?

Here we go...

He walks past the console and around the table as he comes to face me. "Aware that mission is dangerous," he begins. "Different species... react differently to stress. Past relationship with Tali'Zorah makes dalliance attractive as stress release. Still, recommend caution. Quarian immune system weak. Could kill her."

I frown, looking at Mordin as I cross my arms. "Mordin, you seriously think Tali and I are doing this for... stress relief?" I ask incredulously. "I don't feel I'm ready for... that. Uh... Not yet, anyhow." God... this is so much more uncomfortable than it is in the game! "I care about Tali as a person."

"Understandable," comments Mordin. "Still, in case stress proves overwhelming, I have... advice."

Wait... "Forget about the advice," I comment. "How the hell did you find out?"

"Tali'Zorah acquired antiseptic," he replies. "Assured me it was 'just in case'. Like to think otherwise. Will see what happens as mission goes on."

I let out a sigh. Jeez... I know Tali likes to be prepared, but... Seriously, Mordin? You're taking it as a 'we'll be doing it'? Granted, that's how all the romances ended in both games... well, except with the Paragon route for Jack, but that's besides the point... But here? I doubt it's just about the sex. We'll see. Pff. yeah, right.

Ah, well, might as well humor him. "What... sort of advice did you have in mind?" I ask.

"Recommend you self-sterlize as well," begins Mordin. "Oral contact with tissue dangerous. Take precautions." He brings up his arm, keying a few things into his omni-tool. "Also forwarding advice booklet to your quarters. Valuable diagrams, positions comfortable for both species, erogenous zone overviews. Can supply oils or ointments to reduce discomfort. Gave EDI electronic relationship aid demonstration vids to use as necessary."

...

Oh, God, that's even more disturbing!

I frown, giving a slightly disgusted look to Mordin. "I'm sorry... electronic relationship aid demonstration vids?" I ask.

"Yes," he says.

"You mean... porn?" I ask.

... Ugh, God, the squick! It sounds so much more disgusting when I put it like that!

"Would not term it 'porn'," says Mordin. "Porn too... fanciful. Meant for stimulation. Would never suit your purposes."

I cross my arms. "Yeah, and I'm the First Lady of the United States of America," I comment sourly. "Seriously, Mordin? Why the hell would you give me that?"

"Would not prefer such vids?" he asks.

I frown, beginning to pace around him. "Mordin, if we did the deed- and that's a pretty big 'if', I might add- I'm sure I can figure shit out," I reply. "Besides... how the hell did you get a hold of porn?"

"Have already stated, would not term it 'porn'," he says. "Relationship aid vids of the kind sent to your quarters are not meant for stimulation."

"_Sexual_ stimulation," I add. "Intellectual stimulation is still a form of stimulation, Mordin. And the thought that you seriously think I need to watch that kind of stuff is... kinda disturbing. Unless you meant it as a joke."

"Shocking suggestion!" says Mordin. "Doctor-patient confidentiality a sacred trust! Would never dream of mockery!"

I frown, crossing my arms. "I dunno, Mordin," I comment. "The thought that you sent me what basically amounts to quarian porn is probably going to scar me for life." _Especially _since I never actually saw what a quarian looks like under that mask. Damn you, Bioware!

"Have stated what I have given you," says the salarian. "Do not mean any unintentional harm that may come to memory from this." Before I can reply, he nods. "Enjoy your time while possible, Serviceman. Will go back to studying cell reproduction. Less alcohol and... mood music required."

With this, he walks back behind his terminal. He returns to typing... Jesus, how the fuck can he be so nonchalant about all this? I mean, I know he doesn't think emotionally on our terms, but seriously! How sick could it be that I'm being sent porn! And for something that might not even happen anyway! I mean, I know we're not ready for it yet, even if Tali isn't all that-

Wait.

I just realized... I don't know Tali's opinion on this! She... she took the antiseptic. So...

Maybe she's interested? I...

It makes sense, actually; here we are, just having admitted we love each other. I don't think she sees as much of an urgency for me as she would've with a male Shepard, what with Shepard having died before she could make that confession and all, but... It's as Mordin says. Different species react differently to stress. And Tali would probably want to spend the last few seconds before the suicide mission with me... revealing her face to someone who cared about her.

I see... I'll ask her for her opinion on this to make sure I have it right before I go on...

With this realization reached, I walk out of the tech lab, resolving to go down to Engineering. Okay... I'm going to ask her about why she took out the antiseptic. Maybe she can tell me something she was too ashamed to tell me back when we confessed our love for each other.

Yeah, that's what I'll do.

I walk out of the tech lab then, biting my lower lip. Well... informed or not on Tali's opinion, there are other things that completely squicked me out.

Still, Mordin sent me porn. Euch. Just the thought of it is sending shivers down my spine.

Walking along to the elevator, I try to get my mind off of it as best I can, shaking my head as I press the call button a little too quickly for my own good.

* * *

When I arrive in the elevator, I opt to go on Ken and Gabby's side of the room for once. I take in a deep breath and nod as I look over to the two of them. Ken is the first to turn, and then Gabby follows soon after.

"Ah, Art," says Ken. "Lovely ta see ya here, mate."

I nod. "It's good to be here," I comment. "Tali's not particularly busy, is she?"

"I don't think so," said Gabby. "Especially not if you're here."

I raise my eyebrow, crossing my arms. "Oh?" I ask.

"We saw how mushy ya were gettin' with Tali the other day," comments Ken. "So ya finally told 'er, eh?"

I frown. Hm... this smells of a bet. Well, Ken... "Do I have to tell you?" I ask. "Just see how we get, and I'll let ya draw a conclusion from that. Because you're not gonna get an answer from me."

Gabby snickers beside Ken. "Told ya he wouldn't tell you," she comments, smirking as the Scotsman gives her a rather surprised look. "Go talk to her, Art."

I nod. "Thanks, Gabby." I wink at Ken. Yep, I know it was a bet, bitch! This leaves the woman to return to her work station, Ken standing there in surprise as I look over to Tali. Her visor is turned in my direction, and as I approach, I offer her a smile. Gotta approach this cheerfully. She's probably got a good reason... So I walk up to the quarian, whose hands stop flitting across the console as I approach. She takes my hands in hers as I approach, and then I nod.

"Hey, Tali," I say. "How've you been?"

"I've been all right, Art," she says softly. "Did you need something?"

I nod. "Yeah, I... I wanted to ask you something," I comment, looking down at her. "I went up to the tech lab to speak with Mordin just a few minutes ago. When I went to go start a conversation... he told me you had taken out some antiseptic."

Tali frowns at this. "You... you went to speak to Mordin?" I ask.

I shrug. "I just wanted to chat," I comment. "And then the conversation went on his topic before I could do anything else. And he brought it up." She tenses slightly, but I continue on as my smile slowly dies. "I... I just wanted to know why you took it out," I say.

Hm... I can tell she's probably biting on her lip here. Can't say I blame her... I did just catch her in the act of doing stuff, after all. "Well..." she says. "I... did tell you about showing my true face, right?"

I nod. "Yeah, you did," I comment. "I always got the implication that I was the one you'd show your face to eventually..."

She nods. "I... Well, what I mean to say..." She takes a deep breath, glancing down. I feel one of her fingers... well, what do you call a finger when you only have three of them, anyhow? I feel that finger that I'd call her index finger drum against my palm as she looks up to me. "I'm sorry... I'm just so nervous."

"It's all right, Tali," I tell her. "Just let it out."

"It's just..." she says, shaking her head. "Do you know how this all ends?"

I glance to the side. Oh, dear... "Well... it's really complicated," I comment. "But... we can all die, and we can all live. And then there's no limit to how much middle ground there is between the two. So... no, I don't really know. For all I know, we'll both end up dead."

She nods grimly, looking up. "It's... as I feared," she says. "Art... Well... I've never trusted anyone enough to show my face. Except you. If we're going to jump into the mission together... I want to be able to show you my true face... I want to feel your skin on mine... And... well... that's why I acquired the anti-septic. Just so you know."

I nod, glancing to the side. "Well... I guess I can't fault you for not telling me you were planning on doing it, eh?" I ask. "Especially not after... well, you know."

Her gaze turns away from me, and I can see her eyes narrowing. "Of course," she says, voice in a deadpan as she speaks this. "But in all seriousness... I wanted it to be something of a surprise..."

Now it's my turn to twitch, and then I glance up at where the tech lab is in relation to everything else. Damn it, Mordin! You ruined a surprise! I'm going to have to give him shit for that later. When I have other things to do and less... baggage with which to do it. Right...

"Well, Mordin didn't help with that, I can tell you that much," I comment sourly. "Well... that's the last time I'm going up to the tech lab to make nice conversation with Mordin. Son of a bitch spoiled a surprise _and _scarred me for life."

Tali tilts her head to the side as she takes a step back, our hands unclasping. "Why?" she asks.

I throw my hands up. "He read way, way, way too far into things," I comment. "He sent a whole bunch of stuff to my quarters. An advice booklet..." Oh, God... I blush as I begin to recount all of these things. "...With... uh... erogenous zone overviews. Yeah."

I see the quarian blink violently. "Erogenous zone overviews?" she asks, placing a hand on her breast. "He seriously sent you a booklet of that?"

I nod, biting pretty hard on my lower lip before continuing. "It gets worse," I comment, rubbing the back of my head. "He... he sent me _porn_, Tali! _Porn! _Or... at least I think it's porn, anyhow. There's not a whole lot of room to guess what 'electronic relationship aid vids' are..."

I shake my head, moving close. "And that's not all," I whisper. Before Tali can ask what's going on, I gesture back to Ken and Gabby. "But it's almost exactly like what Mordin tells Shepard if there's a romance in the game. It... was so much more disturbing than it was in the game..."

She steps back, shaking her head. "That _bosh'tet!_" she exclaims. "I only told him to tell you I had acquired the antiseptic... I can't believe he went further than that!"

I shrug, looking up. "It's how Mordin is," I comment. "If it's about science... he just can't shut up about it. But..."

She nods. "I guess... it gives you an opportunity to say something, wouldn't it?" asks the machinist.

I nod, approaching her. "Of course it would. And... well..." I say. Okay, how do I put this? Hm... Well... "I would be honored to see your face behind the helmet. And really happy." Mostly because I never saw it in the game, but that's not a discussion for the public ear.

Tali comes forward, resting her hands on my arms. My own hands find themselves on her torso, holding it around where I can feel a ribcage of some sort. "Then that's all I need," she says, her voice soft in gratitude. "Thank you..."

I give her a smile as I give a nervous hand gesture. Hm... Well... Yeah, I did want to go on a date with her, didn't I? What better time to ask than now? Yeah, I'll go do it.

"Say, Tali," I say as we let each other go. "I... Well... after we're done with what we have to do for Kasumi, Shepard told me we're going to the Citadel. And... I was... well... I was thinking... I..." Oh, god damn it, Art, just ask! "You... Would you like to walk around the Citadel with me? Just the two of us?"

The quarian crosses her arms, tilting her head. "Are you asking me out on a date?" she asks playfully.

I turn my gaze to the side, holding my arms behind my back before nodding vigorously. "Well... Uh..." My hand darts to the back of my neck, where I rub it softly and give her a smile. God, I swear I'm blushing right now. "What I mean is... Oh, god damn it." I let down my arm, looking at her with a goofily sad smile. "I'm no good at this. Asking people on a date, that is..."

"Well... I mean..." says Tali, holding her arms up. "I think you should... Well... How would... Yes."

I blink. "Just like that?" I ask.

"I... I guess," says Tali, looking up at me. "We're in love, right? If that's... well... What I mean is... I'd like to go on a date with you, my _hesh'alan_. I would be honored, actually."

I nod, smiling. "Then it's set," I say. "Meet me at the airlock, and we'll go around the Wards."

"I'm looking forward to it, Art," she says, a light lilt in her voice.

"As am I, _querida_," I say.

... Holy, crap, did I just drop a foreign word to refer to her? I mean... Wow, I'm becoming more like Thane by the second! I mean... wow!

Tali tilts her head. "I'm sorry, I think my translator glitched," she says. "What did you call me?"

... Oh my god.

I found a counter to _hesh'alan_! Yes! Who'd have known my being descended of Cuban immigrants would help me out someday? I cross my arms and give her a smirk then.

"_Querida,_" I comment. "Maybe someday, I'll tell you what it means."

She glances at me, looking at me with a very incredulous expression on her face. "I guess this is payback for the whole _hesh'alan_ business?"

I shake my head. "Doubt it, Tali," I reply. "Shala told me that it was better I find it out on my own..."

The machinist can only nod in reply. "Then I guess I'll find out," she says, her eyes getting just the brightest bit brighter.

And just then... I start hearing _West Side Story _in the back of my mind. Uh... why am I hearing _I Feel Pretty_ at the most inopportune time? But... I scarcely think it matters as I take her hands in mine again. After all, we're in love, right? That's the kind of thing I hear in my head when people are in love.

And when I'm in love? I guess I just notice the music more.

* * *

I spend a little more time with Tali and her two engineer friends then, helping them out briefly in the engine room. Even if I am a terrible helper- I swear, watching the engineering crew work is pretty back-breaking. Honestly, I don't know how the hell they do it with only three people there. Ken and Gabby must be damn good at what they do, because I had trouble keeping up with them.

But, they appreciated the help, and I got to know more about mass effect fields. Seriously... applied phlebotinum is great and all, but I still don't totally get how it works. It's a good thing I've got Tali to explain it to me in greater detail. That always helps, I think.

Anyhow... I stopped after about thirty minutes, and took my leave. At the moment, I'm walking over to the elevator to hit the call button. Hm... Well... I haven't spoken to Miranda in a bit. I wonder if she's contacted Oriana again. The two of them seem to be getting pretty close, after all. Maybe I'll-

"Mr. *********, are you free at the moment?"

I blink right as I get to the elevator doors. I then turn over to the side, seeing EDI's avatar glowing in front of me.

I raise my eyebrow, crossing my arms. "Yeah, I'm free," I comment. "Why?"

"Mechanic McKansa is requesting your presence in the hangar bay," she says. "She says it is urgent."

Wait... Why would Jenny want me in the hangar bay? The only thing she'd need to do repairs on is the Hammerhead, and we haven't had to use it yet. On top of that, she doesn't need help with the calibrations, so why would she...?

I shake my head. "Why would she need me down there?" I ask.

"It is by Ms. McKansa's personal request that you go down there," replies EDI. "She needs a gunner."

... Wait, what?

"But I thought she had to go down with the shuttle!" I comment.

"Ms. McKansa was directed by Commander Shepard to take the shuttle back to the Normandy until further notice," replies EDI. "Ms. McKansa is currently back on the Normandy."

"Even then, though, I'm still barred from missions by Commander Shepard!" I point out. "If she's asking me to go groundside, I'm violating that! Being Jenny's gunner is no exception, I'm afraid!"

"I am afraid things have gone... sour with the heist, as Ms. Goto would put it," replies EDI. "Shepard sent Jenny a transmission very recently. She needs to go down with a gunner now, as they are being assaulted on foot by a gunship."

I mean, why the-

Wait, what the fuck? "They're fighting a gunship on foot?" I ask. What?

"Apparently," replies EDI. "They are in need of aid, as well. He regenerates his shields."

...

And here I thought we were done with gunships after Garrus' recruitment mission. Damn it! And now, it's a harder gunship! Oh, what the hell? And why would Jenny ask for me?"

"Oh, great," I comment, crossing my arms. "I guess Jenny's gonna guilt trip me into violating my forced leave, right?"

"The Commander and Kasumi are also dealing with an army of Eclipse mercenaries at the same time," comments EDI.

... Wait, a gunship and Eclipse? Jeez... at least in Garrus' recruitment I was able to hijack the fucking ship! Now they're doing the same thing _again _without me there? And with only two people, no less? How badly did this heist go? I mean... even Danny Ocean wouldn't fuck up a heist that badly! What is this craziness?

I throw up my arms, turning from EDI. "Oh, Jesus, do I always need to come in with a fucking big damn heroes moment against gunships with another gunship?" I ask.

With this, I walk over to the hangar bay. Seriously, how the hell are they going to manage vehicles without us? Granted, this is two humans, one of who probably isn't that heavily armored in the first place we're talking about here, but still. It's pretty crazy when I constantly have to save Shepard from vehicular death. God... so annoying! I'm just thankful that this is a DLC thing instead of stuff we have to deal with. I'm not sure I can deal with more than two vehicles at a time.

I think I'll be the first to shoot myself in the face should I ever be unfortunate enough to encounter a chase in a fucking taxi while I'm here.

I eventually get to the hangar bay, seeing Jenny within the Hammerhead. She waves her head.

"Hurry up, Art!" she shouts. "We don't 'ave all day here, mate! And Shepard's-"

"-orders were perfectly clear!" I interrupted. "I'm to stay on the ship until this mission is over!" I cross my arms. "God damn it, Jenny, can't you use Garrus or something?"

The colonist looks at me as she shakes her head. "No time," she replies. "I gotta go with someone I trust."

"Yeah, and this 'someone you trust' is telling you he can't do it," I comment, frowning. "What's so hard to understand about that? Besides, I've never fired a gun on the Hammerhead before! What do you want me to do?"

"What ya do best!" she says. "Figure stuff out! It's not too far from the gunship we 'ad to work with back on Omega!"

"And what about the Commander, then?" I ask.

"I'll handle her, don't ya worry," replies Jenny as I take a step closer. "I'll tell 'er I forced ya to."

I shift my weight. "And how do you plan on doing that?" I ask. "EDI will just tell her that I sort of did stuff."

"Then I'll tell 'er EDI didn't hear me threaten ya with breakin' stuff, mate," replies Jenny. "I'll take full blame for it, don't ya worry about that."

Why do I doubt she'll keep her word? I should know better, knowing I saved her life at least once, but I can't help but feel she's not gonna do that. "I'm still not convinced you're gonna," I comment.

"Oh, Art, we don't have time for this!" shouts Jenny. "Ya know the Commander's in danger, right? Maybe she'll cut ya some slack for savin' her life, ya know?"

I cross my arms. "And I'm pretty sure she already gave me enough leeway," I point out. "You're gonna have to do better than that, Jenny."

"Then I'll tell ya what," she says. "If I stop teasin' about you an' Tali, will ya come onto this ship with me?"

... Oh, god damn it, she just _had_ to pull that card, didn't she? Well... at least she's got a point now. Hopefully when I reveal that it'll be enough for me to get her to shut the fuck up about that. I roll my eyes and cross my arms.

"All right, I'll go!" I say, throwing my arms up. "But the minute you start teasing again, I get one free calibration run at the Hammerhead. And I may not be careful." Yeah, gotta keep her by the balls... eh... ovaries. Whatever it is I can grab a hold of. Jeez, why is it that it's so hard to make insults with the female anatomy?

She nods. "Get in, then!" she says. "We ain't got all day!"

I shrug, making my way to the ladder that Jenny's dropped into the Hammerhead as I shake my head. God damn, this woman has a way with words. She better be right about the guns for the Hammerhead, though. If not, I'm... Wait, no it's not the same! Because Jenny has to turn the thing physically to aim the god-damn thing! Damn it! Unless she modified it to be more like the Mako's turrets, in which case...

Oh, and I just realized I hate the Hammerhead sections because I can't turn the cannon. At least with the Mako I could change the direction without having to change much else! Oh, great, this is gonna be hell, isn't it?

I better hope Jenny's persuation skills are good with the Commander. Because if they're not, I'm even more royally screwed than before. Even if I am pulling another big damn heroes moment on her ass. I just better hope all this stupid aggravation is worth it. Because if not, I'm going to slap Jenny really hard. Like how Flemeth slaps Morrigan really hard when she's in the Fade during the Broken Circle quest. That hard, and I'll be damned about what the women on the ship have to say about it, because, God damn it, if she can't talk Shepard out of keeping me on the ship for more missions, I'll be pissed enough not to care.

So this better be worth it.

* * *

I sit at the gun control panel, looking around. Okay... this isn't that bad. The interface is similar to what I had to deal with on the gunship, so I should pick this one up fast. Only trouble is, I can't move around. Yep, this is gonna be god-damn annoying. But I'm in good hands with Jenny, who made it tough for people to hit us on that gunship. So, we're good. Okay, looks like the moment is happening soon.

I look over to Jenny then. She's sitting right in front of me, and I'm kind of in the back of the room. There's seating for a ground team, but we don't need it now, I don't think. And there's enough room for people to walk around in, too. So I look over at Jenny, nodding as she preps herself in the pilot's chair. Really, it seems great that the Hammerhead is built like this. Makes a lot more sense from a design standpoint for the guns to be almost in line with the pilot's chair, seeing as how the gun can't move around.

We'll just have to hope this thing holds. I'm sure it will, but... we'll see what happens.

Either way, I'm pretty damn sure that this wouldn't have happened in the DLC. So if this didn't happen, what did happen? Were Shepard and Kasumi able to take the thing down by itself? I imagine so... Shepard had to take down the gunship in Garrus' recruitment all by herself, and seeing as how I hijacked it she didn't need to deal with that. But if the shields regenerated...?

Jeez. How badly did the heist go?

I look over to the pilot. "We getting ready for a drop?" I ask.

"Soon," she replies. "Joker's gettin' us down to the planet. We can't drop from the atmosphere in this bloody thing!"

I nod, looking at the pilot as she calibrates a few last things. "Right," I say. "Just like the Mako, only it floats."

"And ya can't move the gun," she replies. "Seriously, I don't get why they couldn't make the gun move on its own, mate. At least ya can move in all directions in this thing."

"Except down," I comment offhandedly.

"Well, except that," she replies. "But gravity takes care of that for ya." She cracks her knuckles as I hear a soft whirring sound. "Okay, there we go. Joker's about ta drop us. Buckle up, mate; things are about ta get a little bumpy."

I shrug, settling into the Gunner's seat. "Well, it can't be worse than the Mako," I mutter under my breath. This thing may be unreliable as all hell when we get down to it, but at least it's impossible to flip. Even if it doesn't have a visible health bar.

But hey, I make do with what I've got.

A few seconds after this, I feel motion on the Hammerhead, and then I hear Jenny let out a loud whoop as I suddenly get the sensation of freefall. Oh, fuck me!

I shut my eyes, but before long I feel ourselves evening out. I blink, opening my eyes to find us racing towards something in the Hammerhead. Okay... this terrain is a little wierd, but I can't say I don't like it. So I go along as Jenny cruises across the terrain.

"Okay, we're comin' in soon, mate," she says. "I'm openin' up the broadcast link soon..."

I frown. "I'm not making a Super Mecha Death Christ impression again," I comment with a frown, leaning to the side to look at her back. "Just for reference."

"Aw," says Jenny, her shoulders visibly slouching as she manipulates the control panel. "But it was so much fun, mate! Gettin' all gruff and metal-like can be great for us, ya know?"

"Yeah, well, it's not happening this time," I comment. "I nearly killed my throat, so I'm not too keen on doing it again."

"And here I was hopin' you'd have a good comeback for 'im," she comments, shaking her head in dismay. "Ah, well."

I shrug. "Ah, well, indeed," I comment nonchalantly. "Spare me the rant, Jenny."

"I am," she replies. "Besides, I probably asked enough of ya when I got ya to come in here ta help."

I nod my agreement. "That you did, Jenny," I say, leaning back so I'm looking through the gun's view. "Okay... we're getting close. And..."

I see the scene unfold before me. Okay, it looks like there's a gunship coming around with a bunch of mercs swarming around the place. I blink, preparing my hands on the main guns. Okay... we've got a good shot, so... I swallow some spit, looking to the gunship as it goes around. Donovan Hock is probably in there, if experience with Garrus' loyalty says anything... Okay, time to help Shepard out here. Let's see how successful that is. We're gonna go all out with this one, I think...

Jenny approaches, and then, I see the gunship unload a lot of fire down there. Looks like Shepard and Kasumi are handling the Eclipse mercs fine. So... it's after the gunship, then.

"Hey, Mr. Hock!" shouts Jenny, turning the thing so our guns are pointing at the gunship. "Pick on someone yer own size next time, will ya?"

I blink. Really? Of all the taunts she could of used, she had to use the most over-used taunt in the book? Seriously, Jenny, where's your sense of originality?

But still... I should probably fire the guns now. Okay, here goes.

With this, I let loose a barrage of bullets at the gunship, all of them impacting against his shields. Okay, that's a victory for us! I continue firing the guns as Jenny maneuvers the tank we're in. Eventually, the gunship driver turns to us, trying to unleash bullet hell on us. But... it doesn't work, as Jenny manages to out-maneuver the line of bullets he's making. Okay... I don't let up, but soon enough, the weapon overheats and I have to stop. I take a deep breath as the last of Hock's shields dies out.

"Pick on someone your own size?" I ask Jenny.

"Yeah, why not?" she asks.

I shake my head as Jenny maneuvers the tank. "Jenny, next time leave the zingers to me, will ya?"

"No," she replies. "It's too much fun to make bad zingers! And we're goin' inta the heart of the enemy, so why not strike fear inta their hearts before they die?"

"Yeah, they'll probably die from the force of the mass facepalming that's going to ensue," I shoot back. "Watch it. I think you might unintentionally drive us into a column if you're not careful!"

I shake my head, and then I hear a ping as the weapon signals it's ready to be fired again. Jenny jumps over a rock as I go back to the gun panel. I fire again, but to my dismay the shields are already up. Oh, god damn it Hock! Make my life easy for once! I shoot all again, Jenny leading him on a merry chase away from the platform. She goes around, taking us around the area of the platform as I continue firing shots off. Okay, that oughta let Shepard and Kasumi take care of the Eclipse mercs.

We go around, passing the platform once or twice. Jenny has to leap over a few things every now and again, and... God damn it, this is crazier than the Mako jumps! I bite my lower lip, concentrating as we go around. It just so happens that we go by the platform a third time. Hock's shields are almost dead by this point, and right as they overheat again his shields collapse. Oh, great, now he's just going to repower them again. Great.

And then, the unexpected happens. Right as Jenny leaps upwards to avoid a blast of gunfire from the gunship, a form suddenly jumps onto the cockpit of Hock's gunship. I blink in shock as suddenly, she raises her omni-tool up, the orange glow standing out against the grey paint of the gunship. As my hands grip the armrests of my seat unconsciously, I see the glowing hand punch into the window of the cockpit. I shudder in shock as I see this, and then a big explosion of sparks starts around the ship. Just after this starts, the figure jumps off, and then the gunship loses a little attitude as I rear back. Soon enough, it climbs back up, turning towards the platform.

"Oh, boy," says Jenny. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin, Art?"

I shake my head, rolling my eyes. "Depends," I comment. "I think he's about to have his ass handed to him, what say you?"

"I say he's gettin' 'is ass handed ta him too!" comments Jenny. "Come on!"

And with this, she maneuvers the Hammerhead around so that we can make a pass at Donovan. Oh, dear... is she...?

"Hang on tight! This is gonna be crazy!"

And with this, Jenny jumps up as the gunship puts Shepard and Kasumi under fire. No sooner do I see this when I suddenly feel a sudden jolt against us, and when I look at the viewport, I see we've crashed straight into Hock's ship. Klaxons go off all around me, and then I hear slight alarms as the tank rocks. And when we start falling down, my eyes widen, my hands grabbing the armrests even harder than they did before.

We finally end our freefall with a rather nasty bump. A loud crunch is heard, and my breathing quickens as the Hammerhead's thrusters hit the ground. Literally. I take a heavy breath in, looking as Jenny then maneuvers around with ease, and I look as Hock's gunship slowly rises on a thruster that's almost breaking.

The last thing on my mind is shooting it, though.

"_Jenny, are you fucking crazy?_" I scream at her.

"What?" she shouts. "It was the best solution! This thing can take a lot of damage!"

"I don't fucking _care_ how good a solution it was!" I comment. "That was suicidal at best and stupid at worst!"

"Ah, shut up, it worked!" she says. "Now shoot the damn thing already!"

I give Jenny a flippant middle finger just before I see Hock gaining altitude in a very shaky way. Fine, Jenny. But I'm not speaking to you again unless you corner me somewhere!

My concentration returns to the guns. Okay... he's moving around... Okay... He should be in range of fire... now! I fire the gun at Hock's disfunctional wing. I see the mass accelerator rounds impact against the fan thing that makes the damn thing fly, and it takes about seven or eight rounds when I see one of the rotors fail on Donovan. Not long after, the thing starts spinning out of control, and then a very loud boom resounds from the rocks as the gunship explodes against them. I reel back slightly, looking as the rubble burns.

Damn... this thing is high enough to jump that distance? Man... I wonder what extraction's gonna be like with Joker. I know it's gonna be damn interesting, that's for sure. What with us racing out of there and all to be able to get out of the extraction point. But... hey, we work with what we can, right? But seriously, I'm surprised this thing didn't get to do more...

...Unless there's something else I can't predict that's about to go down.

But for now, Jenny simply jumps the Hammerhead over so it lands on the platform. She looks around, and as I peek through the gun I see the last of the Eclipse units being picked off by Shepard and Kasumi. The two of them are making a very slow advance towards the tank... yeah, they're gonna be here any moment now. I shake my head, rubbing my temple as I step out of the gun. I lean against it, stretching my arm muscles briefly as I hear the tank doors opening briefly. I take a breath, hearing the clang of footsteps.

And when I turn my head, it's to see Kasumi dropping into the tank space. Shepard follows shortly afterward, climbing down the ladder as her eyes turn to me.

She shakes her head as she touches down. "Art," she says. "I told you to stay on the Normandy for two missions. And here again, you-"

"It's not his fault, Commander."

Hey! What the...? Jenny? I blink in surprise, and Shepard and Kasumi both look at the Irishwoman. "I roped 'im into it," she continues. "He didn't want to come in, trust me. He went arse over tit about it, too. But I eventually got 'im in here. So don't yell at 'im, ma'am. It's my fault he's here."

... Oh, okay. So Jenny held up her end of the deal. I take back what I said about not talking to you unless you corner me. But if you start teasing me about Tali again, then that'll be one free punch to the gut and a lack of being talked to for you. Shepard glances back at me, and then back at Jenny before nodding.

"I can't be sure of that," she says.

"EDI can probably tell ya more about it," replies the Hammerhead's pilot. "I asked her ta get 'im down to me, ya know? She can probably tell ya how it went."

"And besides, their distraction was valuable, Shep," she points out. "All those Eclipse mercs went down really fast when Art and Jenny managed to distract Hock for as long as they did."

"I don't think you can fault 'im for helpin', even when 'e doesn't want to, right?" asks Jenny.

The commander takes it in stride. "All right," she says. "Art, you're off the hook. Jenny, we'll discuss this later. Violation of orders or no, I'm thankful you both came in when you did. You provided a very valuable distraction for Hock, and I don't think we could've gotten out of that without your help."

Well... I don't think that would've mattered in the game, as even if I never saw it, I could never see a non-Shepard character coming in with a big damn heroes moment in another piece of DLC that probably wasn't installed to ME2 by everyone. I know I wouldn't have installed it if I had realized how awful the aiming on this fucking thing is. But hey, I appreciate the sentiment.

I give her a nod. "Anytime, Shepard," I reply with a smile. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she says. "Just shaken up is all. There were way too many Eclipse mercs for two people to dispatch. I don't know how we did it."

I nod, looking over at them. "I guess it went terribly, then?" I ask. "The heist, I mean."

Kasumi shrugs. "Oh, it went off without a hitch," she comments with a shrug. "It wasn't until after we had gotten the greybox that he started sending the mercs after us. And even better is that we didn't stop the party. The host only had to go out for a second."

"And by the looks of it, the host just ditched his own party," I comment wryly.

"That's very true," comments Shepard. "Either way, we've got the greybox. Jenny, get us out of here. Tell Joker to get down so we can get back on the Normandy."

"Will do, Commander," says Jenny. "And he's already on it. Do what ya have to, and we'll be on the Normandy in no time."

And with this, I move away from the gun. Shepard and Kasumi remain standing, so I opt to move over to the main area of the tank. I sit along the edge as Kasumi takes out what I can only assume is the greybox. I see some display light up around Kasumi's eyes, and I nod as I lick my lips in anticipation. Okay... what's this greybox like?

I see Kasumi walk around the room then, greybox in hand as Jenny speeds away with the Hammerhead. I see her stand in a singular spot just after this, and I keep a close watch on her facial expression.

And instantly, under the bluish-green interface, I can see an air of sadness take over Kasumi's eyes. It's like... she's reliving something that's been lost. Something really important. I can see her eyes water slightly as the seconds go by. Eventually, I hear a soft sniffle from the thief, and the first tear comes rolling down.

I blink in surprise, looking over to the thief. This is Kasumi after her loyalty mission? Breaking down crying when she found what she wants? Why...? I don't... This is really strange to look at. Kasumi... What...?

She eventually shakes her head, looking at Shepard as the interface dies away. "He..." The thief chokes up on the first word, shaking her head as a stray hand comes and brushes something from her eyes. "He wants me to destroy the greybox. It has some information that could implicate the Alliance, he says... But it's got Keiji's memories... It's all I have left of... of him..." She looks away, unable to look any of us in the eye. She shakes her head, and sniffles softly as she takes a seat next to me.

Shepard stands there, deep in thought as we speed away on the Hammerhead. Jenny looks like she would say something, but I can see she's remaining quiet so that the atmosphere isn't disturbed. I dare not do anything, letting the Commander give her an order as to what she should do.

Finally, the woman walks over to Kasumi, kneeling down close to her. "Kasumi, it's what Keiji wants," she says softly. "I... I can't say I've ever lost love like you have, but... wouldn't you want him to be happy?"

Kasumi sniffles, nodding. "But... it's just... this is all I have left of him," she replies. "His memories are all here... I can't just let that go..."

I glance at the thief, seeing the sadness in her expression as she sits there. I place a hand on her shoulder, and then for the first time I see the exact color of her eyes... Hm, brown eyes on a Japanese woman. I never would've thought. I nod as I look to her.

"You still have _your _memories of him, Kasumi," I mention. "Those will never die as long as you live. Trust me on that..."

She blinks away the tears softly, looking right at me as she nods. "I... All right..." she says. "Just... please, stay..."

I nod. "We'll be right here, Kasumi."

The thief nods, standing and taking the greybox in her hand. Slowly, she unholsters her pistol, kneeling onto the ground. She takes a lingering look at the greybox one last time as she sets it slowly on the ground. Her hand is shaking when she stands up to her full height, looking down on the last hold of Keiji's memories. Damn... This must be extremely difficult for her. She blinks once, twice, biting on her lower lip to steady herself.

Finally, she brings up the pistol, aiming it uncertainly. She screws her eyes shut as her other hand comes along to steady her aim. There is a wait of about three seconds before I screw my eyes shut, the sound of the gunshot going off resounding within the small space on the Hammerhead. I open my eyes, and see a hole that's been shot clean through the greybox. It's still steaming, and then I nod my head slowly as I bite my lower lip.

Kasumi sits back down after the deed is done, her handgun clattering uselessly on the ground. She brings a hand up to her head, and I hear her sob lightly as I look at the destroyed greybox. Damn... Poor Kasumi. I never thought one of the most cheery people I've ever known would have to deal with things like this...

Slowly, I bring my arm so that it rests over Kasumi's shoulders. She nods slowly, coming to lean against my shoulder as she cries there. I nod, keeping still for her as she lets out some final tears. With a slight lurch, I feel the Hammerhead jump up, and onto something that carries us far, far away from the estate of Donovan Hock.


	26. Chapter 25

_A/N: Okay, and that takes care of itself. We come in with a Big Damn Heroes moment, Kasumi destroys stuff..._

_And now we go on to other things, including a chapter-long date with Tali. How will that go? Well... we'll see soon enough, right?_

_Anyhow, I've never written something quite like an extended full-chapter romance. But if you want to get on to some real missions, don't worry. I've got some big chapters in the form of a krogan homeworld coming up soon, and it'll have all sorts of surprises in store, including the return of a bit character from MV1 in a slightly more important role than before._

_Fun times will be had._

_In the meantime, let's get some things done, shall we?_

* * *

Chapter 25: Rodgers and Hammerstein: Happy Talk

And we are now on the Citadel, courtesy of one human Spectre.

Kasumi's taking the destruction of the greybox as well as she can. She's been opening up to most of us in the Brotherhood ever since the mission occurred. Especially Tali, I notice now. I wonder... did those two ever get along at all well in the game when I wasn't looking? It's gotta be the case, now that I think about it like that. BFF's forever? Sure, why not?

At least she's not moping about it too much. She's still eating and stuff, which is a lot more than I can say for myself after Virmire. Now that's something I'd prefer never to speak about again. But... Tali and Garrus told Kasumi about it anyway. I had a _lot_ of questions to answer when that happened. But yeah, it felt wierd to talk about Ash again. Especially in relation to me trying to get home.

I wonder what her afterlife is like. She was religious as all hell, but I wonder what would've happened when she realized that her afterlife was different. Did she move on to something else just like I did way back when I first played _Vexations_? Or... Oh, I dunno.

I probably shouldn't be thinking about that. After all, I am trying to dress myself to kill at the moment.

And I think I'm doing a pretty good job of it as well. I look at myself as I tie my ponytail into place behind my head. Okay... Hah, I always knew green was a good color for me. Okay, green shirt with a TIM-like collar, check. I wonder why people don't have more green shirts around the Citadel. You'd think it would be better that way, right? Right? I adjust my collar a little bit for comfort, glancing at the mirror as I do so to make sure it's also more or less symmetrical. Okay... the collar is sound. I take a look at the rather long sleeves I've got for this shirt, shrugging and rolling them up a little bit. Okay... now the sleves come to just below my elbows. Excellent.

I glance down at the pants. Okay, color matching is my specialty, so... beige pants are the order of the day. Good thing pants in the future don't exactly need a belt. I nod, tucking the rather form-fitting shirt into my pants as I nod. Okay... Orange is in the one pocket... I've got a pistol in my armpit just in case I run into something that needs me to shoot shit... The barrier is in place in my pocket... and everything else is fine. Okay...

I brush a few stray strands of hair from my face, smiling as I cross my arms.

Okay... I just gotta play it cool. Turn off the juice boy. This boy don't need a job, he needs a year in the pen.

...

Okay, how the hell did I go from preparing for a date to thinking about _Gee, Officer Krupke_? That's... a little disturbing. As are most of my trains of thought.

But I digress.

Anyhow... Okay, I'm snazzily dressed, hoping to do awesome things with Tali...

Now let's get to the airlock, shall we?

I leave the bathroom then, walking over to the elevator as I place my hands in my pockets. I blink roughly, nodding as I walk over to the elevator. Oh, dear, the crew's looking at me. Oh, dear... Just keep moving. Don't look back, Art. Don't look back.

Well... they will say we're in love, I guess. I guess I better give pointers to Tali. Unless... well, that depends on what happens, honestly. We'll get going with that soon enough.

I then press the call button on the elevator. Okay, we're going up to the CIC, where the airlock is. Things shall be-

The elevator doors open.

And wouldn't you know it, there's Tali standing inside of the elevator. I jump back in surprise at this, looking to the quarian as she jolts slightly. Neither of us say anything for a few seconds as... Hey, did she get a new veil or something? It's all silvery now... with traces of gold in the swirls. I think... yeah, it's a completely different veil. Yeah... it's the one she gets after her loyalty mission!

And it looks lovely.

Eventually, she pulls her hands together, looking at me. "Oh, Art..." she says. "And here I thought I was running late..."

I blink, stepping into the elevator and noting that the elevator was indicated to come to the CIC deck already. "Same here," I comment. "Is that a new veil you've got?"

Tali nods. "My father gave it to me after he was settled here," she comments. "He said it was my mother's... And when I put it on just now... well... he told me I looked just like her..."

"I see," I comment off-handedly. "How are you two coming along with your relationship?"

"It's... better," she comments as the elevator doors close. "He's a little awkward, but... he's doing his best, I know it. A part of me still wishes we could have done more of what he is saying and doing now when I was younger... Being the Admiral's daughter is enough pressure, but when he's adding to it?"

I nod. "Yeah, parental pressure sucks," I comment. "You want to know the biggest reason why I felt so bitter about my father?" When she replies with a slight forward motion of her head, I bite my lower lip briefly. "I... His problem was he thought he was always right. I mean, yeah, he was right some times, but there were many times where he wasn't right. But when we tried to tell him he wasn't right in a particular instance, he'd get super pissed off and say we were always saying that. And that's why I was so bitter. I felt I couldn't speak my mind around him because he'd explode at the first insistence that he wasn't completely right." I look to her. "You two are talking, yes?"

"Oh yes," says Tali, and I can tell her mood is improving slightly. "He's... related a few memories from when I was a child. The one he was just telling me as I was putting my veil on for this... date, I guess..." She looks over to me. "There was a malfunction with the artificial gravity on the Rayya just before I had gotten my first suit. It was... so strange, being in zero gravity. I was still in my protective bubble then, but I was floating around within it. I don't think I stopped smiling as I moved my bubble around the Rayya."

I blinked, chuckling. "That must've been quite a sight, watching a young girl floating in a bubble," I commented.

"I didn't care much for how it looked," commented Tali. "I just remember feeling so... enthralled. I remember my father wasn't too happy that I didn't do something that day... I didn't like how he reprimanded me then. But... he told me he had secretly smiled that day, looking at me with the broadest smile on my face. I didn't know he felt that way at all. It's... strange to know that even then my happiness warmed him sometimes."

I nod. "I think it would any parent," I say. "I'm glad your relationship is improving."

"Trust me, Art, so am I," says Tali. Soon after, the elevator doors open out into the CIC. "So... where are we going now?"

"Well... if we're right, we're docked at the Zakera ward," I comment. "I need to swing by Mangdalar's apartment and pick something up for Kasumi while we're here, so we'll have to stop by the 800 blocks. It's not terribly far away on rapid transit, and there are some nice enough places to stop and take a bite. But... there's also a really cool karaoke bar close to Mangdalar's apartment I was thinking of taking you to."

Tali looks at me strangely. "Karaoke bar?" she asks. "I... I don't know, Art..."

I shrug. "The patronage is really open about interspecies relationships," I comment. "And they let in all aliens. I've seen a couple of batarians chillin' in there from time to time, and even the human patrons don't seem to mind. Trust me, I think you'll have a great time."

The quarian nods. "If you say so," she replies, the two of us stepping out of the elevator and going to the airlock. "Well, my _hesh'alan_, let's get going, shall we?"

I nod, holding my arm out to her with my hand splayed out. I give her a very goofy smile as she takes it with a rather grand gesture. "Of course, _querida_," I say, walking to the airlock. "Let's go."

With this, the two of us go over to the airlock. Oh... Jesus, this is my first date ever! I... Man, this is going to be so crazy... Well... just play it cool, and you should be all right.

Okay...

Let's do this.

* * *

A few minutes later, we're through the C-Sec checkpoint. I think we're going to have a grand old time here on the Citadel, so let's get going.

I take Tali into my arm, heading over for the Rapid Transit terminal... which is around here somewhere...

Yeah. Go down the staircase to the right past the markets, and then there's a Rapid Transit terminal close by that can take us to the 800 blocks. I'll bet it's what Thane and Shepard are going to be using soon enough if their loyalty mission goes well enough.

Wait... Right staircase...

I frown, tugging a little on Tali's arm as we go down the steps. She turns to me then, giving me an odd look. "Is something up?" she asks.

I nod. "Yeah, there might be," I comment. "In the game, there's a short little sidequest in this part of the Zakera Ward involving a quarian on her Pilgrimage. She's being accosted by C-Sec and some dumbass volus who thinks she stole his credit chit."

I can feel her physically shake at this. "I see..." she says. "I'm sure she didn't steal it."

I lick my lips. Nah, I can't joke like that. "That she did not," I comment. "The son of a bitch accidentally left it in one of the shops around here. He's just too stupid to look back and yells at the first quarian he sees." I cross my arms as I look at Tali, a mischievous smile on my face.

"You're not planning on going in there to help, are you?" she asks.

"If it's happening," I comment. "I don't know if it's going on now, but if it is..."

I walk off our projected course briefly. Okay... there's the used ship shop... Okay, if memory serves me correctly, Lia'Vael should be right around the corner... right by an ad for something across the way...

... Huh.

"Apparently, it's not," I comment, looking at the empty space where Lia'Vael would be. "Huh. That sidequest is usually available when Shepard first shows up at the Citadel in the sequel."

"I see..." she says, glancing over to where I'm looking at. "I guess we'll find them at work when we visit the Citadel some other time?"

I nod. "I'm sure we will," I comment. "Come on. Rapid Transit won't wait for us forever, you know."

With this, the two of us turn, still walking hand in hand as we turn to make our way down the stairs. Okay, so Lia'Vael isn't there. Yet. I'll hold out hope that she'll show ourselves to us eventually though. And when she does, I'm going in to help her out, whether or not Shepard is with me. I guess we'll go along and do stuff while we're around here.

So... we reach the foot of the stairs, and I see the Rapid Transport console.

And as soon as I do, I feel a light bump against my shoulder. It's hard enough that I suddenly get sidetracked greatly. I swear, I also felt something spark between the person I bumped with and myself. I look over as I stumble slightly, seeing a rather large man walk by.

"Excuse me!" I quickly add, throwing up my arms as I pass by.

He pauses and turns, looking at me.

He simply nods in reply. "That's all right," he says. With this, he walks off, disappearing behind the steps.

...

Why the hell is this guy so familiar to me?

I stand there, looking after where he's disappeared to. My God... where have I seen that man before? Or heard him, for that matter? I swear, I've heard his voice somewhere before. But where...?

I feel Tali's free hand place itself on my arm. "Art, are you all right?" she asks.

I look over to Tali then. "Yeah, I'm fine," I comment. "Just... a little jostled."

Tali gives me a concerned look. "Do... do you need anything?" she asks.

"No..." I reply. "It's just..." I run my hand through my hair, frowning slightly. "Well... I thought I recognized him from somewhere. His... frame, for lack of a better word, was recognizeable. And then there was his voice..." I turn to where the man lumbered off, and I can still see him walking around in the crowd. "And then... I don't know, Tali." I finish with a shrug. "I can't help but feel like I've seen him before somewhere. But I don't know any man I've ever known in my life."

"Hm..." says the quarian. "You wouldn't happen to think he's important, would you?"

I shrug. "Possibly," I comment. "I don't know. Maybe it's not important."

"Knowing how things are around you, I doubt it," she comments. "It seems you've got the power to make things happen differently in this place no matter what you do."

I chuckle nervously. "I know, right?" I ask as we continue on to the rapid transit terminal. "I guess there are a number of things I could be asking myself about that. But... I'll worry about it later. For now, we have to get to the 800 blocks, yeah?"

"That we do," she replies, holding onto my arm as I walk over to the terminal. Okay... "Is it a nice place? The 800 blocks?"

I glance over at her as my hands navigate around the panels. "Well..." I comment. "It's... a relatively quiet place. There's quite a bit going on, but it's not overly active. It's one of the nicer areas to live if you're in the Citadel, I think. And I think you'll like it quite a bit." I shrug as I finally see the indicator for the 800 blocks. Okay... hit that, and there we go. "It reminds me of my little patch of Boston in so many ways, actually. Problem is... it's got the support of some of the Citadel's more... shall I say... opportunistic politicians."

"Oh, here we go," she says, shaking her head. "I hate politics."

I shrug. "So do I," I comment. "But it's one of those things you can't live without, so there you have it. We have a turian running for office at the moment. Thane's going to run into him trying to take care of his business here... he uses the anti-human bullshit all the time. And then he's seen shaking down businesses in the 800 blocks. He's nothing but a scumbag, let me tell you. If the people in the 800 blocks are smart, they'll make sure he's kept out of office."

"I see," she says. "Looks like you really dislike Citadel politics."

I blink, looking at Tali. "Well... it could be worse," I reply. "Trust me, Tali, it could be a _lot _worse. If you think Citadel politics are bad, you should've seen American politics back home." I shake my head and roll my eyes simultaneously. "Now _there's _where things got _really _dirty, let me tell you."

"Really?" asks the quarian, tilting her head to the side. "How so?"

I chew slightly on my lower lip. "Well..." I begin. "I'll start with where I left off and work my way back from there. It's a really long story..."

And so, as we wait for the rapid transit thing to show up to take us to the 800 blocks, I begin telling Tali the long history of American neo-conservativism that took hold in America when I was there. Jeez... It was pretty bad with the Tea Party gaining steam. If Republicans and especially those idiot Tea Party candidates managed to get any seats in Congress, I think there is a shooting of dumbass voters in store for. That is, if I'm ever coming back.

Which I doubt by this point, but I digress.

* * *

Eventually, we get off at the rapid transit stop at the 800 blocks. I look to Tali as we step off, and then she glances around us. Yeah... we're in one of the more 'eh'-looking parts of this place. But it doesn't look bad, I can tell that much. If only those maintenance shafts weren't as out of place as they actually are. Not like I look up there, but if Shepard and Thane are busy running around, we'll know where to look.

Tali steps forward, giving a curious look to everything around her. Okay... there's the second branch of Shar's Music Shop that's there. I wonder if they didn't take the cues from the Shar Catalogue... I know it's the guy's name, but seriously, they had to have taken their inspiration from that.

She nods, looking around us. "It... certainly doesn't look bad," she comments. "It does seem like a nice place to live."

I nod at this, looking around us as I come up next to her. "Yeah," I comment with a smile. "Everything's rather close, we're a rather closely-knit community... and if things go a certain way with Thane and Shepard, we might be seeing them a little later on." I glance up at the maintenance shafts. "Just... not where you think they're gonna be."

Tali follows my sight, looking up at the maintenance shafts as she nods. "I see," she says. "Do you think we'll run into them?"

"Unless we also run into that politician I mentioned earlier, I doubt it," I comment. "I'll let you know if I ever catch sight of Thane's son, though. He shouldn't be too far. If Talid is here, then Kolyat's here. And I won't hesitate to point him out if I see him. Drell aren't all that common around here, even in the 800 blocks."

The two of us then begin strolling along, Tali following my lead as I look out for Mangdalar's apartment. And Kolyat, provided he decides to show his face around here. Tali looks over to me. "From what I understand, though, you have to go to other places in the Citadel."

I nod. "Yeah, most of the arts magic on the Citadel happens on the Tayseri Ward," I comment. "The only reason I don't live there is because that ward took major damage when Sovereign did his thing two years ago. He made the place look all nasty." I shrug. "At least the keepers are faster construction workers than most of the people I knew back home. At least the area won't be dingy for much longer."

"Really?" asks Tali. "Why?"

I shrug. "Well..." I begin, looking up. "Back home in Miami, there was this one house that my parents would always drive by on our way to various places. It was this rather large house, two stories if I remember correctly." I glance in front of me. "They started the house when I was... oh, maybe beginning high school. So I was probably 14 at the time. Five years later, I show up for winter break from the conservatory, and it's still not finished."

"People were building houses they didn't want to finish?" asks Tali. "That seems like a waste of resources."

"Well, you have to remember that it ties into the real estate issues we were all having," I comment. "But anyway, you're right, it was a waste of resources. And space, I might add. Nobody living in that house kind of renders it such." I look to the quarian. "It makes me wonder, actually... have there ever been any ships on the Fleet that were unoccupied?"

The quarian glances to the side, holding her hand to her arm as she begins. "Well... not until recently," she replies. "The _Alarei_ is the only ship I can think of right now that doesn't have a crew."

I nod. "And what happens to a ship with no crew?" I ask.

"We... don't have any regulations for that," she says. "Usually, if we find a ship without a crew, we just fill it up with a new one. We can't afford to destroy anything that could count as a living space for the quarian people. It's why a new ship is often seen as an acceptable Pilgrimage gift." She looks ahead of her as we stroll along.

I shrug. "Must've been uncomfortable growing up in such tight spaces," I comment.

Tali shakes her head. "I like to think I got lucky," she replies. "The Rayya was a big ship, as I'm sure you noticed. There was much more room on the Rayya than there was on many other ships. Some of the ships are so small the children have to be born on another ship, actually."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "Really?" I ask, glancing down to her. "And what happens when they do that? Do they have to stay in their birth ship?"

"Well... yes," she comments. "But it's not as heartless as it sounds, I don't think. Usually, at least one of the parents is allowed to go to the birth ship of their child if they request a service transfer. Having a child on that ship is good grounds for a transfer. Sometimes, both parents do it. But sometimes, the parent has a trusted friend watch over the child for them. That's if their captain deems their work too vital. It hardly ever happens that way, though, so they're still there."

I nod, looking ahead of me as we turn a corner on the way to Mangdalar's apartment. "I see..." I comment. "Raising a child on the Fleet is probably going to be a doozy, isn't it?"

She laughs at this. "I don't think it's too far removed from what you had to grow up with," she comments. "We still have school, teachers, all those things. We just don't leave our protective bubbles until we get our first suit."

I shrug. "Knowing how I grew up, I'll bet there was a kind of ceremony for that," I comment. "Like a _bar mitzvah _or something."

"A what?" she asks, turning to face me.

"A _bar mitzvah_," I reply. Oh, yeah, she doesn't know what that means... Yeah, I dunno why I suddenly feel so wierd talking about something I've known about for ages and ages. "It was this coming of age ceremony of a religion back home that was practiced by a lot of people. Basically, if you turn thirteen, you have to read off of your religion's holy book, present a sermon on it, and then you get to have a party afterwards since you're technically now a grown-up in said religion. Coming of age ceremony, you know?"

"I see..." she says. "Did you ever have one?"

I scoff at this, shaking my head. "No," I reply. "I didn't practice that religion. But I will admit: I _was_ pretty jealous of all my Jewish friends in middle school. They got to have a big huge party with great food when they turned thirteen, and it was mandated thanks to religious reasons. Me? All I had was a lousy party with so-so food."

"I guess you got to go to one, then," she comments.

I roll my eyes, smirking a little. "More than one," I reply. "All my friends in middle school practiced that religion. So I'm going about, doing my thing when suddenly I get invited to about five or six _bar mitzvahs_ in a relatively short amount of time. Those were some really good times, let me tell you." I shrug. "I even got invited to a _bar mitzvah_ of some guy I didn't even know."

"Really?" asks Tali. "Did you go?"

I shake my head. "No," I say. "If I went to a _bar mitzvah_, it was because it was for a really good friend of mine. It's more about the religious aspect of it anyway, and God knows I was confused as hell when I tried to sing with the rest of the congregation." I shrug. "I blame it on the fact that the Hebrew alphabet is only mandatory learning if you're Jewish. From what I heard from some of my friends afterwards, it was one _crazy_ party, let me tell you. And by that, I mean it went into crazy excesses. Let's just say you'd think it would be a bad idea to offer a whole host of thirteen-year-old children alcoholic beverages."

She jolts slightly as I mention this. "They offered alcoholic beverages to children?" she asks. "That's... That's irresponsible!"

"You're not supposed to, though," I reply. "That's the thing. But it just so happened that the guy who was holding that particular party was the son of some bigshot rum producer that's shockingly still around on the Citadel. If you've heard the name Bacardi, then you'll know I was once invited to a _bar mitzvah_ held by a member of the Bacardi family."

"I see..." she says. "Well... our coming of age ceremony just has the suits. It's usually a ship-wide event, and it happens anually. Any quarian that's of age gets his or her suit then. Of course, we don't have the resources to throw a party, so..."

I nod. "Well, at least you didn't use the ceremony as an excuse to go all out on partying," I comment, looking to my left. "Sometimes you can get a bit carried away with that, I think."

Okay... I look over to the doorway. Yep. "Speaking of getting carried away," I comment. "Here we are."

She looks at me as I come to a stop in front of it. "Yes, here we are," she says. "Did the apartment change since the last time I was here?"

I shrug. "Doubt it," I comment. "Come on. Let's go pick up some sketches."

And with this, the two of us hit the door panel and enter into the rather small apartment complex that I used to live in.

* * *

I knock on the door as soon as we get there.

"Mangdalar? Are you in there?"

I step back from the door to Mangdalar's apartment as soon as I knock, Tali standing beside me as she looks right at the red panel.

"Back?" asked Mangdalar's voice from within.

"Yeah," I comment. "I just need to pick up some stuff. I brought Tali with me too, just so you know! Do you-?"

Before I can continue, the panel flashes green. The sudden change in lighting is enough to throw me off, but I take it in stride. I shrug, but before I can make any comment, the door opens.

And there's good ol' Mangdalar Vorolis. His green eyes are looking at Tali and I as we stand there, contrasting sharply against his white face paint as he stands there, looking at us...

Wait. I raise one of my eyebrows at his slightly wild expression. "Yelena's not with you?" he asks before I can get a word in edge-wise.

Wait, what? "No," I say, shaking my head. "I... Why would Yelena be on the Normandy? I haven't seen you guys since I left for Omega. You know that."

The turian frowns at this, but before he can say anything, Tali steps in. "I can vouch that he's spent the last several weeks on the Normandy," she says. "And I haven't seen Yelena on the ship at all."

I tilt my head to the side. Okay, what's going on. "You... you didn't cut your hair, either..." he comments. He shakes his head. "It's just as I thought."

I didn't cut my hair either?

...

Oh, dear. That's not a good sign.

I raise my eyebrows. "What happened?" I ask, crossing my arms.

He nods. "Come in, Art," he says. "You too, Tali. It's... a mildly long story."

With this, the turian enters. I glance at Tali briefly before following him in there. When the two of us are inside the apartment, the door closes behind us. And again, I'm brought back into the apartment that was my home for at least a year. Okay... there's the kitchen, with everything as intact as possible... There's Yelena's asari harp off to the side... Mangdalar's mandible horns are also laying out there... Hm, he was probably practicing judging from where the tenor horn is positioned... I then look as he turns to me, taking a seat on the back rest of one of the couches.

"It's... good to see you two again," he says. "I just wish it were under different circumstances. I figured you might know about it... but it's just as I suspected."

"What happened?" I ask again.

Mangdalar shrugs at this. "A week ago, Yelena and I were improvising over there," he says, indicating her harp and his various mandible horns. "And then we heard knocking. We see some stranger at the door. He comes in, and the next thing I know, he's going out with Yelena all over the place. Yelena doesn't see anything wrong with it, but I'm beginning to suspect there's more to this stranger than she sees. Seeing you here, it only confirms my suspicions."

"From what I know of you two, you wouldn't be the type to just let a random stranger into your apartment," says Tali. "I don't think we need to bring up what happened after we got home from the premiere."

I shake my head. "Oh, no," I comment. "It's a good thing you and I actually have combat training. Man, that was crazy."

"I know," says the turian. "Remind me never to give credits to the homeless again."

"I told you it was a bad idea," I comment. Well... not for the reason he may be thinking, but still. "But anyway, you wouldn't just give housing to a stranger. You know better than that, right?"

"That's the strange part," comments Mangdalar. "This stranger came to the door, and he looked almost exactly like you did. And then he claimed to be you."

I jolt back slightly, my arms uncrossing. Wait, what? Someone's been impersonating me? And they look almost exactly like I do?

"Say what?" I ask. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"It was the strangest thing," he said. "I only got suspicious because he had adopted a lot of mannerisms you wouldn't have. He cut his hair, for one thing, and I know you pride yourself on the length of your hair. And he was very into this vegan stuff. I don't understand your human fascination with eating vegetables and only vegetables, but it just doesn't seem like something you would do."

I shake my head. "Yeah, that's not me," I comment. "How bad was his baking?"

"Absolutely terrible," says my fellow composer. "I just thought everything about him was off. And he dared not write any notes in front of us. I don't know why..."

"This... is disturbing," I comment. I mean... "Why would anybody want to impersonate me?"

"Multiple reasons," he comments. "Life in the prime area of the 800 blocks, fame, access to a whole fortune, a whole bunch of sketches that could eventually become collector's items about a hundred years from now, maybe even defamation..." Mangdalar simply shrugs. "This doesn't make any sense to me either. Either way, I'm afraid that this impostor might take Yelena away. I've been warning her multiple times, but she hasn't listened to me."

I shrug. "I don't get this at all," I say, rubbing my chin. "If anyone would have a reason to impersonate me... it can't be good..."

"I don't think so, either," says Mangdalar. "You grew up on Earth, right? I hear it's a very dangerous place to grow up. I asked your standpartner Edgard from opera orchestra about it, and he tells me that you can make enemies even if you don't know they're watching your every move."

"You think this is what's going on?" asks Tali, glancing to me.

"From what Mangdalar's saying... yeah," I comment. "So someone's impersonating me. Someone who's probably dangerous..."

Mangdalar nods. "It's just as I thought," he says. "The question now is... what am I supposed to do?"

I shake my head, bringing a hand to my chin as I move over to lean against the kitchen counter. "I don't know," I say. "When did this impostor say he and Yelena were getting back?"

"He said he was going to hang out over at the Tayseri Ward with Yelena," replies Mangdalar. "She's off at some convention for asari music that he's tagging along for. I'm staying here to tend after everything. It's going on for a while, so they won't be back for a few days."

Hm... Well... I rub my chin, glancing to the side. "Well... maybe by then she'll have noticed something," I say. "Ask her about it, then. And then see if you can't arrange for a way to gently let him out of your apartment. And talk to Yelena first before you act. I... don't know what you should do beyond that."

"Should we tell Shepard?" asks Tali. "She may be able to help us."

"I... don't know," I say. "Send a message to me when things get out of hand. If I get a message from you, things will go smoothly. If I get it from Yelena, I'll tell Shepard then."

Mangdalar nods. "I can figure out the rest," he says, standing up. "Still... this disturbs me a little. What else can we do...?"

"Well..." Hm... "There are other things we could do. Maybe plant bugs on yourself?"

"Bugs?" he asks. "But I can't... I don't have the technical expertise to do so."

I shrug. "Fortunately, I know some people who do," I comment, bringing my hand up to the comm link on my ear. Okay, time to see if this paid off... "Hey, Shepard," I say.

There's a bit of static, but then the line comes up. "_Art?_" she asks. "_What's up?_"

"Oh, nothing much," I comment. "Listen, do you mind if I ask Jacob and Miranda to do a small little something for me? I need them for a moment."

Because if anybody knows anything about installing bugs, it's gonna be the two Cerberus operatives. Even if Shepard doesn't totally approve, it's one of those things I kind of have to do right now or else things are going to go sour...

* * *

About a ten minutes or so later, Jacob and Miranda had both come over to the apartment. Ah, being in a close-knit ship has its advantages. We managed to come up with a game plan all in the span of ten minutes with plenty of suggestions from Miranda. So she and Jacob installed a wireless bug on Mangdalar, we made our game plan, and the two of them left. I did have to calm Mangdalar quite a bit about the fact that they were Cerberus operatives, but fortunately Miranda was polite enough that I didn't have to worry so much about everything. So that got all done...

And they just left.

And I still don't have my god-damn sketches.

Mangdalar shakes his head as he pulls his pants back on. "I'm going to have to be careful for the next few days, aren't I?" he asks.

I shrug. "The bug should be waterproof," I comment. "Still, take care anyway."

"Hopefully, we'll catch this impostor in the near future," said Tali. "And if we don't, we've still got evidence that Art didn't do anything."

"I hope we can get this impostor," says Mangdalar. "Now... you said when you were coming in that you came in here to pick something up?"

I nod. "Yeah," I reply. "I came to pick up a couple of sketches. Coming home to find out someone's been pretending to be you is _not_ a good way to stick to that," I comment with a wry smile.

"You're telling me," replies Mangdalar, his mandible flaring out in a chuckle. "You should probably get your sketch. She knows you're very particular about that kind of thing. Seeing one of them missing without... well, 'you' here, I think she'll notice something is going on. Especially when she can't find it."

"Okay," I say. Hm... that's a good point. Yelena knows I'm very particular about people touching my sketches. I don't give them away freely, that's for damn sure. "Come on, Tali. Let's go get that sketch."

With this, the two of us enter the space that serves as our kind of storage space. Usually, I'd just sleep on the couch when I lived here, but I wonder what happens now that the impostor is here. Hm. He better not have moved that fucking sketch for _Coma of a Soul_, or I'll be pissed. Okay...

Storage closet, here we are. I look through the various shelves as Tali closes the door behind us. Fortunately for us, it's a rather spacious place that they had converted out of an old bedroom before I came in. They would've moved their storage elsewhere, but I told them not to worry about it.

It's a good thing I told them not to worry about it, thinking back. It helps in a case like this.

I look through the shelves, Tali crossing her arms. I mean...

"Does any of this freak you out?" she asks.

I bite my lower lip, slowing down in my search for my octet sketch as I nod slowly. "Yeah," I comment. "I just don't get why anyone would want to impersonate a guy like me. The musician's life isn't exactly glamorous unless you do film scores, opera orchestra doesn't pay all that much, and I really doubt my impostor came with a string instrument with which to do opera orchestra. Speaking of which, I wonder what excuse he gave when he showed up here without a viola. Or... at least a cheap imitation one."

"Who knows?" asks Tali.

I shrug. "Either way, this isn't good," I comment, moving down a shelf. "But there's something else about this that kind of disturbs me."

I hear the quarian's feet shift to the side. "What is it?" she asks.

I blink, biting my lower lip before turning to her, standing back up. "I just can't shake the feeling that this is going to lead up to a loyalty mission. For me."

Tali's head rears back as I continue. "Think about it, Tali," I say, pacing in front of the shelves as I continue speaking. "All the loyalty missions in the game were about something personal. You already know what yours was about, but think about everyone else's for a second. Garrus' was for his squad, Zaeed's was for revenge, Thane's was about his son, Miranda's was about her sister, Kasumi's was about her dead lover... and now, mine is about my friends."

"I see..." she says, rubbing a hand against the bottom of her face mask. "Actually... you're right, now that you put it that way. What was that you said about loyalty missions. If you don't do yours, and you get to the suicide mission..."

I nod. "I have a chance of dying while I'm there," I comment. "That's exactly it. I can't help but feel this is setting me up for having to enlist Shepard's help before we go to the Collector base. But what's worse about this... I don't know." I cross my arms, continuing my pacing. "I get the feeling that things might not go totally according to how I remember, even taking all the consequences of people not being loyal into account. I mean, _I _think I might have a loyalty mission coming up. And I'm not sure how the hell I'm supposed to take that."

"You think things will get worse from here?" asks Tali. "Because if they do..."

I roll my eyes. "Tali, it's a loyalty mission we're talking about here," I comment. "Things _always_ get worse before I have to enlist Shepard's help to magically fix everything with a few gunshots. It might get worse before I have to talk to her, it might get worse while we're taking care of business, but I guarantee you, it _will _get worse." I turn back to the shelves. "About everything in general? I don't know, Tali. I honestly don't know. There have been plenty of changes to the timeline from how things happened in the game. Garrus' squad lived, your father lived, Madison's here, Kal wasn't the sole survivor of the Haestrom marines... and then there are all the little things that I can't even begin to describe about how small things changed." I shake my head. "Frankly, Tali? I think I'm beginning to lose my sense of precognition. And the thought that I won't be able to see what's coming up in the near future scares me a little."

She's silent at this, and then I shake my head. "I don't know," I continue. "It's just one of those things I can't stop thinking about. I've never mentioned it to anyone until now. But... I'm just afraid."

I sift through the shelves for a few more seconds, stopping when I feel a pair of arms wrap around me. I blink, glancing out of the corner of my eye to see Tali's face mask resting over my shoulder. I lower my arms slightly, feeling her three fingers against my chest.

"Whatever happens, I'll be right here," she says. "You can count on me for that, Art."

I nod, smiling softly as my own hand comes over Tali's own. I shift my head slightly, and I can feel the cool helmet grace against my right temple. "Thanks, Tali," I say, closing my eyes. Oh... what else...? Hm, maybe I shouldn't say anything. Just hold it like this...

I feel her arms tighten the hug slightly, and I swear I hear a soft groan of contentment from Tali.

...

Okay, I'll stay silent then.

We hold this position for a rather long time, and I give the faintest of smiles as I feel her around me. And she's here... this is more than I can ask for. I know she can't see the smile, but... does she really have to see it to know I'm smiling? I guess she doesn't.

"Well, it seems you two finally got it together!"

Gah!

I jump slightly, Tali's arms coming away from me almost instantaneously as we both see Mangdalar at the doorway. He's got this smirk on his face, and it's all I can do as my eyes involuntarily open wide.

"Mangdalar! Privacy, please!"

He just laughs at this, and I instantly feel a slight burn in my cheeks. Oh, god damn it, I'm blushing now.

Well... he did call it, so I guess things are... okay? Maybe?

I just wish I wasn't blushing so much!

* * *

Okay... that's a relief. Well... it's a good thing Mangdalar approves of us, at least. So I finally manage to find my sketch for Kasumi, very quickly signing one of the pages of the sketch so it could have extra staying power. Good thing I carry a pen on me every so often. Needing a medium for drawing stuff helps a lot, I think. People just don't do it on datapads, fortunately enough. That would be sad if it was all drawn on datapads these days...

But anyway. Tali and I left Mangdalar on good terms, with our gameplan all nice and set.

And now, we're lounging out in a small little place about a ten minute walk away from Mangdalar's. It's not too far from the interspecies karaoke bar, anyhow, but it's got a nice view of everything that's going on around us. It's got a view of the street... and it's a very nice area.

And fortunately for us, they've got flavored nutrient tubes here too. Even if the waitress is a bit of a bitch about it, it's still nice to know they care about quarians somewhat.

I look outside then, waiting on our order to get there as I cross my arms. Eventually, I look back at Tali as she's preparing tubes for a small glass of water she had sterilized for her purposes.

"So... I think we were talking about coming of age ceremonies earlier," I comment.

"We were..." she says.

I shrug. "No, I'm just curious about how your coming of age ceremony went," I comment.

Tali leans a little further back against her chair, briefly quitting her motions as she tilts her head. "Well..." she says. "I mean... it wasn't really all that... well... interesting, you know?"

I lean forward, giving her a soft smile as I hold my hands together in front of me. "Doesn't mean I'm not interested," I comment. "What was it like?"

The quarian looks at me as she settles back in front, working with some necessary cables for the water before hooking them up and nodding. "Well..." she says, glancing wistfully up at the ceiling. "It was... a bit of a slow day. The Rayya was going rather slowly, I think. We were all gathered in that same plaza that the trial took place."

I nod. "Nice place to have a crow... uh, suit reception ceremony." Really, Art? "Crowning? What the hell am I thinking?"

"Crowning?" Tali looks at me quizically.

"Oh, it's this old Earth tradition from when we still had kings and quees and that stuff," I comment. "But that's getting off topic. Must've been a little crowded..."

But the quarian is already shaking her head. "There weren't many of us that were there when I got my suit," she comments. "I think I was one of... maybe five children that were getting their suits that day. And we were all teenagers..."

I raise my eyebrow. "Let me guess," I say. "You were fifteen?"

I see the silver behind her facemask disappear for a split second. "How did you guess?"

I shrug. "Long story," I comment. "But basically, it has to do with certain Hispanic traditions. See, girls back home would take part in this thing called a _quinceñera _when they turned fifteen. It was... kind of like a _bar mitzvah_. Only, it was the girls that participated in it, and it was exclusive to Hispanics. Mostly Mexicans, but that's another thing."

"Oh," she says. "I see... it's interesting how similar we are in some things despite how different we are in others, right?"

I roll my eyes, chuckling softly. "In some things, so much more than others," I say, my hand slowly sneaking over to hold Tali's fingers in their grasp. "So... what about the ceremony itself?"

"Well... it was mostly just the captain and some of the parents giving speeches about how responsible we were and all that," she says. "It wasn't really anything noteworthy. And then... we were handed our first suit." I feel her get a little giddy. "I was so excited when I got my first suit. I don't know why... but I felt like I had accomplished something. Something great... and I had just been given something to allow me to be of more use to the Fleet."

I nod. "I'm surprised you were so excited to enter a suit," I comment.

"It seems things are always exciting until you actually see them," says Tali. "It's a thing all quarians come to grips with, I guess. I still haven't gotten over how unfair the suit actually can be... in some things, more than others." She pulls my hand closer, squeezing some of my fingers as she says this.

I shrug. "But... How did your father feel after that?"

Tali shrugs. "It was the usual," she says. "He had to go back to his duties soon after. Life on the Flotilla is never restful. Well... except for that day. We had a rather nice hour or so where we stood with family members and what-not. I spent most of it with Shala... She was a good friend of my mother's at the time."

I nod, smiling. "I'll bet she became Auntie Raan just after that, eh?" I ask.

"Yes," she replies, nodding as her voice takes on a tone of contentment. "It makes me wonder, though... did you have any coming of age ceremonies of your own?"

I shrug. "Well... back when I was still part of the Roman Catholic church, I had to take part in something called a Confirmation," I comment. "One of those fancy pants masses, you know? But, there was this whole thing about it being one of the sacraments, how we had to choose a patron saint..." I frown, tapping my free hand against the table. "And I forget the rest, honestly." I shrug. "All I remember was I had chosen the same saint as the priest that gave that particular mass had."

"Really?" she asks. "Well... that's quite the coincidence."

I smile, very slowly and almost reluctantly taking my hand away from hers. "I know," I comment. "But still, I don't even remember most of what made it special. Looking back... it was kind of like every other mass I've ever sat through in my life." I shrug. "Looking back... I guess it was kind of like your excitement over the suit."

"I take it you were more religious back then?" asked Tali.

I nod. "Oh, yeah," I comment. "I was such a devout Christian way back when. But then, I got into high school and met Sturge. And after that... was around the point when my eyes were opened to the horrors of organized religion." I shake my head. "Seriously... if you only knew what organized religion was capable of back then, you'd be scared witless..."

"I guess we both had our phases then," comments the quarian.

I chuckle, nodding as she sits there, regarding me with a rather... kind expression? I just feel so comfortable around her. And I guess she feels the same about me. And we're just sitting here, enjoying each other's company. And she listens, more than anybody else.

My eye sifts to the sterilized water then, gesturing it lightly. "I've... never quite gotten how a quarian drinks from sterilized things provided on the Citadel and elsewhere," I mention. "Could you... maybe explain it to me?"

She glances down at the drink she hasn't even touched since we started speaking. "Well... I guess I could," she says. "But... I think you've seen it enough times. I think you might know by now."

I smile at her then, placing a hand on the table calmly.

"Tell me anyway."

I can feel her faint smile from underneath as our fingertips touch again, and I nod as she seems to simmer back a little. But... after a few seconds, she regains her composure, and nods. And so, taking the other hand and bringing it up to the multiple ports where the drink is connected, she begins to explain in rather great detail how the different ports work, and which ones she's supposed to connect it to for her to take it in, and where it goes and all that. And her accent fluctuates with enthusiasm as she describes this feature of her suit, and I listen attentively as I follow her hand movements.

* * *

Our meal was rather nice, I think. We both had a nice conversation about stuff, the food was good, and things weren't too expensive. Comes with being a minor celebrity on the 800 blocks it seems. Everyone recognizes Mangdalar and Yelena, but they're starting to notice me too. It has a few perks, admittedly, and it's always nice when reputation helps lower the price of your girlfriend's meal. So I paid for stuff... and now we're off to get some karaoke underway.

Hm... I glance off to the side as a bunch of C-Sec guys rush by us. I blink briefly, watching them run off as fast as they can towards a building before I look to Tali. She nods, glancing at them as we continue on our way to the karaoke bar.

"Yeah, those are the C-Sec guys," I comment. "Looks like Shepard finally found Kolyat."

"Indeed," she says. "You think they'll be able to convince Kolyat not to kill Joram?"

I frown, watching with a slightly slower step as the C-Sec agents all storm past the two of us. As the last of them rush by us, I shrug. "Well... she can," I comment. "But there's more than one way to skin a cat, if you know the expression. And in this case, she can do things. No matter what she does, though, it always ends with someone getting injured."

"Really?" asks Tali. "How so?"

"Well... one of the options wounds Kolyat," I comment. "Another kills Joram. And the best solution ends with Kolyat getting punched in the face."

"I see..." says Tali, looking at me. "Will Thane and Kolyat be able to make up?"

I shrug. "I imagine it'll be a process," I reply. "But from what we see in the game, they're working on it. One small little baby step at a time. You know?"

She nods. "As it is with me and my father," she says. "It's... a little hard. I'm still bitter at him after all these years. But... I'm glad he's at least trying. That's more than I could've asked for."

I smile at this, pulling her closer. "I'll bet," I comment. "I wonder... was there ever any music on the Fleet?"

"Music?" asks Tali, looking right at me. "Well... to be truthful, there was almost nothing in terms of music. Maybe the occasional lullaby as a child, but nothing more than that, I think. I've never really had anybody sing to me as anything other than to put me to sleep. I... I don't know, Art. That's why I'm so unsure about this karaoke thing. I know what it is from what I've seen when I was on the Citadel before I met you... but I don't really think I can sing."

"Well, lots of people never know how well they can sing until they've actually belted a few notes," I reply. I glance up... yep, there it is. "I guess we'll find out tonight, eh?"

Tali looks ahead, her eyes settling on it. "I... I guess," she says. "Lead the way, Art."

I nod, smiling as I walk over to the club. I prepare my Citadel ID rather shortly, but the bouncers know me reasonably well, so I know they'll let me in anyhow. But still... I'll have to tell them Tali's with me. She doesn't really have any form of ID on her that's anything like the Citadel ID. But... they're open about stuff, so I think we'll be good.

* * *

And... I'm right. They let us in with no problems at all. And now, we're in.

And it's a quaint little joint, I think. The lighting is rather subdued, but it's not too dark. I think I've always liked this place, because before we get to karaoke hour the music is very, very subdued. No pounding club rhythms, no techno... just smooth jazz until we get to karaoke hour. And then in the center there's a stage for the stuff. All the equipment's there, and it's all set up. Yeah, it looks like it's happening today. Tonight? God, it feels so wierd thinking about this as a 'night' on the Citadel right now... Tali looks around noting how relaxed everything is as we step inside. I look over to her, and smile.

Tali simply looks around, nodding briefly as she takes all the details in. "This does look like the kind of place you would enjoy," she comments, some mirth in her voice.

"Oh, yeah," I comment. "It's nice, quiet, and really lovely to be in. And it's a great place to hang out, too. Especially with friends. I've even made a few just hanging out around here." Hm... "Speaking of which, I wonder if any of them are here right now..."

I glance around, holding Tali's hand as we venture deeper inside. But... hm, I don't seem to catch anyone there. I guess they're all more or less to themselves tonight. Or something. Either way, Tali and I eventually find a rather small booth pretty close to the stage. So then we're sitting there, and then we order a couple of drinks. So... Okay, it's all until karaoke hour starts, I guess. The waitress is pretty fast about getting here with the drinks, though, so she plops it down...

Yes, it's the drink I asked for! I bring up the glass, glancing at Tali as she commences connecting all the ports again.

She glances at my drink, and I can see her eyes slit in curiosity. "What's that?" she asks.

I look over to my drink. Yeah, it's not a screwdriver, but rather, a purple-red mix of stuff. I indicate it with a rather grand hand gesture. "Sangria," I comment. "It's an alcoholic fruit beverage from Earth. It's very rare outside of Earth, but if you know where to look you can find a couple of bars on the Citadel that have it. Honestly, I prefer it more than the screwdriver, but it's more common."

Tali nods. "I see..." she says. "It looks... kind of like blood, actually."

I shrug, taking a small sip. Yeah... the alcohol is a bit, eh, but the fruity goodness is still there. "That's part of the point," I comment. "Sangria originates from Spain, which was the home of the language they used to speak in Cuba when my mom and dad were there. And in that language, _sangre_ is the word for 'blood'. So... yeah. Get a certain combination of fruits together, and you get sangria. Yes?"

"I... guess..." says Tali, looking at the thing. "I've never done something like this... Art, are you sure this was a good idea? Getting me to sing right now?"

I shrug. "Why not?" I ask with a shrug. "It's... not that hard, and people aren't judgemental."

"I'm just... nervous," she says. "I think I know what to do, but... what if I don't do well?"

I lay a hand on her shoulder then, giving her a small smile. "Don't worry, Tali," I reply. "Just go with your gut and you should be all right. And if all else fails, I'll be right beside you."

Her hand comes over mine, and then I can feel a smile being directed at me from behind the face mask. She nods, and then I hear someone touch the microphone.

"Is this thing on?"

The two of us glance back at the stage...

...and there's the man of the hour! Well, _wo_man of the hour, but I digress.

There's an asari standing there as she lightly touches the thing. She's dressed rather modestly. Yeah, she's been running this place for about three-hundred years, I think it was. Only with the asari, it seems. Promoting diplomacy for all through karaoke bars? Check!

I point to the asari. "Ah, there's the owner," I comment. "Always does her own karaoke nights."

Just as the quarian nods her head, I hear a rather loud affirmation that the microphone is, indeed, on. So she nods, taking it from the stand and looking around.

"Well, then, let's get the party started, yes?" she asks. "Hi, everyone, and welcome to our karaoke hour! We've got some old faces, some new faces..." She glances around the audience, and I swear her eyes linger on me for a second. "And some great songs for all! Remember, we go table by table here, so let's get started!"

She glances around the room, and then looks straight at me. Oh, dear... "For our first table... we have a returning face that's been missing here for some time!" she announces. Oh, dear, I think she's referring to me. "All of you may know him as that crazy guy who loves to go all over the musical theater standards. But, some of us might know him as one of the crewmembers of the Normandy. And he's not alone today! Our very own composer of _Last Days of the Earth_, everyone! Art*** *********!"

The crowd goes wild, and then I look to Tali. She's looking at me as a round of applause breaks out all around. I see the worry in her eyes, but I leave a reassuring hand on hers as I smile.

"Come on," I say, softly.

And with this, I think she's more or less convinced. So she stands up with me, and as the applause goes around, we both make our way to the stage that the asari is standing on. Okay... looks like we're going to get our karaoke on now!

I step onto the stage, and am surprised by just how many faces are looking at Tali and I. I walk forward with her, looking to the asari as I nod and give her a smile. She holds the microphone again, and nods.

"It's great to see you again!" says the asari into the microphone as the applause dies out. "You've been gone for a long time!"

I shrug as she holds the microphone to my mouth. "And I'll be gone for a little more, I'm afraid," I comment. "I'm leaving again in a few hours."

"Oh, really?" asks the asari. "Well... I'm glad you stopped by here in your short time."

I shrug, smiling as she turns the mic back to me. "Wouldn't have it any other way," I comment. "And I even brought someone over."

"Ah, yeah, I was about to ask about that," comments the asari. "Who's your friend?"

"Well..." I comment, gesturing to her. "She's Tali'Zorah. And she's a very close friend of mine."

"And a former squadmate on the Normandy," adds Tali a little quickly. The asari almost doesn't get the microphone to her, but she does it somehow, with Tali still seeming a little nervous.

"And is this your first time doing karaoke?" asks the asari, quickly taking the mic back to her own mouth.

"Uh... yes..." replies the quarian when the mic goes back to her.

The asari gives her a rather kind look as she gestures to us from the audience. "Looks like we've got a newbie on the karaoke today, eh?" she asks. "Let's hand it to a brave new soul doing something she's never done before!"

And a round of applause went out to Tali. I think this is encouraging her, actually, as I'm practically shielding her with my body. But... as the applause rings out in the bar, she slowly comes out from behind me, seeming a little nervous but coming out nevertheless...

_There's_ the Tali I know and love! She's still a little behind me, but people can actually see her now.

The applause dies down for Tali, and then the asari looks over at us. "It's strange, you know," she comments. "I've never seen you walk in here with only one other person. Especially someone of the other gender. Any cause for this?"

I shrug, holding my hands out... "Well..." I comment. Hm... How do I say this? Well... it is a karaoke bar, so I guess I can get away with spontaneous musical numbers in the middle of a date. Plus... I get to sing directly to Tali. Oh, yeah. I think I know what I'm gonna do it. "Why don't I sing about it?"

A rather loud cheer goes through the crowd, but as I look out I can see a few faces looking on in disapproval. Oh, boy, there are people who don't approve of being in love with a quarian. That... might be a problem.

But who the fuck cares? I certainly don't. Tali's a wonderful girl, whether or not you approve. And if you don't approve, you're just ignorant of who she is. Yes, I'm in love with someone who's species created the geth. But really, those aren't the same quarians who are running around the galaxy now. Assholes.

When the cheer dies away, I see Tali's slightly retreated behind me again, and then the asari nods, pulling the mic back to her. "Okay, then," she says. "I'll let you pick the first song of the night then."

With this, she hands me the microphone, and I'm all too eager to take it. I look over to her... yes, why not something from a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical? I nod to her, pulling the mic away from my face as I lean towards her. "What about _Some Enchanted Evening_?" I ask.

The asari nods, and then she vanishes off-stage to get stuff prepared. I look over to Tali then, smiling at her as my hand interlocks with her. I take a step back, and she starts to follow before she suddenly realizes what I'm hoping to do. So then she stops, and then I look right at the glowing silver orbs that are her eyes. I look at her, giving her a soft smile as I wait for things to start.

Here? I think I'll only need to glance at the little holo projector thing close to where I am a couple of times. It's one of those songs I've been versed in because of countless hours of having no life in lulls between premieres. But... hey, it'll help here. And so, I turn to Tali, a small glitter in my eye as I hear a trio of pick-up notes from the violins. Okay, there we go.

I look to Tali. As the music goes by, I nod at her, hoping to give her an indication that I'm stepping away from her for a bit. She nods her agreement, and then I let go of her hand. I take a step or two back then, and glance briefly at the audience as the introduction goes towards its final notes... Okay... dominant chord... harp harmonics...

And here we go.

I open my mouth to sing, and then catch a ride on the music.

"_Some enchanted evening_  
_You may see a stranger,_  
_you may see a stranger_  
_Across a crowded room_  
_And somehow you know,_  
_You know even then_  
_That somewhere you'll see her_  
_Again and again._"

I glance over at Tali to see she's standing off to the side, watching me sing. The patrons are, thankfully, pretty silent when I'm singing, which helps take some of the edge off of my nerves. I glance at Tali in the very short split second between verses, and I keep singing.

"_Some enchanted evening_  
_Someone may be laughin',_  
_You may hear her laughin'_  
_Across a crowded room_  
_And night after night,_  
_As strange as it seems_  
_The sound of her laughter_  
_Will sing in your dreams._"

Another short glance at Tali shows that she doesn't really seem to regard the crowd that are looking at me anymore. I take a step in her direction, then, but don't go to her just yet. I still need to cross the stage to get to her, but... Yeah, this is a lot to think about in a split second.

"_Who can explain it?_  
_Who can tell you why?_  
_Fools give you reasons,_  
_Wise men never try._"

The music swells, and I spare another glance at Tali, and I gesture out to her as we go on to another verse.

"_Some enchanted evening_  
_When you find your true love,_  
_When you feel her call you_  
_Across a crowded room,_  
_Then fly to her side,_  
_And make her your own_  
_For all through your life you_  
_May dream all alone._"

And as I finish singing this verse, I slowly begin to make my way towards the quarian. Even as I sing the thing that ends the whole song, she stands still, almost transfixed to the spot by the sounds she's hearing all around her.

"_Once you have found her,_  
_Never let her go._  
_Once you have found her,_  
_Never let her go!_"

As I get to the final line, I finally approach her, and sing the final note while grasping a hold of her hand. As I peter out of the top note of my range, I give her a broad smile, holding her hand up and not caring that there's a whole crowd of people watching. And as I finish the note... yeah, I get the compulsion to kiss her again. But, again, I can't. So I settle for the top of her hood, right there...

...and right in front of a crowd of bar-goers, who either start cheering or booing. I feel a slight jolt in my heart when the first boos are yelled throughout, but that quickly fades away when I realize that there's a little less of the boos than there is of the cheering. Hm... Even in progressive circles, it seems people still don't like quarians. But still, if they've got a problem with it, they can ake it and shove it up their asshole. Because I don't care.

Yet.

I part from Tali, and her attention is on me. I smile at her, still holding on to the microphone as I hear the asari take a few steps behind me. Our arms have come around now, and we're kind of gripping each other by the elbows, even if Tali is a bit hesitant about it. Eventually, I hear a small tap on my shoulder, and look back to see the asari standing there, a rather large smile on her lips. I turn to her, and then hand the microphone to her with a rather steady hand.

"Well, that was Art*** *********, everyone!" says the asari. "Still with his incredibly majestic voice, it seems!"

The applause and cheers slowly die down, as do whatever disapproval there is. I can see a few people exit the club, but hey, power to them. At least they're not stupid enough to try to tackle me when I leave with Tali, right? Yeah, that's what I thought. I smile at the crowd briefly before I turn over to the head of the whole karaoke thing.

"Thank you!" I shout out to the crowd, giving them a soft little wave. "I'll be here for a couple more hours!"

The asari nods as some people let out audible whoops. Tali comes forward then, and she glances to the bar owner as she nods nervously. "And now, we have the quarian... Tali, was it?"

"Uh... yes..." says Tali, the nerves clearly showing in her voice as the mic goes to her. "I've never exactly sang anywhere..."

"I think you'll get the gist of it soon enough," says the asari. "Lucky for you, I've got Khelish subtitles! So... let's go to the random song generator, and we'll see how well you do."

Tali takes the mic nervously, but I give her a reassuring smile as she glances at me. Okay, you can do this, Tali. Her eyes slowly move to the screen, and then I see... Hey, is that Audrey Hepburn? In that crazy hat from _My Fair Lady_?

... Oh dear, they did not give her this...

Soon enough, I hear a rather soft ding from a triangle, and then a descending figure.

... Oh, hell no! I look to Tali with shock in my eyes, but by then it's too late, as the number started. Oh, damn it, woman, _I Could Have Danced All Night _is really hard for karaoke beginners! And then you gave it to Tali? Jesus Christ on a pikestaff! Don't you think that's a bit unfair? I mean, I know it was decided by random number generator, but still, couldn't it have picked an easier song?

Jeez... This may be pretty painful for her. But... it's my fault I got her up here, so I'll take all the blame for it.

Tali looks on, and I can see her eyes bulge slightly. In her nerves, she tries to start the first line, but she stumbles over it and misses it. I glance at the screen... Okay, at least the subtitles are in... what the hell is that alphabet anyway? Is that...? Is that the Khelish alphabet? Man... it looks so wierd... Kind of like that wierd Russian handwriting, only with a bit of Japanese influence. Huh... This is looking very, very strange for all of us.

But I glance back to Tali as the music goes on. She stumbles slightly over the second line, and my heart begins to pound quickly. But at least this time, she's able to get the words out... At this point, she's fighting to get the right notes... Come on, Tali, you can do this! Fortunately for us, though, there's that break where she can get her bearings together. And I watch her look at the subtitles intently... Okay...

"_Sleep! Sleep! _  
_I couldn't slee- tonight. _  
_Not for all the jewels in the crown!_"

Okay... good, she managed to get back on track. And her intonation needs a little work, but she's hitting the notes ever so slowly. I guess... But now that we're going into the main song itself... how will she fare...?

I guess there's only one way to find out.

"_I could have danced all night! _  
_I could have danced all night! _  
_And still have begged for more. _  
_I could have spread my wings _  
_And done a thousand things _  
_I've never done before._"

Hm... She's not doing too badly now. She's still trying to get used to the faster passages, but she manages to get to it by the time she talks about spreading her wings. And the intonation is slightly off, but she's still more or less hitting the notes.

Yes... this might go better than expected.

"_I'll never know_  
_What made it so exciting;_  
_Why all at once_  
_My heart took flight._  
_I only know when he _  
_Began to dance with me_  
_I could have danced, _  
_danced, danced all night!_"

Hm... Wow, she's actually pretty good. I smile, my heart still pounding rather quickly. I feel a little more tense as the asari comes around, with a second microphone. But... she's mostly tackling things, as I suddenly notice it go into the Galactic Standard alphabet. Tali frowns before looking over at the asari.

"_It's after three now.  
Don't you agree now?  
She ought to be in bed._"

And with this, the asari smiles at Tali, pointing back to the screen just as the Khelish titles come back on again. The quarian glances back, and then she comes back in, this time with a little more confidence.

And then it becomes a whole chorus of voices as Tali and the asari trade off with their respective lyrics and what-not. I smile as the two of them start singing, Tali's intonation getting ever so slightly stronger. And she suddenly seems to be loosening up quite a bit as the asari dances around her. Her feet are still rooted to the spot, but she doesn't look so tense anymore. Thank heaven for that.

I look over, watching them work their way through the song as I cross my arms. I give a rather bright smile then, the tension slowly easing off as I watch her. Wow... She's actually got a pretty nice voice. Almost like Audrey Hepburn herself, in a strange way. Kind of flat tone, but she can hit notes and she gives personality to her singing voice. That's definitely not what I would call bad singing. And it's telling when the asari stops singing and steps back, allowing Tali to have the entire rest of the song to herself.

And she does a very good job of it, I think. Lerner and Lowe is a little hard sometimes, but hey, that's the beauty of musical theater, isn't it? She sings the final parts of the song, and I walk up behind Tali with a broad smile on my face. She finishes the song then, and I see a rather loud cheer as the song ends.

And then she glances back to me, her eyes quite a bit brighter than when she first took the microphone.

Most of the rest of our time onstage goes by as a blur, as she looks at me intently. The next thing I'm aware of, we're both sitting back in our table, and then a turian couple walks onto the stage with their hands clasped in each others'. I lean back, looking at my half-finished glass of sangria as she takes her seat next to me. She brings her hands up nervously, and I can sense she wants to say something.

"So...?" she asks. "How'd I do?"

I nod, smiling at her. "You did good," I reply. "For your first time in karaoke, that was..." Crap, what word should I use...? What should I use? I... Hm... "Nice."

... Really? That's the best word I can conjure up? I can't believe myself...

But Tali's hand on mine reassures me. "And you were beautiful," she says, softly as the asari goes on announcing him to the entire rest of the bar. "I wish you would sing like that to me all the time."

Oh? She wishes I could sing to her all the time now? I give her a smirk. "That can be arranged," I say.

Tali lets out a good-natured chuckle at this, but I still feel the happiness radiating from her. "I don't know, Art," she says. "I just feel... I think I'm having a good time here. Thank you."

I nod. "Glad to hear it." I comment, bringing my other hand so that Tali's three-fingered hand was clasped between the two of mine. "And thank _you _for being here with me."

I see the shine behind her mask get ever more intense, and letting go with my right hand I turn my attention back to the stage as one of the turian's starts singing something... Hey, this is that turian rock song that's pretty popular in this joint. She's having a good time, I'm having a good time, and that's all I need.

So I sit back, listening to the music as Tali leans her head against my shoulder, bobbing her free hand to the rhythm as we both watch the karaoke thing go on.


	27. Chapter 26

_A/N: And there's Art's first date. Ever. In his life._

_I need to get a life. Preferably soon._

_But anyhow, that's that. And what's this about the loyalty mission? Oh, yeah, Art's getting his own loyalty mission. What is said loyalty mission? You'll find out soon enough, right? So stay tuned for this, and you'll find out soon._

_For now, though, we have other things to take care of. Like... introducing a new man on the Normandy. Again. And all that happy stuff. So we'll get going with this soon._

_So yeah._

* * *

Chapter 26: Intermezzo

Tali and I work our way back to the Normandy after chilling at the bar. We're going through C-Sec customs as I glance over at her. She looks like she's in an absolutely impeccable mood after stuff, and we both walk along with a bounce in our step. She still can't stop talking about how great a time we had in the 800 Blocks, even as we go through the C-Sec checkpoint again when we're back on the Zakera Ward.

"And that group number at the end..." she continues saying. "How did she manage to get that pieced together?"

"What, with _Gee, Officer Krupke?_" I ask. "That was an idea some salarian partner of hers came up with briefly. She carried it over, apparently, and now they do things like that all the time to close their karaoke hours. And I've gotten really into them." I shrug. "And that's a hell of a fun song, too. Especially when you're trying to be the guy I was being."

"You mean Riff?" asks Tali. "I'll admit I haven't seen this _West Side Story _yet..."

I smile down at her. "Well, we'll have to change that, won't we?" I ask, walking along the docks back to the Normandy. "What say we use that for our next vid night?"

"Sure," says Tali as we walk along.

I nod, walking over to where the Norman-

Hey, wait a minute. Is that...?

I squint my eyes, Tali walking alongside me as I look at four figures by the docking platform at which the Normandy is at. One of them is a drell... so that's Thane. The other is the back of our Commander, so... But the other two are interesting. The one is rather... hey, that's Councilman Anderson! And... that other person?

I approach, and then I see the fourth man's eyebrows raise in anticipation.

And that's when I realize he's got the face of the default M!Shepard model. He's a little more buff than the last time I saw him, but... he's still the same guy that helped me and Wrex out two years ago with his family armor!

"Serviceman?" asks the recent N7 graduate.

I blink, watching as all four sets of eyes fall on Tali and me. We break apart from each other, and I look on in slight surprise as I see him there. "Al?" I ask. "Is that...?"

"Yeah, it's him," comments Joc, glancing at her sibling briefly. "And Councilman Anderson as well, if you're wondering."

"Hey!" I say. Damn, my day just got even better than it could possibly have gotten. "It's been a long time, Al!"

"I know, right?" asks the male Shepard as we manage to shake hands. "It's been a very long time indeed."

I nod, gesturing over to Tali. "I'm sure you remember Tali'Zorah, right?" I ask.

"I... think I do," says Al as he leans over to the quarian. "You were at... well, you know."

"I thought I recognized you from somewhere," comments the quarian. "You're her brother, right?"

"Yeah," comments Joc. "And as soon as he gets settled, he's under my command."

I look over to the Commander. "As soon as he gets settled?" I ask, arching an eyebrow. "Is that why the Councillor is here?"

"Yes." Okay, there's Keith David, meaning that it's Councillor Anderson. I nod, looking over to the Councillor. "I didn't think I would see any other crewmembers from the original Normandy here," he continues as all eyes turn to him.

"Sorry," I comment with a shrug, walking up to him and shaking his hand. "We had a little business to take care of in the Citadel." I glance over at Tali. "Well... not that kind of business, but still."

I think they get the implication. Right? The Councillor simply shrugs it off and looks over at Thane. "I had some business to discuss with Shepard," he comments. "Although... I did get a rather nice tour of the Normandy with her and the drell here. Thane, was it?" After a nod of affirmation from the drell, Anderson continues. "Even if they were delayed thanks to some business the drell had to take care of, it's a rather... interesting ship."

"Yeah, you wouldn't think Cerberus would be the guys allowing aliens on their ship, right?" I comment with a lop-sided smile and a shrug. "And yet, here we are. What... sort of business?"

"Strictly off the record business," states the Councillor, indicating Al. "I pulled a few strings with the Alliance while you and Shepard were out fighting the good fight. I've assigned Al to help you in your fight against the Collectors."

"Top secret and everything," adds the male Shepard sibling. "Only the top brass of the Alliance and my mother know about this."

I raise my eyebrow, looking right at the male Shepard. "Is that right?" I ask. "So... you're here to help us out. And Anderson effectively transferred you into Cerberus."

"That's not how the paperwork is written out," Anderson replies. "His mission parameters are... different."

"He's spying on Cerberus officially," says Joc. "Given my opinion of Cerberus, I think you know how his mission will end already."

I nod, smiling as I hold my hands behind my back. "Of course," I say. "Well... it's nice to have Al on the crew of the Normandy regardless." I give him a rather broad smile. "So... is this it?"

"Essentially, yes," says Anderson. "I had to brief Albert on some final parameters for the mission so we can make it seem as if he is spying on Cerberus for us. If all goes well, we'll be able to make this happen."

"And then, fun times will occur," I comment with a smile. "It's a pleasure to see you, Councillor."

"And to you as well," comments Anderson. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must get back to the Presidium. I have another meeting with the Council again."

With this, Anderson quickly takes his leave, walking past Joc in a bit of a hurry. As he walks from the docks, however, he gives us a wave, and continues on his way. We all look at the retreating Councillor before setting our sights on...

"Operations Chief Albert Shepard, right?" I ask, giving him a hand gesture.

"Operations Chief," replies the younger Shepard sibling. "You have to remember I didn't have a Skyllian Blitz to cement my reputation like she did. I have to climb up the ranks the hard way."

"What, no operation on Torfan or Akuze?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"He had just enlisted after Akuze," replies Joc. "And he was still in boot camp when the operation on Torfan happened. I think it's good he wasn't there, either. That place would've corrupted him."

I nod, looking over at them as Al visibly pouts. "Joc, come on!" he says, crossing his arms. "You know how I am. I'm not easily swayed by the kind of xenophobic nutjobs that headed that operation. Especially now that you're dating an alien."

At this, all the rest of us do a double take, and I blink at Al as I stand rigidly in place. Jeez... is it that obvious that something's going on between Thane and Shepard? I glance back at Shepard, who is shocked beyond words. She simply stares at Al, and I swear her jaw wants to hang open right about now. Finally, she shakes her head.

"W-what?" she asks. "I... I don't know what you're talking about!"

I smirk in turn. All right, you bitches had fun with your teasing me and Tali, now it's my turn! "Really?" I ask, crossing my arms. "I hear that drell don't call people _siha _without serious thought put into it."

And she balks at me. "Et tu, Art?" she asks, frowning at me.

"Then fall, Shepard," I reply with a wink. I chuckle a little to myself. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on telling Kaidan A-lame-ko about any of this. It's just, you know?"

"This conversation is over," says Shepard assertively, grabbing Thane by the wrist. He doesn't seem to mind, but it's clear from the bright red that's slowly coming up all over her face that she minds. "Thane, we're going back to Life Support. Now."

"As you wish, _siha_," replies Thane, not taking much effort to fall into step with Shepard. The two of them promptly vanish behind the cover of the docking bay, and before long I can hear the Normandy's airlock door opening. Al, Tali, and I are left standing there, looking at the Normandy. Seriously? Shepard just up and left like that?

And then, we all look back to each other, Al giving a shrug. "She just does that because she knows I'm right," he comments. "I predicted a lot of possible relationships in high school."

"For real?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"Yeah," replies Al. "She gets a little flustered like that and excuses herself quickly whenever she gets like that. Trust me, she's falling for him."

I nod, crossing my arms. "As we can see..." I say, smiling at this. "I don't know about you, but I think it's starting to turn into the love boat here."

"Maybe," says Tali nervously. "But... should we go back onto the ship?"

"Probably," I comment. "We should get on before Shepard leaves without us."

And with this, the three of us walk over to the Normandy, arriving at its airlock in very little time at all.

* * *

Okay... the date went extraordinarily well, and now everyone is back from leave. Apparently, Garrus and Madison got the same idea I did, only they were off in another ward. I think it might've been the one we all ran around when we were doing stuff with Saren, because he got to say hi to Dr. Michel, apparently. Yeah... shore leave on the Citadel becomes very, very interesting...

So I saw Tali back to Engineering, and we spoke for just a little bit longer... and then I decided, oh, what the hell, I'll call a Brotherhood meeting. We need to have a Brotherhood meeting where we're not talking about me. We need a session where we just bond over something... docile. And no, Skyllian Five poker is not going to be that, no matter what you say about FBA coublings, Ken. But hey, we'll do stuff like that soon enough.

Hm... While I'm here, I wonder what Miranda's up to. She mentioned she had some business to take care of, but she refused to go into details when we were in Mangdalar's apartment. So... I think I'll see if I can't ask her about what she was up to from the safety of the Normandy.

So I go back up to the crew deck, neglecting to stop by my room to change my clothes. Damn it, I like my color green! So I walk over to Miranda's office, and open it to find her listlessly going around...

...with Nielsen playing in the background. Yep, there's the adagio from the fifth indeed. I place my hands in my pockets as I enter, and I look over to the genetically perfect woman. She sits there, listening to the music intently. Hm... seems she hasn't noticed my entrance yet.

I look around, heading deeper into her office as I approach. I see she's looking out of the window at the stars at the moment, her eyes closed as she sits on the little bed that's built into the wall. Hm... I listen as the clarinet solo does its thing, eventually sharing Miranda's view...

And she _still _hasn't noticed I'm here.

Okay then. Time to startle her slightly.

"Nielsen?" I ask, crossing my arms as I look at the walls. "Should've figured you'd be playing that in your office one of these days."

This is enough to startle her out of whatever she was in, causing her gaze to shift abruptly to where I am. And... she jumps slightly.

Hey, I startled a woman with keen senses!

"Ah, Art," she says, breathing a sigh of relief. "I never thought you'd startle me like that."

I shrug. "You were lost in the music," I reply. "I get like that myself. A _lot_."

"So it would seem," she says. "What do you need?"

I shrug, moving over to sit on the couch. As I lean over, she nods, and I take that as an agreement of sitting on the couch. So I do so, making myself comfortable as I cross my legs. "Oh, I was just curious," I comment. "What sort of 'business' did you have to go to the Citadel for?"

She raises an eyebrow, the music still passing by as she shifts her posture. She seems to be pretty pensive for a moment, and then looks over to me. "Well... normally I wouldn't say this to anyone, but I trust you enough with this information."

Yeah, because I'm also really good at telling people things about my past. "Oh?" I ask, raising one of my eyebrows in return. "Does it have something to do with Oriana?"

"Well... yes," replies Miranda. "She moved to the Citadel when we relocated her. I can't tell you which ward she was at, but... I think you know why I would be afraid to say anything."

I nod. "As you should be," I comment. "It's not her fault your father is a power-hungry bastard who only cares about what he'll leave behind. Emotional scarring of his daughters notwithstanding."

She chuckles mirthlessly. "Indeed," she comments, a bit of ice in her tone. Oh, dear, that one probably hit a little too close to home! "But in a way, you're right. I grew up with him. I can't imagine what would happen if Oriana was thrown into that situation after having grown apart from him..."

"That would definitely suck," I comment. "Let me guess. You visited her?"

Miranda smiles then, placing her hands squarely on her lap. "I did," she says, her disposition a little more cheery. "She was shocked I was here, but she didn't particularly mind. So we went around the Citadel together. Sister bonding."

I nod. "It must've been fun," I comment.

"I like to think I had a pleasant time, yes," replies Miranda with good cheer. "We mostly stayed around the Tayseri ward. It's not where she lives, but she's looking into attending the Auxua School of the Arts."

"Oh?" I ask. "She's going off to college-level courses already?"

"Oh, yes," she says. "The move to the Citadel was timed just right, it seems. She had just finished taking a tour of the campus when I ran into her. I've sure you've heard of Auxua..."

"Oh, plenty of times," I comment, shrugging. "Yelena got her education there in biotic harp performance. Mangdalar was invited to Auxua to teach composition. He's considering it at the moment, but knowing him he'd probably make a terrible teacher." I uncross my legs, leaning back on the couch. "He's really good at what he does, but god damn is he terrible at explaining things. Yelena had to step in to explain the more avant-garde bits of turian music theory, unfortunately." I shrug nonchalantly. "Kind of like me, in a way."

She nods. "I see," she says with a smile. "Oriana says she has some interest, but mainly for the asari art," she comments. "She's very into asari art and music. There was even a convention on asari music there that she dragged me to. It was... one of the more interesting experiences I've had in my life." The XO of the Normandy even indicates me. "I can see why Oriana likes it, at any rate. Seeing her smile like that... it made me happy."

I give her a smile. "Must've been a little harder to say goodbye," I comment.

"I told her I'd seek her out if I was on the Citadel again," she says, smiling. "It must seem so silly. Here I am, someone who isn't supposed to form attachments, and yet here I am, forming a bond with my sister that's proving to be stronger than any of us could have anticipated. A part of me is berating me for this. But... it just feels so... right."

Silly? Girl, please. I shake my head. "Trust me, it's the most sane thing in the world," I comment. "I think we'd all go nuts if we didn't have attachments to someone. You plan on keeping that attachment?"

"Now? For sure," she says. "She sent me a message just now with her secure account. I guess the fact that I replied back when I got it says I will keep the attachment."

I nod, my smile only getting broader. "That's good," I comment. "You never know what'll happen, but it's the good moments that'll stick. Trust me."

She replies with brushing some strands of hair from in front of her shoulder. "Speaking of which..." she comments. "I'm curious about Shepard's brother being here on the Normandy. I was thinking of asking him something about how he looks at the Commander if I ever become lucky enough to introduce myself."

"Well, if you ever see him, don't hesitate to ask him about the Commander," I comment. "He thinks very highly of her. And as for me..."

She nods. "I wanted to ask you something, actually," she says. "I... sometimes wonder what your fondest memory of your siblings is."

I raise my eyebrow. "You want to find out about that?" I ask. "Well... I remember that we would sometimes sleep at my grandmother's house sometimes..."

And with that, I begin to relate stories of times me and my sister had back when I was still home and before I had even hit puberty. I dunno... it feels good to be talking about them, but wierd that I'm opening up to Miranda about my history. But... she's got a sibling of her own. And in relation to that... I feel comfortable talking about my past from before I came here.

With this in mind, I continue telling her some stories about me and my sister.

* * *

Okay, here we all are as the Brotherhood... splayed out across Kasumi's little area, sitting in random places. Sturge is standing off to the side, doing whatever it is he's good at. Well... on other things, anyway. The rest of us? Well... Madison's off to the side, sitting cross-legged. And Kasumi is sitting by her, also watching us.

As for the rest of us...

"Right foot on green!"

Yeah.

_Twister_ actually does, in fact, exist in 2185. In an extremely battered form that Kasumi somehow found stashed in an exhibition of old human games that was passing through Thessia at the time, granted, but still, it's there.

Speaking of which... I still have to give her my sketches. They're all signed, they're all in order, and they're all handwritten. And technically, I should've gotten around to it when the Brotherhood meeting started. But... that's another thing to worry about for another time.

It's partly because I have until the Collector base to get it to her, but...

It also sucks now that I have to slide my foot under Garrus' arm to get to the nearest green patch on the little _Twister_ mat.

I clambor for this small little dot, exerting pressure on my arms as I slowly move my foot. But before I can hit that spot, I feel someone's foot touch mine. I look up, and I see Thane also stretching to get that spot. Unfortunately for him, he's twirling around in a position I'd find absolutely uncomfortable. And yet, he doesn't show a single sign that it's hard work. And then I feel Tali's foot land next to my other foot. God, I hate having a left foot on one spot... and then having to add another foot to that. God damn right hand on yellow and left hand on blue!

I'm now bending over backwards, with my hands splayed out behind me. Jesus Christ...

"I told you this would get insane," says Kasumi.

"No kidding!" comments Sturge as he crosses his arms. "I didn't think any of you would last this long!"

"S-shut up!" I let out. "It's hard enough without Garrus' bony turian ass all over the damn place!"

"It's not my fault I have more reach than you do," replies the turian. "Why is it that you survived this long, anyhow?"

"You underestimate him," comments Thane.

"That you do," adds Tali. "Or did you already forget about how he introduced us when he first joined the crew of the original Normandy."

I hear a slight pause as I slightly shift my hand to better support my weight. Good thing I took my shoes off, I realize. "That was important?" asks Garrus.

I roll my eyes, shaking my head. "Of course it was," I comment. "Or did you forget that's the whole reason I was let onto the Normandy in the first place?"

"I think I might've forgotten that too," adds Garrus.

I frown at him. Jesus, Garrus Vakarian, way to be a dick. "Oh, of course, Mr. Calibratian," I reply. "Because we didn't live with each other for a month."

"Well, Mr. Squarepants, would you rather I forget that?" he asks. "I'm sure I can find a way to do so."

Ay, carumba! The nerve! I'll have none of his lip! Why, you, I'll-!

"I have a shotgun."

...

Ooooooor, I'll let Tali beat me to the punch.

Garrus is stonily silent after this little interjection from the quarian, glancing right at her in surprise. He blinks once, twice for good measure, and then clicks one of his mandibles against his teeth in distaste. A shake of his head accompanies this, and then he looks away.

"Right. We'll continue this conversation later."

Thank you Tali.

"That's what I thought, Garrus," I comment, looking back to Sturge. "Moving on... Sturge, spin it, please."

"Of course," replies the older man. He then leans over and gives the spinner another flick. I close my eyes. Oh, come on, give me something nice please... please... please...

"Right hand on green."

... What?

"Oh, fuck me!"

Garrus bursts out laughing as he very easily gets his right hand over to where one of his feet is. I can tell he's straining, but he's not ready to admit it. Okay... how do I want to do this...? Right. I space myself out, preparing to turn around. Okay, I need to face down for this to work. Slowly, I bring my right hand up, and then... Okay... Make space with the foot... I do a turn with my feet quickly, and then my right hand manages to come right next to my right foot. I grunt from the exhertion, and then I see everyone else prepare that hand too. Fuck... My legs are crossed, but what can I do?

"Wow, Art, that's good," says Madison.

I look over to her then, realizing she's looking right at me. I nod at her, smiling. "Thanks," I comment. "I thought I was fucked."

"You?" asks Kasumi, waving her hand dismissively. "I don't think you would've stopped even if you knew you were fucked."

I shrug. "In a previous life, I might have," I comment offhandedly. "But then, in a previous life I wasn't exactly having adventures around the galaxy to save it, either. Or falling in love with aliens." I can feel Tali shift slightly in her flustered state as I mention this. "Hell, even seeing them, for that matter."

"I hear you there," comments Madison, glancing over at Garrus. "I can't even begin to tell you what a change a burning apartment is from Omega."

"Or an expressway in Florida from Horizon," adds Sturge. "I'm telling you, that was insane. There I am driving along the road, you know? Flatlands and grass surrounding the road from every which angle. And then, bam, hills. And you're not in a car. And there are these really wierd box homes."

"Box homes?" asks Kasumi. "That's what you thought about houses in the future?"

"Hey, can you blame him?" asks Madison with a shrug. "Many homes back then were still not boxed quite the way housing is now."

"Yeah, and even if they were, it was considered very modern," comments the former science teacher. "I don't know. I never liked those kinds of buildings when they were in my time. And... I don't know. I still can't get used to the fact that all these ships are the same color."

"Well, it wouldn't be good for anybody's dignity if they were all pink, would it?" asks Kasumi.

"I know it might be for good humility lessons some of my people," comments Tali. "We have a pink ship on the Flotilla. It was an asari made ship called the Enra. Anybody born on that ship had to deal with a lot of insults when it first came to the Fleet."

I blink. "A pink ship?" I ask. "At least it wasn't called the Qwib Qwib."

I hear a slight slip, looking quickly to see Tali very nearly lost her balance. But, she regains it rather quickly, and then I see her breathing get just a little bit heavier as I blink.

"Art? Really?" asks Kasumi. "I thought we were done with this!"

"What?" I ask, resisting the urge to shrug. "You think I'm done talking about eccentric admirals who insult the lovely ladies? Especially Tali? Please!"

"He does have a point though," adds the quarian. "Zaal'Koris isn't a very popular admiral. Though, I do think his stance on the geth does have everything to do with it. But he's generally not very nice to be around."

I nod. "See?" I ask. "Even Tali agrees with my assessment of him!"

"That said, though, we don't like to insult our admirals behind their backs," she adds. "So you should think about toning it down."

I roll my eyes, shaking my head. "If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I don't let go of things like that easily," I comment. "But whatever. My arms are killing me. Can you spin?"

"Sure," says Sturge, leaning down and flicking the spinner again. I hear it spin. Okay... give me something good to eat, please...

"Right foot on red."

Yes! Thank you Jesus! I carefully uncross my right foot from where it is, and settle it squarely under my ribcage. Okay, that's more like it! I smile, looking at the others. Thane twirls around as he adjusts, and then I glance at Tali. I nod as she adjusts...

...and then I promptly flinch when I hear a loud boom right next to me. All eyes go right next to me, and then I see Garrus shaking his head, sitting on his ass. He brings a hand up to his head, letting out a groan.

"Oh, man, today's just not my day in this," he comments off-handedly.

I smirk. "Well, looks like reach didn't completely suit you today, did it?" I ask with a wink. "It's flexibility that wins this game, Garrus. Not reach. Flexibility. This is not a double-entendre in any way, shape, or form."

He blinks, squinting slightly. "If it weren't against the rules, I'd have thrown you off a long time ago," he comments. With this, he gets up, rising to his full height as he gingerly steps over Thane. "Ah, well, at least I get to sit next to Madison."

I nod. "Yeah, see?" I ask, tilting my head at him. "There's a bright side to everything."

"Just not in the world according to cardboard," comments Madison as Garrus sits down next to her. His talon comes to rest over her hand, and his mandibles flare out briefly in a smile before he turns his attention back to the rest of us.

I attempt to shrug, now that I'm in a better position to do so. "Well..." I comment.

"The phrase 'where there is light, there is shadow' comes to mind," comments Thane. "I think there is something bright about everybody's life at the moment. Even with the shadow."

I nod. "That's right, you had to deal with the whole business with Kolyat," says Sturge, looking over at the drell. "How did that go?"

"It went... far better than I expected," the drell admits. "_Dim light. Tears streaking down his face. Rough leather material under my scales. A soft whisper. He nods._" He blinks again, coming out of his solipsism. Jesus, he's good; he didn't even break posture during that. "Our problems... simple words cannot fix them. But, I at least know he will not go down my path."

I nod, smiling. Good, she didn't fuck up his loyalty mission. "And Joram?" I ask.

"You did not hear the news on the extranet?" asks Thane. "She shot him dead."

Yeah, because-

Wait, _what_?

My left hand shifts very suddenly, and it's by a sheer miracle that I don't get sent toppling over shortly afterwards. My eyes look right around, bulging out slightly as I stand there. "She shot Joram Talid? And now... he's dead?" I ask.

"It was an... interesting solution," comments Thane. "Take away his target by claiming his life first."

I shake my head. "Yeah, and that gets her Renegade points!" I point out. "She didn't even shoot out the lamp that was right next to him?"

"No," replies the drell.

I shake my head. "Damn it..." I comment, shaking my head. "She really is starting to fall towards the dark side, isn't she?"

"Seems like it," comments Garrus with a shrug. "Personally, I'd be pretty angry if I found out I had been brought back to life against my will..."

"But still, I'm pretty sure Shepard was a complete Paragon!" I comment, letting out an angry sigh. "I just... I don't know. I figured she was going all Paragon, but this... this wrecks certain things. I guess that's why she's still got the cybernetic scars..."

I shake my head. "This is a bit much to think about," I comment. "I mean, yeah, Joram's a scumbag, but still..." I sigh, looking down at the ground. "I'm probably thinking too far into it. She's not going Renegade on some of the more major decisions, at least."

"Well, you did kind of take away her choice for her when you helped me out," points out Tali.

I shrug. "That may be true, but..." I shake my head again, biting my lower lip. "I'll get it sorted out when we get to the Collector base. There's a major decision that's there. I'll hold my judgement on Shepard having gone slightly Paragade until then. For now... I dunno."

"We'll make sense of where she stands eventually," comments Madison. "We've got a lot more decisions to go, right?"

I nod. "That's correct," I comment. "We'll see her true colors soon enough." Uh... no pun intended on my end, that is...

I look over to Sturge and nod to him. "Right," I comment. "I guess you better spin the thing before we all start falling down because I made people wait too long."

The old man chuckles, and he nods. "Indeed," he says. "One spin coming right up." And with this, he flicks the spinner, such that it goes around. Okay... give me something good to eat!

"Left foot on red."

Ah, even easier! I move my left foot so my left arm is situated between my legs, and I go into a rather comfortable squatting position. I see Tali snake her left leg under my right leg, and then I see Thane twist himself up in a knot yet again as I nod, glad at my simple action.

Hm... there's something I've been meaning to bring up with Sturge for a bit.

"So Sturge," I comment. "You and Dr. Chakwas?"

We all turn to look at the old man, and he blinks uncertainly. "Well... we've been having rather nice drinks in the Med Bay rather frequently as of late," he comments.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two are falling for each other," says Kasumi, smirking under the hood.

"W... Well, you know how an old fart like me is," he replies. "I don't like to hang out with people. Just have drinks. But no, I have to admit, Carolyn is a rather nice woman, and we do share quite a few similar interests. Even if she did do something different with her life than teaching, I can respect that."

Garrus and I raise our eyebrows at around the same time. I'm sure Tali does too, but I can't exactly tell. "You called her Carolyn," comments Tali.

"Of course," replies Sturge. "Isn't that her name?"

"But Chakwas usually makes people refer to her by her last name," I comment. "Hell, not even Shepard would refer to her as Carolyn. Is she letting you do that?"

"Well... she doesn't particularly mind it if I say it," says the old man then. "I always figured... You mean...?"

I tilt my head to the side, watching as he sits there nervously. "Oh..." he says.

"Yeah, it's gonna happen eventually," says Kasumi, a smirk taking over her features. "Trust me Sturge, it'll creep up on you soon enough."

He shrugs then. "At least he wasn't like that other woman they were telling me I was compatible with."

I cringe. "Oh, yeah, that one," I comment, keeping an even squat as I shake my head.

"Who?" asks Madison.

I shrug. "Oh, it was this teacher back in the school I went to called Ms. ****," I comment. "She was this other science teacher. Supposedly, he was going to be into her. Not a chance."

"She listened to that new age shit," says the old man. "And then there was that one time... there was a wedding for some major person in Miami at the time. A Jewish wedding between family of one of the most well-known Jewish rabbis in the town. And then she shows up late, fresh from the beach, in informal clothes, and smelling like she hadn't even taken a shower! I'm telling you, it was the most humiliating thing in the world! Yeah, right we were a perfect match."

"I'll bet that didn't go well..." comments Kasumi.

I roll my eyes. "Probably the understatement of the century, Kasumi," I reply.

Sturge shakes his head. "That's the last time I ever took any dating advice from students," he comments. "Although... if it is as you say it is between Carolyn and I, I wouldn't particularly mind. I'm trying to get her into Wagner at the moment, you know."

I raise my eyebrow, and then nod. "Ah, so _that's _why I was hearing the prelude from _Tristan and Isolde _on my way to Miranda's office after I dropped Tali off at engineering!" I comment.

"Perhaps there is something else between you," comments Thane. "I would capitalize on it if I were you."

"Well... hold on a sec," cuts in Madison. "Sturge... you are falling for her, right?"

"I don't know, but I guess," he comments. "Why?"

The journalist nods, placing her free hand in her lap as she looks right at him. "You do realize that eventually you'll get to that stage where you have to be honest with her about everything, right?" she asks. "There'll be a point in the relationship where she might start to suspect you're not all that you say you are. And then you'll have to tell her the truth."

Sturge shrugs, looking at Madison. "Well, we're being honest with each other at the moment..." he says. "I mean... I haven't mentioned my past apart from a couple of other students I've mentioned, but other than that, we're pretty honest with each other. It makes for good conversation. So I'm being honest about what I like and why I like her."

"That's not the point," says the journalist, standing up. "You may be being honest about your tastes and all that to her, but eventually she's going to ask about your past." The weight of this sentence is thrown on all of us, and then we're all looking at her as she says her piece. She doesn't let the weight of this sink in, though, as she continues. "And when she does, you're going to have to be ready to tell her the truth about yourself. And that will have to happen whether or not you want to. And if she still wants to talk to you after you've revealed that you've lied to everyone about how you got here, then you know that you can trust her."

"Trust me, she went through the same thing with me," comments Garrus. "She never spoke about her past to any of us, except that she was a journalist and that she had fallen in love with a man named Ethan Mars who she would never see again. It wasn't until she started falling for me that she told me. I didn't believe her at first. But... it made sense. She was a little creeped out by some of the aliens, and she only had 21st Century clothes and technology on her." The turian looks at the old man. "It's a critical part of your relationship with her."

I shrug. "And if worse comes to worse, we can always induct her into the Brotherhood," I comment. "Well... provided she's okay with it, of course."

The old man looks over, flicking the spinner again. "All right, all right," he says, tone giving away a slightly dismissive attitude. "I'll talk with her about it soon."

I nod, looking at him. "All right," he says. "But when you're ready, don't be afraid to talk to us about it first."

"Got it," says Sturge, looking down at the spinner. "Left foot on yellow."

I nod. Okay... I just hope Sturge knows what he's doing. Knowing him, I'm sure he'll excercise good judgement on the manner of saying stuff he'll need to. On the one hand, though, he may let his opinionated nature get in the way of that. But if worse comes to worse, I'll talk to the right people about it.

It's just... damn, it's been getting harder to keep the secret. I mean, more and more people keep finding out. For two years, Tali's the only person who's known, and then in the short time span that's occurred after this mission... well, all the occupants of the room are in on it. Well, plus Shala over in the Fleet. And there are more pending to find out: Wrex may find out from me, and Chakwas may find out from Sturge.

Jesus... Maybe I should just organize a pep rally and come out to the entire crew of the Normandy...

...but then the wrong person could find out. Scratch that.

I shake my head. Man, this shit is fucking complicated.

I better just get on with this game of Twister.

So I move my left foot from where it is, and snake it under my arm. Okay... I stretch my leg out so that my heel is close to where Tali is, and then we continue chatting while playing Twister.

* * *

Okay, so those were some really fun games of Twister. But I have to remember something about that:

If I ever have another game of Twister, make sure Thane is as far away from the mat as drellishly possible. Otherwise, he will win every single game. Without exception. And all that other jazz.

So... I decided I'll compose for a little bit, do stuff with that, and we'll see what happens. So after that really awesome game of Twister, I'm sitting there, working away.

Jeez... I've made incredible progress on my love song. I dunno... It's all been going really fast ever since I admitted the extent of my feelings to myself and to Tali. Before... I couldn't conjure up anything. And now... it's just coming out so naturally I'm shocked. Jeez, I'm really getting going with this. And now I can't write anything but this one song! And it's going on and on, with the Tristan chords piling up, creating so much tension...

And then it lets it all out towards the end.

...

Okay, that was a bad analogy. But still... it's kind of like that with Tali, and the text reflects it too.

But the best part has got to be that I've just been getting this amazing inspiration. And now... the entire song cycle is almost done! I just need to touch up the piano part in another thing, and I'm all set!

So I did that in one go. Hm... the cycle commission is almost over. I think this is a cause for celebration!

And I think I'll get to that soon!

Before I can stand up, though, I hear the door open. Huh, I wasn't expecting anyone. I glance over to the door, and then I see Shepard there, standing with her arms held behind her back.

...

Oh, boy, I know that face. That's the fact that says 'I wanna talk to you'. So yeah, this is going to be interesting... "Hey, Shepard, what's up?" I ask.

The commander shrugs. "Nothing much," she replies. "How are you holding up?"

I nod. "I'm doing just fine, thanks," I comment. "How's Al doing in the few hours he's got to be on the Normandy?"

"Oh, I think he's fine," replies Joc. "He was always something of a stickler for unusual crowds. Looks like he'll fit right in with the engineering misfits."

I raise my eyebrow. "Oh?" I ask. "But I thought he was a military kid?"

She shrugs. "He was always a little bit of a troublemaker," she says. "His heart is in the right place, but he does like to be quite the prankster sometimes... But last I checked, he went to go hang out with Jack in engineering."

I raise my eyebrow. "Jesus Christ, that's really wierd," I comment. "I thought Jack didn't like talking to anyone!"

"Yeah, tell that to Al," replies the Commander. "He'll talk to anyone. It's... kind of funny, actually. He's something of a psychologist to those who know him."

I frown, looking right at the Commander. "Psychologist?" I ask. "What, Kelly isn't enough for ya?"

The commander glances to the side before letting out a very loud laugh. "Oh, trust me, she is," she comments. "But Al isn't as perky as she is. He's a lot more reserved, so I think he'll be fine. The last thing we need is for Jack to be threatening to tear out a bulkhead because she can't stand the red-headed bitch again."

I nod, smiling. "Indeed," I comment. "But anyhow, I get the feeling you wanted to talk about more than Albert Shepard when you came in."

"That is true," replies Joc. "Well... I'm sure you know that there's a whole lot of hullabaloo going around the ship about things people need to get taken care of."

I nod. "Okay," I say. "Though... that's not anything new. Why?"

"Well... Mordin has an old student of his he has to rescue," she says. Wait... Could it be? "So we'll have to go help him out. But it just so happens that someone needs to go to his species' home planet for a different reason. And since Mordin's student is on this planet it's only fair."

I raise one of my eyebrows. "Are you implying something?"

"It just so happens that the someone else happens to be Grunt," she adds.

...

Holy, shit! It is!

I stand up, looking at her with a shocked look on my face. "You mean... we're going to Tuchanka?" I ask.

She nods, giving me a smile.

"_Yes_!" I let out, jumping out of my seat in joy. I jump right on top of the commander, and she barely manages to catch my weight without falling over. The chair falls onto the bed, but I don't really care as I almost immediately jump up. "We're going to Tuchanka! Yes!"

"I figured you'd be excited," she says. "We're making our course to see Wrex soon."

I stop where I'm jumping, and turn to Shepard. "Oh, that is twenty kinds of unadulterated awesome, Commander!" I comment.

"I thought you'd say something like that," she says. "You and Wrex were pretty close when we were stopping Saren."

I nod. "That we were, Commander," I comment. "I've been keeping in steady contact with him ever since he came back to Tuchanka. He's been going on and on about how much progress he's making in uniting the clans and focusing them on breeding rather than constantly killing each other. Makes me happy to see that, and now I'm going to see how far he's come!" I smile at this thought. "And man, it's gonna be great to make him lose the game again."

...

Oh fuck, I just made myself lose the game!

Oh, well, it's no matter. Besides, it's not fun if Wrex doesn't make me lose it, so yeah. It's no biggie, really. But still... I get to make him lose the game again! For one stop, granted, but still! That's so inconceivably awesome I don't even know where to begin with the awesomeness.

"Well... there's that too," she says. "We probably won't see much of him, but I'll bet he'll be ecstatic to see you again after all these years."

"I imagine he would," I comment. "Well... as ecstatic as he can get when his people are stubborn and all that. You know how things are."

Shepard nods. "Well... I just thought I'd let you know we're going down to sunny Tuchanka," she says. "I figured you'd be glad."

I nod. "Yeah, it makes me happy," I comment with a smile. "Though... I hardly imagine a place that Wrex has told me was bombed all to hell as being all sunny and stuff like that."

"Still, you get the idea," she says. "I'll be bringing Mordin, Thane, and Grunt with us, just so you know. Tali and Garrus might also come to reconnect with him a little bit."

I nod. "You think Sturge could be allowed out of the Normandy?" I ask. "I'd really like to introduce him to Wrex."

Here, Joc frowns, crossing her arms in front of her before shaking her head. "I... dont' know," she says. "I'd have to ask Gardner about it. We'd be down there for a couple of days, and I'm sure they'll need someone to cook meals. And I don't know if Gardner wants to relinquish Sturge just like that. But I'll ask, see what he thinks. If I get a response, I'll let you know."

Okay, so she'll see. I nod. "Thanks, Shepard," I comment. "Until then, though, I'll content myself in thinking about how to make Wrex lose the game when I get down there. And all will be good."

Shepard shakes her head, rolling her eyes as she backs out of the room. "I swear, you two act like total children sometimes," she comments. "Especially with this game. What's the point of it anyway?"

Oh, so she wants to know about the game? I smirk evilly.

"To not think about it, of course," I reply. "Because if you think about the game, you lose the game. Therefore, I just made you lose the game."

"Right..." says Joc. "I'll let you take pride in that. I have other things I need to do, so I'll see you around."

"See ya," I reply cheerfully.

And with this, the commander walks out, the door closing behind her.

Sweet! I get to see Wrex in person again in the near future! Yay! I can't believe how lucky I am to be seeing him again, and so soon after I revealed my feelings to Tali. Oh, man, things are going to be great. Even with my loyalty mission slowly developing behind my back, I think things will be incredibly good. I'm in love with Tali, I'll get to see Wrex again, I'm almost done with my song cycle, and we have a new crewman on the Normandy.

Well... Hold on. I'm seeing Wrex in the future, right?

Hm...

Should I, or should I not tell him the truth about me? I know he's as good a friend as I can get with a krogan, but... I don't know how he'll take it. On the one hand, he'll probably throw a major fit and all that. On the other, though, I really should tell him. He's the best male friend I've got from this galaxy, and I don't want to throw that away just because I didn't tell him the truth about me.

Yeah... I should try to tell him.

... If I can get him alone, that is.

Now how the fuck am I gonna do that?

... I'll figure something out, I guess.

For now, I better figure out how to make him lose the game. Because I need to make it as glorious as humanly possible!

* * *

Hm... Well, the steak sandwich as prepared by Sturge is rather good. Makes me think about Thresher steaks.

Now that's something I never thought I'd get to experience. A nice, juicy Thresher steak. Wierd how I seem to be getting into exotic meats a little bit, now that alien species actually exist. Although, it does beg the question of what happens to people when they eat a Thresher steak. I mean... it spews out acid. I hope it's not like pufferfish where you have to prepare it very carefully or you can die eating it.

Crazy Asian delicacies are crazy. Especially if dogs in China are any indication.

But I'll bet they don't compare to crazy krogan delicacies. Now that will be something to see, watching a bunch of krogan down a whole ton of Thresher steaks.

Well... assuming Grunt kills the Thresher Maw in the first place, anyhow. But he will. I've got absolutely no doubt about that. Along with our help. And if it can be done with three people, it can be done with five.

I just hope Shepard doesn't nuke it, or radioactive Thresher steaks will be really, really wierd.

Speaking of which... isn't there supposed to be some kind of ceremony after someone clears their Rite?

Hm...

Maybe we'll get invited to it this time around. We'll see what happens with that.

For now... Hm... Well, I don't know whether Sturge has been given the all-clear from Shepard yet or not, so I'll leave that up to Fate for the moment. But for now, we have other things to worry about.

Like... why is Albert still down in Jack's hidey-hole? Why was Jacob looking at me a little strangely just now? Does Chakwas know about Sturge's secret yet? Why is the Normandy becoming such a love boat at the moment?

But perhaps the most ciritcal question... How are Joc and Thane doing together?

Ah, we'll see soon enough. For now, we're heading to Tuchanka, hoping to kick ass and take names, and hopefully that'll be enough for all of us. And if best comes to best, Sturge will be meeting Wrex while he's here. So yeah, good times are had all around.


	28. Chapter 27

_A/N: Okay, so now we have Art going around onto Tuchanka. So now, things will be even crazier than before! There shall be fistbumps had! Krogans dissed! And fun times had all over the Urdnot camp._

_So let's see how this pans out, eh?_

_Oh... and before I move on, there's another OC who makes his first appearance in this chapter that requires disclaiming, as I don't own him. So without further ado: Urdnot Drakus does not belong to me. He belongs to judodave._

_With that out of the way, let's get movin'!_

* * *

Chapter 27: Reunion

_I don't really know how Tuchanka's gonna turn out, but I know it's gonna be awesome._

_Still, I better prepare for telling Wrex the truth..._

_...by rehearsing it in my bathroom mirror in my dream. Jeez, I have no life._

_"Yeah, see..." Okay, and then I ramble off on the explanation that I'm planning on giving Wrex. Well, if I corner him alone in the first place. I doubt I will, given that he's always on that rocky throne of his. I wonder what he would say to anything I'm saying to myself in front of that mirror._

_Either way, it's going to be a hell of a thing to tell._

_... Why am I so absorbed on this again? I don't really know. But... Jeez, I really need to calm down. Hm..._

_I shake my head. I'm getting nowhere with this. I think I just need to pause for a little bit and think about stuff._

_With this, I exit the bathroom, stepping up onto the loft as I think. Hm... Well, there's still that wierd briefcase where the water heater is, and I still don't know what it does... Hm... It might be worth it to search for a clue as to what it does around here... But... I don't really know all that much at the moment. Hm... What to do, what to do?_

_I shake my head as I walk over to my drawers. I haven't checked that part of the apartment yet. It's not like there's anything useful in there: I mean, that's where I stored most of my socks and underwear. And a few select articles of clothing I didn't really feel like storing in my closet. So yeah, I don't know what it would have._

_But... it's good for the sentimental value. So... yeah._

_I walk over and open the top drawer. Moving down each one, I look through it. Okay... Yeah, all my clothes are here, it's all fine and good, and-_

_..._

_Wait._

_What's that doing here?_

_I gingerly bring my hands onto something that definitely wasn't in my apartment before. Or... if it was, I haven't noticed it yet. This... this looks like that thing that gave off UV radiation that Sturge used to have in his old classrom. So what's it doing here? I mean... I didn't even actually own one of these things. So what the hell is it doing here?_

_I mean, I would have no reason to hide it. After all, I've got nothing to hide. And I don't think..._

_Hold on. Is there a hidden message somewhere? UV radiation isn't exactly known for sitting around on its ass, after all. And plus, it usually unveils messages in hidden has to be._

_Yeah... There's a secret message somewhere in this apartment. And it's up to me to find this secret message, because God knows nobody else can enter my dream at the moment._

_Damn, even my own dreams have something to hide from me. What the hell is this, anyhow? Ah, well, I guess I better find that hidden message._

_I take the little UV ray projector. Hm... I could try on top of the water cooler first. Let's see if this thing can power up without having to be plugged in._

_I switch the device on, and before I know what else is new, I see a deep violet light cast something on the ground. Okay... It does work without having to plug it in. All right, let's see that little cover on the water heater. I look over to the panel, and then bring my arm forward. Slowly, I get over there, noticing something strange about the panel now. Okay, you son of a bitch, let's see what's up._

_I bring the UV emitter over the panel, and to my sweet relief, there's a message there. Okay... I look at the message. It's upside-down from where I am, but that's okay. I can read upside-down. Or just go the other way, but hey, what can I do, right? All right, let's see what's going on here._

_I read the message, translating it into right-side-up language. Okay..._

_Hold on._

Your mind is the scene of the crime.

_..._

_Okay, I've seen a lot of wierd shit in my dream. I've seen the table out at the start, I've seen gravity behave funny in the hallway, I've seen my apartment, I've seen my apartment in a way that wouldn't be possible to live in within the real world..._

_...but this? This takes the fucking cake!_

_Seriously! What the hell is the tagline for _Inception_ doing in my dream? I mean, I didn't even get to see it! And I still haven't seen it, not even with Mangdalar or Yelena. I don't know... What the hell does a movie I have almost no actual viewing knowledge of have to do with my dream?_

_... Unless..._

_Unless it's related to the briefcase somehow? I don't know, I haven't seen the movie, nor do I know about its mythos. I don't really know._

_But... I do know it's available in the Mass Effect universe. So..._

_Yeah. Maybe there's something in that movie that can shed light on what the hell that briefcase is supposed to be. And what it's supposed to do, too..._

_Yeah, that's a reasonable assumption to make. I have a briefcase I've never seen with all this wierd machinery I've never seen, and then I get the tagline for _Inception_ written in invisible ink on top of where the briefcase is stored. Maybe there's a link between the two._

_I need to talk to Shepard and find out exactly what that link is._

_Yeah, that's what I'll do._

_So I set the UV thing down on the ground next to me. Okay, I better wake up. I walk over to the steps that lead away from the loft, stepping down-_

_-and instantly hearing a rather loud splash as my foot very suddenly gets wet._

_Wait... what?_

_I glance down at the area in front of the door, but too late I notice there's water seeping into the room from the door frame. I blink, looking straight at the water. What the hell? This hasn't happened before! Not even when I was playing Dragon Age for 20 hours the other day! And I haven't been in this dream all that long! What's going on?_

_I look over to the window then, and then see that the black is a little... muddier than it usually is. Jesus Christ... What the fuck is going on?_

_I look down at the water. Ah, fuck it, I'll take my chances. I jump into the water, wading through as I notice the water doesn't follow the gravity of the rest of the room. Okay... this is getting really strange. I walk up the walls like it's a bloody centrifuge that they used to film _2001: A Space Odyssey_ in, and now it's not following that. What the hell is going on?_

_I walk up to the window, to see it crack under some kind of pressure. Jesus Christ, what's going on? I shake my head, looking at it._

_Before I can do much in the way of stuff, though, the windows burst open. Water comes rushing at me from there, and before I can so much as take a step back the water is already rushing on me. I look up, and then would gasp in shock at the fact that the apartment is dissolving all around me-if I could actually scream in the body of water as it splashes over me._

_I screw my eyes shut, holding my breath almost as if by instinct. However, as I get splashed around, I suddenly notice everything going eerily still. I hold my breath a few more seconds, but the burning in my lungs is too great. Can't... I can't breathe in..._

_I breathe in._

_And somehow, I'm not drowning._

_Huh?_

_I open my eyes very quickly._

_And I find I'm no longer in my apartment. Instead, I find myself in a strange house with furniture floating in the water all around me. The walls are drab... the paint seems to be falling off, even if it's in water. That's... strange. I see a set of stairs going off in a certain direction._

_Well... this certainly isn't my apartment anymore. But if this isn't my apartment, then what is this place anyhow? It's... it's just an old house, with so many holes that lead out into nowhere..._

_I shake my head. I've gotta get to the bottom of this... Maybe the stairs will lead me to my destination._

_I swim past the various pieces of floating furniture in the dream, glancing as my eyes get accustomed to the feeling of being submerged in water. It's so wierd, though. I mean... What's the meaning of this? Why am I in this house?_

_I swim up the staircase, looking strangely at the details. Huh... Everything is pretty muddy around here. Why's that? I swim through the stairwell, eventually ending up in a strange hallway where the furniture is still floating. I blink, continuing to swim on in the rather strange water. God, what the hell is happening?_

_I mean, here I am, swimming in some dilapidated, torn up house that's submerged in the middle of some body of water that's far more massive than anything I could have conjured up, and it's taken over my normal dream. I'm pretty sure this is the one thing Orange did not have in mind to happen. Or maybe it did, but couldn't exactly tell me. I don't know, I'll bank on Orange not knowing about this. I'll bet she knows something about why the tagline for _Inception _is in my dream in invisible ink, but I think I might have a good idea of what I'm supposed to do with that info, so I won't ask her about that._

_Right... I continue swimming through the house. Jesus, this place is huge! I go through a hallway, a large room, another hallway, and another thing, and there's still no end in sight! What is this? I don't really know, but... I'm not too keen on finding out. Yet._

_Eventually, I find myself in an open room, and there on the other end, is... something. It's definitely not furniture, so I can scratch that from the list of potential candidates as to what it is. Plus, it's more brightly lit than anything else... What is it?_

_I swim over there, having to ignore how bright the light actually is. Jeez, this isn't good. What is it, anyhow? And why is it at the end of this submerged house?_

_I... Yeah... this isn't going to be good. I can see it's a rather small form... looks like a shape..._

_...the shape of an organic. Shit... What the hell?_

_I slowly swim up to it, shaking my head. Okay, this is the moment of truth. What's going down here?_

_I bring my hand forward, slowing to a stop in front of the body. I gingerly feel my fingers touch down, and almost immediately I feel my gag reflex kick in. Damn it, I'm not eating something! Jesus, this is worse than I thought it was gonna be... Okay, Art, calm down. You can do this. You can totally do this. It's just a body. Nothing less._

_... And hopefully, nothing more, either._

_I set my hand down, and close my eyes for a second as I turn the thing around. Okay, I will open my-_

_Holy shit! Holy shit!_

_In front of me is a dead batarian child. He looks at me, his eyes glassy as his eyes seem to bore holes into my skull. His body is strangely motionless. Holy shit, it's a dead child! It's a fucking dead child! Oh my God!_

_I lose it at this point. I let out a harsh scream, but it's swallowed by the water as suddenly everything around me starts shaking. I suddenly feel something shatter around us, with everything seeming to fall-_

* * *

-and then I catapult from my bed with a harsh gasp of air.

I end up sitting there, the blue light of the drive core reminding me that yes, I'm in the real world now. I take in a deep breath, shaking my head and feeling somewhat relieved to be breathing actual air again. I look at the drive core's blue light, and then back to myself. I shake my head then, biting my lower lip.

Jesus... that was really wierd. That never showed up in my dream before! Not even when I got the All-Spark!

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, what the hell was _that_?" I ask out loud, bringing a hand to my forehead. As soon as I do, I blink in surprise, for it's only then that I realize that I have sweat on my forehead. I shake my head, grabbing one of the sheets and wiping it off. Yeah, I'm taking this to wash later. It's all I can do, really. I shake my head then, thinking about it.

And right on schedule, EDI's avatar shows up. "Serviceman *********?" asks the avatar.

I nod. "What is it, EDI?" I ask.

"We are approaching Tuchanka at the moment," says the AI. "Commander Shepard is requesting your presence at the airlock."

I nod, throwing the covers off. "All right," I say. Well, we're close to Tuchanka now. "Tell her I'll be right there."

I stand up, moving over to where I can access my armor when EDI says something else. "As well, I would like to pose a question," says EDI. "I notice that your sleep was a little... erratic just now. Are you all right?"

I blink at EDI, looking right at the blue avatar. EDI, showing concern about my sleep levels? Probably scientific... but we'll see. I shrug. "I just had a really intense dream," I comment. Where I saw a dead child. "It's nothing, EDI. Though, knowing my luck I probably won't be seeing the last of it anytime soon. I appreciate the concern though. Thanks."

"You are welcome, Serviceman," replies the AI. "In the future, I suggest you bring this up to the Commander."

I nod. "Thanks, but I also have my friends," I comment. "It's nothing that'll get in the way of the mission, EDI."

"Very well then," says the AI. "Logging you out."

And with this, the avatar disappears. I nod, looking at my armor. Huh. EDI had a conversation with me. Fun.

I nod, looking at the armor. Slowly, I pick up my chest piece, looking down on it in wonder. Okay... today's gonna be a very, very long day. And in the same armor I used to wear, no less. Strange how time flies. Was it really two years ago when I kicked Saren's ass with Wrex and the rest of those people? It seems like forever and two days have passed since then... I just... man, this is so strange.

And especially with my dream just now. Now I have to actively seek out _Inception_, as well as figuring what the hell hijacked that dream like that. Damn it, I _knew _I should've watched it when Mangdalar gave me the choice. But, it was between that and an asari film, and seeing as how I like movies made by aliens I don't exactly regret it. Still... would've helped me sort things out.

Shaking my head, I place the chest piece down. I strip myself of my shirt, looking over to the armor as I think about all this.

* * *

I sit down in the shuttle, looking all around me. Okay... Shepard and Thane are sitting next to each other on one end of the shuttle, with Mordin, Grunt, and I taking up space on the other. Huh... the krogan sits next to the salarian. I never thought I'd ever see the day... I guess it makes sense, though, as Grunt and Mordin never had the kind of loyalty argument that Jack and Miranda or even Tali and Legion had. So yeah, fun times are had all around.

I glance over to the side Shepard is on, however, and then to my right. Because Tali and Garrus are both coming along too, I guess. Seeing old friends can be a bit crazy like that, especially when it's with a krogan. And then there's Sturge, sitting right next the turian as he holds his hands out in front of him. Good thing Gardner let him come along. Crewman Hawthorne may not be happy, but hey, what can that son of a bitch do anyhow?

I look right over to Sturge as he shifts in place, pulling lightly on his colony shirt. "So... what's this Urdnot Wrex like?" he asks.

I smile, placing my arms on my knees. "Well..." I comment. "He's a rather intelligent person. Especially for a krogan. And he's really old, and kinda cranky. Like you, in a way. Only, more violent."

"All krogan violent," comments Mordin. "Wrex should be no-"

"Mordin, that's not the point," I interrupt. "Besides, mind who you're sitting next to. I don't think you'd like to piss him off." I indicate Grunt where he's sitting next to the doctor, and then shrug as I look back at Sturge. "I think you'd like him. He might call you weak, though."

"Why?" asks the science teacher.

"It's a krogan thing," comments Garrus. "They tend to like people who show displays of strength."

"Hell, Wrex himself tends to be like that," I comment. "Even being one of the more intelligent krogan that ever lived." I look over to Grunt. "Uh... no offense to you, Grunt."

"Hmph." Grunt shifts in his seat. "I don't think that'll be up for question soon. I was made to be perfect. But the tank never mentioned what a wise krogan would say to a young krogan."

"You'll see," says Garrus. "Either way, Sturge, given your age and your occupation, I don't think you'll be getting any krogan friends in the near future. Especially not from anyone not named Wrex."

"Well, we'll see about that," he says. "So, he's a more violent version of me? I'd be afraid to see what he's like in war."

I shake my head, thinking back to when he killed Fist all those years ago. "Fearsome," I comment. "Also, quite trigger-happy. Again, it's a krogan thing, though."

"And he hardly talked to anyone," adds Shepard. "Art and I were the only ones who he considered something of a friend back on the original Normandy."

"And I'm certainly the only one he went out of his way to talk to on the original Normandy, too," I comment. "Though most of the time I went to him. But still, he only talked to the others if they were on a mission. I don't know what it is about me that struck him, though, but he didn't mind me showing up all that much to talk to him. So he's kind of like you in that way."

"What can I say?" asks Sturge, smiling as he gives a rather grand arm gesture. "You always have something that the people who don't socialize much like about you. And I don't know what to do about it, but I'll take it as a great thing for all of us."

"Indeed," I comment. "I seem to attract all the wierd ones, too. Especially the ones that don't talk all that much, but have quite a few interesting things to say when they do." I raise my eyebrow at this. I think he takes the hint, and nods, shifting slightly in his seat as he offers me a sly smile.

"He's certainly not as opinionated as you, though," comments Tali. "He's just a lot more headstrong."

"And he's one of the smartest krogan I know," I comment. "So those two elements make him a fine leader." I cross my leg then, looking right at the group. "I wonder how far he's gotten in uniting the clans of Tuchanka..."

"We will find out soon enough," says Thane.

I nod. If it's as successful as I think it is, though, we'll be in exceedingly good hands here. After all, Wrex is a very effective leader. And, yeah, he'll be all right.

So... Jenny moves around in the Kodiak, and then suddenly, she starts a vertical descent. I see some display come up for Jenny as she shakes her head.

"Jesus, why did it have ta be the vertical drop?" she asks out loud.

I shrug. "Don't blame me for that," I comment.

Grunt simply... well, grunts. God, that was an incredibly lame pun if I ever saw one. "The tank imprints told me this place was bombed out," says Grunt.

I nod. "Wrex told me the entire planet was nuked when they got that technology," I comment. "So... you can't blame me for them wanting to stay underground."

"They bombed this place?" asks the science teacher.

"Violence integral part of krogan culture," says Mordin. "Bombed themselves out when our species found them. Sad state of affairs." He took a sharp inhale here. "Made perfect grunts for rachni."

The old man nods, shaking his head. "And imagine if we had done that to ourselves..." he comments, thinking about it. As he sits there, though, he frowns suddenly, looking back up. "Wait a minute, though. They can regenerate lost tissue, right?"

"Yes," replies Mordin. "Redundant organs and systems make for simple biological healing. Also very fast. Has been the basis of many studies on healing wounds within other species as well."

"But if they can regenerate, couldn't they theoretically live above ground?" he asks. "I mean, the fact that they can regenerate tissue at a rate that is faster than human healing could mean they could stand up to the radiation poisoning, so all they'd have to do is rebuild on the surface and they would be able to get by. Right?"

I shake my head. "What's there to build on the surface?" I ask. "The clean-up would be enormous. Not to mention a waste of the krogan's time."

"You've got that right," says the perfect krogan. "I'm not going to lug things around. I was born to fight! We were all born to fight!"

I gesture to Grunt, giving a lop-sided smile as I do. "See what I mean?" I ask. "They're born to fight."

The shuttle slows to a stop very soon after this, and then Jenny lets out a sigh of relief. Stepping out of her seat after hitting one panel, she nods to us. "Well, that takes care of that," she says as the shuttle doors open. "Interestin' conversation ya had there, by the way. But... we're planet side. Let's get off this thing, shall we?"

We all nod our agreement to this, and then slowly the nine of us step off of the shuttle. We look right in front of us to see a rather stout krogan standing there. He gives us a disapproving glare, looking right at us as he crosses his arms.

"You," he greets. "Your kind is not welcome on this planet."

I raise my eyebrow at this, looking to Shepard. "Well, you certainly make no pains to show that," she comments.

"I'm just stating the facts," replies the krogan. Wow, asshole much? "And if you have a problem with it, you can-"

"Relax, Engar." With this, all our heads turn to a rather young-looking krogan with a bright green head crest on his head. "The clan leader is expecting them."

The other krogan who greeted us scoffs at the krogan who just came in. There's a brief silence before the mean krogan shakes his head. "Fine," he says, pointing at Shepard. "But you better not stir up anything."

Oh, trust me, by the time we're done, there'll be a lot stirred up. I glance over to the green-crested krogan, noticing a slight scar behind one of his brown eyes as he blinks. "Thanks for that," says Shepard.

"It's no trouble," says the krogan. "Commander Shepard, was it? Wrex has told us so many tales of you. And of the man he calls Art as well. Is he here?"

I nod, coming forward. "Yeah, I'm here," I comment. "Nice to meet a polite krogan, because that's not something I see every day."

He raises his eyebrow, crossing his arms as he does so. "Huh," he says. "I expected someone... larger. More intimidating."

I shrug. "Yeah, I imagine people would," I comment. "Especially you... uh...?"

"Drakus," replies the krogan. "Urdnot Drakus, battlemaster of the Urdnot clan."

I look over to him with a nod. "A pleasure, Drakus," I comment. "So... where's good ol' Wrex on a day like this?"

"In negotiations," he says. "But knowing him, he'll stop when he finds out you're here. So I'll take you right to him."

Shepard nods. "That woud be appreciated," she says.

"Krogan showing manners," comments Mordin. "Unusual. Shows signs of... sociability. Must study further."

Drakus frowns slightly at the salarian doctor we have with us, before shaking his head. Bah, it's probably nothing, really. "Right," says Drakus. "I'll take you to Wrex, then. Follow me."

And with this, the battlemaster turns around, setting off in the right direction as I look to Shepard. The woman nods, and then we all follow the krogan as he moves along.

Okay... it's time to see how Wrex is doing!

* * *

Drakus leads us past most of the krogan in the area, and I look as I watch them all argue. No doubt Sturge is standing close to Shepard. Good, he's deferring to those with greater firepower. Though he can always steal my shotgun if the going gets really, really bad. But I doubt they will, because I'm a friend to Urdnot Wrex. And a friend to Urdnot Wrex probably can't be touched around these parts.

We'll see about that.

Anyhow, we get to the big area of the Urdnot camp... and it's even bigger than I imagined it would be. Well, in area, anyhow. There's the varren fighting pit... there's where we get to blow up a bunch of space monkeys with stuff... there's the Urdnot store. Heh, Urdnot Store. Forget the Armani Exchange, the Urdnot Store is where it's at! Yeah, crazy Urdnot Store has some awesome clothes.

Too bad none of 'em fit me.

I look over to the throne, then, as Drakus leads us to it. Okay... That's Gatatog Uvenk... and sitting on the throne is Urdnot Wrex himself! Sweetness! He seems like he's lookin' good. Put on a few pounds since I last saw him, but hey, he's a krogan, it won't deter him much from being badass and awesome. His red head-crest is still rather proud, and he looks rather warily at Uvenk. Okay... yeah, they're at a diplomatic impasse. Especialy since Uvenk is a freaking idiot. Okay...

Before we can go forward, though, I look to a krogan who comes up to Drakus. He looks on disapprovingly.

"Drakus, you know Wrex is in a tribal meeting with the leader of the Gatatog clan," says the krogan. "You'll have to wait until he summons you."

Our guide looks at the smaller krogan as he crosses his arms. "These people are our guests, Klemp," replies the battlemaster. "Besides, I have a feeling Wrex will stop and listen when he sees who one of his guests is."

"Doesn't matter," replies the krogan. "He has business to conduct."

I frown, crossing my arms. "Oh, I'm sorry," I bite back. "I didn't realize the clan leader had a waiting list for people to come see him." Prick. "Watch. He's gonna turn and call me out in a few seconds."

The krogan simply looks at me, frowning. What, you're a minor soldier? Nobody's gonna care about how intimidating _you_ are. "I hate to break it to you, but that's not how things are," says the krogan in front of us. "The clan leader is-"

"Art!"

...

Thank you, Wrex.

I raise one of my eyebrows at the krogan directly in front of us, crossing my arms. "Just so you know, I _totally_ called it," I comment. With this, I give him a dismissing hand wave. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an old friend to catch up with."

And with this, the krogan moves aside without any more doubt. I look over at Wrex, who's stood up from his little throne thing and looking at us with the broadest smile on his face he's ever given anyone. I find myself smiling back as I make my way over to him. I give him a nod as everyone else follows, and then I hold up my fist.

"Pound it!" I exclaim a little too happily.

The old krogan is only too happy to comply, and then I feel his fist connect with mine as I come right up to the throne that he's stepped off of. I flash him a smile, and then nod as he slaps his hand against my right shoulder. Okay, ow, that kinda hurt. But hey, it's a friendly gesture, so I'll let it slip.

"Art!" he exclaims jovially. "My friend!"

"Urdnot Wrex," I comment, flashing him my broadest smile. "It's been a while since last we spoke in person."

"It has indeed," comments the krogan as he moves back a bit. His gaze moves to Shepard before he crosses his arms. "And I see Shepard's here too. She looks good, for being dead. I should've known the void wouldn't hold her back."

I shake my head. "That it could not, Wrex," I reply. "I see you're doing smashingly at the moment. Looks like killing Saren and the geth worked out well for ya. Good thing we didn't kill each other back on Virmire, eh?"

"Ha," says Wrex with a cheerful laugh. "You made the rise of Urdnot possible. Some people aren't happy about that, but then again, that's how things are. Destroying that genophage cure freed us from that manipulation."

I nod. "And I guess that's how you're rallying everyone," I comment, smirking.

"Pretty much," says Wrex. "Good to see you're still up and kicking, even after two years of peace. You even grew your hair out!"

I shrug, closing my eyes as I bring a hand absently to my ponytail. "Well, you know how it is, Wrex," I comment. "I like my hair this length. I was always trying to grow it out, and now that I don't have the mom trying to keep it short every time she so much as bats her eye at it, now's as good a time as any, right?"

Wrex moves to reply when a harsh foot stamp gets our attention. I turn, and there's Gatatog Uvenk, looking at me with a frown. "He's abandoned many traditions to get his way. Dangerous behavior."

I raise my eyebrow. Honey, when is anything a krogan does ever _not _dangerous? Seeming to read my mind, Wrex turns to Uvenk. He rears his head back, and with a rather harsh pounding sound Wrex headbutts Uvenk. The green-crested krogan falls to the side, and it's all Drakus can do to keep himself from chuckling right in front of the Gatatog clan leader.

"Speak when spoken to, Uvenk," replies the leader of the Urdnot clan. "I'll drag your clan to glory whether it likes it or not."

"Also, nobody asked for the interruption," I comment, glaring right at Uvenk as he slowly gets up. "So shut the fuck up."

I smile smugly at him as Wrex goes over to his throne. I follow close behind, getting a glare from the green-crested krogan as I cross my arms. Heh, you don't like this? Deal with it. Wrex sits back on his throne, and then I look on, smiling nostalgically.

"So, Art..." he says. "If you're with Shepard, you're probably here for something. But... we're here now, so we might as well catch up. How's the Normandy?"

"Gone kaboom," I reply. "That's what the official reports say, anyhow."

Shepard nods, coming to my side as she speaks up. "And now, we're working with funding from Cerberus, who rebuilt the Normandy," she says. "And the Alliance isn't stepping in to do shit."

"The irony is palpable," I add, shrugging.

He lets out a scoff. "Well, you have a strong new ship, and a Commander who looks good for having been supposedly spaced," he comments. "The joys of a redundant nervous system."

I blink, bringing a hand behind my neck. "Yeah... uh... humans don't have that," I comment.

"Oh," he says, looking at Shepard. "It must have hurt a lot, then." He nods. "Still, she looks good for having been spaced."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling that great," says Shepard. "But I'm here now. And we're here because we're busy going on adventures killing things."

The krogan's eyes flash happily, and then he nods. "You wouldn't be happy with anything else," he says. "It takes me back, you know. Back when we were fighting Saren. We were facing the unknown, and killing it with big guns. Those were some good times."

"Some, more so than others," I comment, crossing my arms. "Remember when we were on the Citadel trying to get your armor back?"

"Ah, yeah!" says Wrex, pointing his finger. "And you went and baited him. I still haven't forgotten what you did for me that day."

I shake my head. "Yeah, you better not," I reply. "I'd really hate to have to play the sex-crazed Alliance soldier to some crazy turian again, especially for som armor."

"You and me both," replies the old krogan. "You and me both. I didn't even know he had a thing for other species."

"Who could've?" I ask. I mean, hell, the fact that Tonn Actus was so minor in the scheme of things in the game that we never found out much about him beyond 'he sells krogan artifacts for a living' kind of helps, I think. Even I didn't see that one coming. "Still, it was worth it, I think."

He places his arms on the throne's arm-rests. "Indeed," he says, glancing over to Tali and Garrus. "And I see you've brought some of the old squad members down as well! I never thought I'd ever see a turian and a quarian set foot in this place, but here we are."

I shrug. "Yeah, Tali and Garrus just so happened to show up at all the right times," I comment, gesturing to them. "And now they're on the crew of the new Normandy as well."

"It's... refreshing to see a familiar krogan around here," says Tali, coming a little closer to me as she spares a glance at Uvenk and then at Drakus. "I'm... guessing you're all right, Wrex?"

"Indeed I am," he says. "I never thought the quarian would be here, of all people!"

"Well, here I am," she says, proudly.

Wrex nods. "Just don't mind us," he says. "Some of us make a lot of jokes at your people's expense. Signs of weakness, you know." I can feel Tali frowning right next to me as she shakes her head. Oh, Tali, poor you. And the biggest stab of all doesn't even come from a krogan! It comes from Shepard! I shrug then, glancing over to Garrus as Wrex does the same. "And the turian is here too," he says. "You know your kind isn't exactly welcome on Tuchanka by most krogan."

"Well, what can I say?" asks Garrus. "I've dealt with... greater risk than this."

"Greater risk?" asks Wrex. "Now I'm impressed. What did you do this time?"

I shrug. "He managed to piss off every merc company on Omega," I add. "When I first ran into him again, they were all teaming up to try to kill him. Blue Suns, Blood Pack, and Eclipse were all over him. And at the end of it all, they bum-rushed him. And he's still standing. That, my friend, is quite the accomplishment."

Wrex nods. "I see," he says, glancing back at Garrus. "In that case, I think we can make an exception."

"Glad to hear it," says Garrus.

I look over to Uvenk to see him opening his mouth to say something. A rather quick frown from Wrex stops that, though, and so the Gatatog clan leader shuts up about it. I nod, looking back at Wrex as he glances over the rest of the group. "And you've got quite the group with you, Shepard," he comments. "Quite a few faces I've never seen before. And you brought a salarian with you."

I nod. "Yeah, that was... one thing we wanted to talk to you about, actually," says Shepard. "The other being about the krogan."

Wrex glances at Grunt then, watching as the young krogan comes forward. "This one looks... different," he observes.

The tank-bred looks up at Wrex with a slight frown on his face. "I was... tank-bred," he comments. "The voice taught me many things, but nothing about what I am seeing now."

"A tank-bred?" asks Wrex.

I shrug. "One of Warlord Okeer's subjects," I reply. "He was off somewhere playing God with a whole bunch of tank-bred Krogan. He was trying to make the perfect krogan."

Wrex frowns. "Okeer was always insane," he says. "Word of his death wasn't met kindly around here. And now... we have his tank-bred. Why did you bring him here?"

Shepard steps forward. "There seems to be something wrong with him," says the commander. "Lately, he's been banging up his room a lot. All he says is that he needs to kill things. We were wondering if you knew anything about this."

With this, Wrex lets out a sharp scoff, the sound piercing the air as he leans back. He gives a rather sharp smile to Shepard, shaking his head. "Shepard, there's nothing wrong with him," he says. "He's just becoming an adult."

Great. That's just another reminder I needed that my status as youngest member of either Normandy is being upstaged by a fucking _newborn_. "Oh, lovely," I comment. "We get to have the talk with one of our crew members. Mordin, do your worst."

"Krogan mating rituals not my specialty," replies the salarian almost instantly. "This, aside from animosity displayed towards salarians makes giving krogan 'the talk' inadviseable." He inhales sharply. "Intriguing, though."

Wrex shakes his head. "We have our own adulthood rituals here on Tuchanka," he says. "Here, a krogan goes through The Rite."

I raise one of my eyebrows, crossing my arms as Shepard leans to the side. "The Rite?" she asks.

"You're helping them with the tank-bred?" This time, Uvenk comes forward. Okay... he's clearly not happy about this. "You would seek to help people with a tank-bred krogan?"

"And what the fuck is your problem with it?" I ask, crossing my arms. "Tank-bred or not, he's still a krogan."

"No," replies Uvenk. "He is not a true krogan! He was made by a madman! You would seek to ruin tradition with an impure krogan?"

We all frown at this, crossing our arms. But then, Grunt turns to him, staring him down. "I was made to be pure," replies the young krogan. "I was made to be perfect. Hundreds were rejected so that I could come. So you better not talk about my... my creator that way!"

Uvenk seems to cower slightly, but he's not showing any other signs of being afraid for his life. Instead, he simply waves his hand dismissively. "I'm done with this," he says. "This talk is over."

And with this, Uvenk walks off. Drakus shakes his head, crossing his arms as the leader of the Gatatog clan walks away. "I hate him," he says.

I shake my head. "You and me both," I comment. I then turn to the others. "Seriously, that's one guy I'd like to shoot later." It's a good thing we'll get that opportunity after we take on Grunt's Rite, then. "Anyway... you were saying?"

"The Rite is a ritual every young krogan does," says Wrex. "We allow... uhm...?"

"Grunt," I comment. "His name's Grunt."

The old krogan nods. "Very well," he says. "We allow Grunt here to take on the Rite. When he goes through it, I'll guarantee you won't have him banging around the deck anymore."

I glance over to Shepard, and she nods briefly. "Okay, that sounds like a good plan," she says. "I have another issue I need to bring up with you, actually. Mordin?"

With this, the salarian scientist comes forward. Oh, so she already got Mordin's loyalty mission? I see, I see. Wrex raises a proverbial eyebrow at this. "A salarian?" he asks. "That's even riskier than bringing a turian. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to incite the krogan here into attacking you." He chuckles at this. "Not like they'd succeed, but it would be amusing to watch anyhow. What do you need?"

I nod, looking over at the salarian. Heh, yeah it would. So... what's this?

"Mordin here is looking for a salarian student of his," she says. "He's looking for someone named Maelon. We heard he had been kidnapped by a krogan clan."

Wrex nods. "He's probably being held by Clan Weyrloc, then," he comments. "I don't have all that much information about any salarians that are in the area. But... There have been reported sightings of a young salarian. You can talk to the Urdnot scout about it. He'll be able to tell you more."

Shepard nods. "Well, it's better than nothing," she says. "And who do I talk to about Grunt's Rite?"

"Talk to the clan's shaman," says Wrex. "The scout should be by the land rovers. And the shaman is in an upstairs area." Wrex points his finger at the approximate location. "Speak to them." And then he glances right at me. "But first, I think Art and I have a lot of catching up to do."

I nod. "Indeed we do," I comment, looking over to Sturge. "Sturge, stay here. Shepard?"

The commander nods. "I'll see if I can talk to the scout about Mordin's problem," she says. "I'll wait for you two to finish."

I nod. "Then it's settled," I say. "I'll see you soon, Shepard."

With this, the Commander nods. And with most of the rest of the group following, she leaves. Tali spares me a look as she goes, halting in her steps as she passes Sturge. I give her a reassuring nod, and she simply flashes me something with her eyes. I nod, giving her a smile as she slowly rejoins Shepard, her step a little more lively as I give a small wave. I'll see you soon, Tali. I smile after her. God... I'll be with you soon.

"Hmph." I jolt slightly, turning to Wrex. "So you and the quarian have got something going, eh? About damn time, I say."

I frown slightly, looking to Wrex. "Oh, so you're interested in my love life now?" I ask.

"Oh, don't act like we were all blind!" says Wrex. "We could all see there was something going on between you two. Looks like you finally realized it."

I glance to the side, feeling a slight blush on my face. "Wait, what?" I ask. "You saw it too?"

Wrex simply shakes his head. "_Everyone_ saw it," he says. "Well... except you two. Good to see you finally addressed it." He indicates Sturge then, looking at the old man. "Who's the other human?"

I blink, raising one of my eyebrows as Sturge turns to me. "What, nothing about me being old?" he asks.

I roll my eyes. "Human old and krogan old are not the same thing," I point out. "Don't forget, krogan live for a thousand years." I shrug, ignoring his nod. Yeah, his memory's been slipping lately, but whatever. "Anyway, Wrex, this is my good friend Michael ******* ************. We all call him 'Sturge' for short. And Sturge, this is Urdnot Wrex."

He nods, looking at my human friend. "Sturge, huh?" he asks. "And here I thought you didn't have any more surprises, Art! Don't ask me to call him by his last name!"

Sturge shakes his head. "Nobody else ever does, trust me," he says. "Practically _everyone _I know has shortened it to 'Sturge'. Students have done it, colleagues have done it... you know the rest."

"I see," replies Wrex. "I guess Art knew you somehow?"

"Oh, he was one of my most dilligent students," says the teacher. "He and I both share interests in music, and he was one of my more intelligent students. It's wierd that I ran into him recently, actually. I've been travelling with Shepard's group ever since. It's my first time off of Earth, too, and I'm seeing all these wierd things around here. I never thought there..." Oh, no Sturge, you almost revealed me before I was ready! "Well... I didn't think alien species could be so interesting."

The krogan nods. "An old man on the battlefield?" he asks. "Interesting."

I shake my head. "Nah," I comment. "He's one of our... co-mess sergeants, was it? Yeah, co-mess sergeant. But it's still nice to see an old face from Earth, you know?"

Wrex nods. "Indeed," he replies. "He may be a little weak, but as you would say, 'the friend of my friend is my friend'." His red eyes settle on Sturge. "I guess it was nice to meet you, then."

Hm... Well, that went really well. I guess my respect points can help a lot with things. Sturge nods in reply, crossing his arms. "Same here," says Sturge. "I didn't think Art would be the type to get friends like this."

"Ha!" the krogan scoffs, glancing to the side before turning his attention back to Sturge. "He's full of surprises, let me tell you! I'll bet there's still something he can surprise me with right now!"

Hm... like telling you about how things are with me? Trust me, Wrex, I'll hold back on that. For now.

I nod. "So you've been well," I say to Wrex.

"Oh, yes," he says. "I had... a surprising reception waiting. My broodbrother Wreav wasn't happy, but... there were many who were glad I came back. One of them was Drakus, actually."

I look back. "Yeah, I was going to ask about that," I comment. "Who is Drakus?"

"He was one of the Urdnot battlemasters when I left," replies Wrex. "One of the newest ones when I left, too. Damn fine battlemaster, if you ask me. He thought the same thing I did when I left."

I nod, smiling. "It must have been a relief to see he's still relatively polite at the moment," I comment.

"He was always like that," comments Wrex. "It's just good to see his spirit hasn't dampened after three hundred years."

"I'll bet," I say. "What's he doing now?"

"Oh, Drakus?" asks Wrex. "He's my helper. He's done almost as much work as I have bringing the clans together. He's young, but energetic. And he can go places I can't."

I nod. "Must be nice to have help like that," I comment.

"Oh, yes," he says. "If there's one thing about him, though... it's that he makes friends with all the strange people. He's helpful, but too trusting."

I nod. Yeah, Jarrod was a bit of a bitch, wasn't he? "We'll see how that works," I comment. "And meanwhile... I trust you know what I've been doing through all those extranet messages."

"Sounds weak," he says, frowning slightly. "But exciting. I never thought you would try settling down, only to rejoin Shepard when she comes back from the void."

"Well, hey, what can I say?" I ask with a smile.

"You're quite full of surprises," he says. "Don't stop being full of them. I like that about you; you always manage to surprise me."

...

Oh, damn it. Well... if I just lost it, I might as well drag Wrex down with me.

"Oh?" I ask. "Let me guess. Does one of those surprises have something to do with the fact that I just lost _THE GAME?" _I ask, purposefully shouting the last word so it could be heard all throughout the area we're in.

Heh. He should've known I'd bring that up eventually, right?

But instead of looking at me, he smirks.

"No, actually," he replies smugly.

Uh-oh... that's not a good sign. I mean, why is he being so smug about this? I swear, if he lost the game first, I-!

"_Aw, damn it!_"

What the-?

I jump nearly a foot in the air, not at Wrex saying these words, but at the fact that _an entire chorus of krogan _just shouted that.

I land, shaking my head as I look all around me. Shortly after, there's dead silence all around, only the chirp of a far-off pyjak escaping from anything. I blink violently, looking right back at the old krogan as he shifts in his seat, that shit-eating smirk directed right at me.

I'm silent, even as life turns back to normal all around us. And then, I gesture behind me.

"Did... I... Who... Bjeep..." I stumble over my words, shaking my head in disbelief. My eyes feel like they're about to fly out of my sockets, damn it! "Was that seriously _every single krogan _in the area?" I ask.

"Oh, and probably more," says Wrex.

... "You taught them the game," I say, realizing what's happening.

"Of course," says Wrex.

"What the hell is the game?" asks Sturge, showing his confusion clearly.

I sort of ignore him though. "You taught everyone to yell 'aw, damn it', whenever the words 'the' and 'game' appear in that order within a sentence," I say.

"That wasn't me," replies Wrex. "They got that on their own. But it's become really popular on Tuchanka."

"What are you talking about?" asks the old scientist teacher.

I point behind me. "And _every_ krogan knows about the game?" I ask.

"That has been in the Urdnot camp?" replies Wrex. "Yes."

I blink, shaking my head. Seriously. "My God, Wrex," I comment. "I... I don't even know... Why...? Who...? When...? _How?_"

"_What the fuck is the game?_"

The two of us turn to Sturge, whose arms are violently flying about. I look, with an even more confused expression than before. I shake my head, looking right at Wrex.

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, Wrex," I comment. "I just... I have no words to describe how fucked my mind is after you apparently taught every krogan in the Urdnot clan or allying themselves with the Urdnot clan about the game!" I turn to Sturge. "As to what the game is..."

I then look to Sturge, hoping to explain the game in the plainest terms possible. Hell, I did it for Wrex, hopefully Sturge will get it too.

* * *

And after explaining the game to Sturge, the conversation eventually turned back to things that it was originally about anyway. As in, catching up with Wrex. It seems he's gotten quite a few clans to unite with Urdnot that I've never even heard of before. So yeah, that's always welcome. And then he got to ask me about some of my film score work. Yeah, I haven't been doing any lately, but I was burned out by having to score three hours of music when I did _Last Days of the Earth_, so it probably won't happen for a while.

But... my concert music has been played all over the place, so...

There's that.

Anyway, I think it's time we got over to Shepard.

I nod as Wrex finishes saying something. "I see," I comment. "Well, Wrex, I'd hate to cut this conversation short, but you and I both have things we need to do, so I probably shouldn't keep you."

The krogan nods. "We do have things to do," he says. "But still, it's great seeing you on Tuchanka of all places."

I smile, pointing a finger at him. "I told you I'd visit if I ever got the chance," I comment. "And here we are."

"Indeed," says Wrex, offering a rare smile. "It's great to see you again, Art. And it was good meeting your friend, Sturge."

I nod. "Same here, Wrex," I comment. "I'll see you again when we take care of everything Shepard needs to."

"Nice to meet you too, Wrex," says Sturge. "We better be going now."

"Art," replies the krogan.

"Wrex," I comment, flashing him a smile.

And with this, Sturge and I walk away from the krogan, a broad smile on my face. God, it's so damn _good _to see Wrex is still up and kicking. I smile as I walk off, Sturge following close behind as I walk over to where Shepard went.

"Just for the record, I still think that the game is stupid."

I turn to Sturge, crossing my arms. "You wouldn't get it," I comment. "It's a youth thing. But anyway, I thought it would be fun to teach it to Wrex." I cross my arms as my eyes widen. "Apparently, it went a bit further than I actually intended."

"Indeed it did," he says. "That's why you have to be careful about things, Art. You never know how out of control it can get."

I shrug. "True enough," I comment. "Anyway, let's go see what Shepard is up to."

The two of us then find ourselves in front of Shepard, but already I see a hustle and bustle of people. Yep, it's the group, but why are Garrus, Jenny, and Grunt standing to the side? The rest of the group is heading to the transport, but before she can do much else Shepard turns to me with a grin on her face. She nods, walking over to me as Mordin, Thane, and Tali all move close to one of those land rovers.

She approaches then, nodding. "Art, there you are," she says. "We're going to get going soon."

I nod. "So what about Sturge?" I ask.

"Grunt, Jenny, and Garrus can watch over him here," she replies. "I hope you don't mind?"

The old man shakes his head. "Oh, no," he replies. "I'll be all right with that. Garrus is pretty good company anyhow."

"Good," says Shepard, gesturing over to Garrus and Grunt. "We'll see you after we take care of business outside of the Urdnot camp, right?"

"Yes," says Sturge with a small nod. "I'll see you later."

Shepard nods, and then Sturge walks over to where the other three who are not on the mission are going. I follow Shepard shortly afterwards as we go over to the land rovers. She gives me a very brief nod, and then we're both close to where the others are.

"So I take it we're heading to the Weyrloc camp first?" I ask.

"Yeah," says Shepard. "There's a rover that's going to take us just outside of there. We'll have to get in from there. Hopefully we can do it stealthily."

I shake my head, coming next to Tali as we all move to enter the rover. "Knowing you Shepard, stealth may be thrown out of the window in the first ten minutes," I comment.

"Finesse is not her specialty," adds Thane. "But... we will do what we must."

Yep, that we will. I clamber into the land rover after Shepard, Tali following shortly behind. Okay, so Mordin's loyalty mission is the first order of the day. There shall be many things done. Krogan shall be killed, Mordin's expectations will be shattered... and we have the opportunity to make a species-changing decision for the krogan.

We'll see what happens in the near future.

For now... I'm glad I got to talk with Wrex for as long as I did, because god damn it, Wrex is the most awesome son of a bitch in the universe.


	29. Chapter 28

_A/N: Okay, so now we have Art actually on Tuchanka._

_Yeah, the game returns with a major vengeance now. You see how it is, amirite?_

_Fun times are had for all. Oh, and in case you don't get to check it out, I got another commission done for Mass Vexations, this time throwing Madison and Garrus into the mix. http:/gamergal. deviantart . com/#/d37u2lt Take out the spaces and it's all hunky-dory from there._

_Oh, and we passed the 500 review mark with the last chapter. Let's see if we can keep up this roll, shall we?_

_Anyhow, last time, we had a character return to Mass Vexations. Now... let's see a bit character from MV1 also make his grand return._

* * *

Chapter 28: Doctor Caligari

The land rover comes to a stop as we ride out over the deserts of Tuchanka. Okay... looks like we're here. Well, not really, but still. The krogan driver is visible from where I sit... and seriously, these things are actually pretty spacious. I guess it comes from the fact that we're all relatively thin people here; must be more than adequate room for a krogan, anyhow. Or just enough. I never really can tell with the krogan.

Especially when it comes to the very thing I introduced Wrex to. Yeah, thanks for that, Wrex. Now I'll never be able to look at a krogan without losing the game for the rest of my life. Thanks, Wrex.

I shake my head then, watching as the driver turns to us.

"This is as far as I can go," he says. "The Weyrloc camp isn't far from here. If there aren't any scouts, you should be inside in less than two minutes."

Shepard nods, going out to the opening where the land rover is. "That's great," says the commander. "Thanks."

"Anything for Urdnot Wrex," says the driver. "Also, don't die out there. I'd hate to have nobody to play the game with."

"Stop reminding me!" I shout, rushing for the hole. It's a few seconds later when I literally swan dive out of there, landing on my feet. Seriously. I shake my head, grumbling to myself as Tali clambers out herself.

"I swear, that's the fastest I've ever seen you vacate something," she says.

I shake my head. "No," I comment. "It's just the fastest I've ever come to regret making someone lose the game. I seriously didn't think Wrex would teach it to the entire Urdnot Clan! It was something fun between best friends, you know?"

"Something fun that got a little out of hand, it seems," says Shepard.

"Not in any way I was expecting, that's for sure!" I shoot back.

"Oh, you'll get over it," Tali says, laying a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Trust me on that."

I shrug. "Yeah, I guess it will," I comment. "But still, I'd like to get that over with sooner than later."

The quarian nods, rubbing my shoulder slightly. "Well, until then, we get to find something. So let's hope for the best."

I nod as Mordin and Thane both get out of the land rover. Yeah, it's all I can do, isn't it? The drell looks around him, his eyes nictating as he looks around. "It is... unsettling how much destruction there is in the surface of Tuchanka," he says. "I must confess, I never could see myself here of all places."

I shrug, shaking my head as I lightly grab Tali's hand. The five of us walk a short ways, Mordin coming up front. "Not important to mission," says the salarian. "Weyrloc camp close. Maelon should be there. Should get going soon. Do not know risks once we get inside."

Shepard simply nods, grabbing her pistol from her holster. "Well, you heard the scientist," she says. "We need to get moving, and soon. Let's go."

I simply nod, taking out my assault rifle as Thane, Tali, and Mordin all pull their respective weapons. Hey, can't hurt to be armed in a Weyrloc camp, right? I wonder what we're going to run into now that all this is going around. Hm... I better keep my eyes peeled. Don't look at Tali's shotgun...

We eventually come to the first of the chest-high walls in the area. Jesus Christ, why is it that the chest high walls _always _telegraph the location of the next fight? Well... except on the Collector ship, but hey, there was a reason for that. I just don't know... Maybe it has something to do with the vorcha that are nearby. I dunno.

I slowly move against cover as Shepard does the same. Slowly, the squad follows her example, and then I peer out at the small group of vorcha that look like they're milling about. Patroling, no doubt. I shake my head, noticing suddenly that they've got red armor on them.

"Blood Pack..." I whisper.

"Makes sense," adds Mordin, bringing up his submachine gun. "Blood Pack active in Tuchanka."

"And here I thought I'd seen the last of these buggers," I add, shaking my head.

Shepard, who's right next to me, nods her agreement. "Good thing we didn't bring Garrus," she says. "That wouldn't have ended well..."

"Indeed," I say. "I'll bet they're working for Weyrloc."

"If that's the case, we might as well get moving," says Shepard. "And we'll get moving the best way we can... with force!"

And with this, she comes out of cover, and then I see her unleash something after glowing blue for the slightest fraction of a second. I then see the biotic shockwave cross the threshhold towards the vorcha. It takes a little to get there, and when it finally does, vorcha are suddenly catapaulted every which way.

Look ma, they're flying!

I bring up my assault rifle, taking aim at a vorcha as he flies through the air. I nod, and then shoot a short burst of rifle fire at him. He goes down without too much ceremony, not getting up when he goes back up. The others seem to be pretty quick about the shockwaved vorcha, and almost all of them are down by the time they've all hit the ground.

All right! Score one for us!

Shepard then gets out of cover, rushing away. I nod. Yeah, probably best to push our advantage. I nod to Shepard as we move forward.

And then I hear an electronic buzzing as I vault over cover. And before long, I see the glowing purple sphere by Tali. She glances at me as we both slam our backs into a piece of cover.

"So I see you repaired Chikktika," I comment. "Or... rebuilt her, anyhow."

"I had to rebuild her from scratch," she says as the drone moves past us. Tali cocks her shotgun briefly. "Hopefully, this time it won't get left behind."

I shake my head. "If I'm thinking right, I don't think we'll have to worry about that."

And with this, I pop out of cover, shooting at a vorcha that's heading straight for Shepard's position. It seems like it's already weakened, but my assault fire takes it down.

I look off to the side to see Chikktika floating over to a vorcha, an electric shock emanating from the combat drone as the vorcha is hit. It seems to stumble, and then a far-off round kills it. Okay... judging by the fall, that was Thane's bullet. And he cleared a piece of cover. Hm... It's probably better suited for Tali, what with her wielding a shotgun.

I look to her and nod. "Go!" I say. "I'll cover you!"

The quarian nods, and very quickly gets out of cover. She looks off to see a vorcha heading towards Chikktika, and she grabs her shotgun and fires at said vorcha. It flies back a little bit, a little submachine gun fire from Mordin finishing it off. I see another vorcha come out, and then immediately after a krogan comes out.

Uh... someone, this would be a really good time to use biotics. I mean _really _good time.

Fortunately, someone takes the hint, as then the krogan is sent flying back by a throw. Okay... that's probably Thane... Yeah. I fire some assault rifle bursts at the vorcha, and then Chikktika finishes that particular vorcha off with an electric shock. As soon as that vorcha falls, another one gets in on the action. A single shot booms out in the area around us, so that's probably Thane... and the krogan gets up, despite some pistol shots from Shepard.

Right... Time to finish that bastard! Tali acts first, coming out of cover and getting a shotgun hit on the krogan. Something falters, and then I see an explosion of flame on the krogan. Mordin, perhaps. I level some assault rifle fire even as the krogan continues charging right at Shepard. Quickly, she brings out her hands, though, and no sooner does the krogan realize what she's doing than the krogan is flying in the air, floating harmlessly above the commander. She even flies right over the barrier of the decrepit road we're fighting on! Mordin shoots a few more rounds in its direction with his submachine gun, and then it falls unceremoniously with a rather loud cry.

I nod then, and then the five of us continue on, shooting out more vorcha than we can count. They just keep coming, along with the relatively few krogan that we do come across too. Hm... There sure are a lot of Blood Pack people here. Maybe it's a conspiracy?

Well... I know it's definitely so with Maelon. But what about the Blood Pack? Although... Eh, may just be me. Conspiracy theories are full of shit anyhow.

Now if only I could say that to David Icke's face. Because _that _would be epic.

I continue firing at various people, the five of us making ground...

... Jesus Christ, they were just sending the vorcha out like... well... cannon fodder!

I mean, now we have a whole cluster of about five, seven krogan. Actually... Yes! Seven krogan! Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, seven krogan! Great... They had to save all of this for last! Yeah... vorcha make good cannon fodder, but apparently the krogan were waiting for us. Let's hope Shepard and Thane's biotics are enough in this situation.

I come out of cover then, firing my assault rifle at one of the krogan. I see him attempt to rush us, but fortunately, a biotic shove from Thane takes care of that. Shepard fires her pistol at the krogan, but another one rushes towards us. Chikktika shocks it, but even that combined with an incinerate from Mordin isn't enough to get it off of its trajectory.

And it's right around that point that I realize that the krogan is bum-rushing my position! Ah, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff! I stumble back, hoping to get out of his way. But just before I can do so, he glows biotically blue, and then he flies right over me. Okay, phew, thanks Shepard! He flies right over Mordin and Thane, both of whom divert their fire to shoot at the floating krogan. So... that one goes down pretty quickly.

Now, to go back to-

Holy shit on a shit sandwich! They're all charging us! Shepard is holding her ground, though, preparing a biotic attack even as Chikktika backpedals like crazy-

And then, I suddenly see some kind of black hole thing come up right in the center of a krogan. Hey, wait a minute... That's a singularity! Before I can register anything else, though, the krogan start flying around in a kind of cyclone, taken up by the wierd gravity of the tiny black hole in the center of the cluster. Uh... Wait... I glance to Shepard, but her hands are still firmly on her pistol.

Wait... Could it be?

Hey! We've got back-up!

"Miracle!" I shout. "Let's shoot these fucking bastards while they're up!"

And with this, we go absolutely nuts. I fire my assault rifle into the crowd of swirling krogan as fire from somewhere to the side joins in. Shepard switches her pistol out for her shotgun, cocking it and firing it into the crowd. Thane, Mordin, and Tali all contribute, and from there... it's a slaughter house. Chikktika shocks, Mordin incinerates, and we all keep firing as they swirl around. Eventually, the singularity stops working, but by the time the krogan fall, we've already managed to kill quite a few of them. One can't seem to get up, and a single shotgun blast from Tali makes sure he stays down.

Thus, we get the two remaining krogan. The one seems pretty much finished anyhow, but a burst of rifle fire from the side makes sure of that. The other manages to do extremely well, even standing up.

And... that won't last too long, because then Shepard lifts him into the air biotically, and then he floats over me. I nod, shooting at it with my assault rifle. A sniper shot cuts off my shooting as then the krogan floats above me dead.

And... the Weyrloc building is right there. Okay. So that's the last of the enemies we'll run into while we're out here. I nod, holstering my assault rifle as the rest of us get up. Tali immediately walks over to Chikktika, but the combat drone is already heading towards Tali. She picks it up gently, and then we all look to the side as Thane, Shepard, and Mordin all join us.

I nod, and then we see a pair of people come out from the side of the road we were just fighting on. Okay... one of them looks like an asari, and the other looks like a salarian. I nod, Shepard and I coming forward as they move. Okay... the asari is in wierd armor that's colored blue and a slightly colored shade of blue. So yeah, blue all around. The other is in more... appropriate armor. Yellow-ish brown like the sands of Tuchanka. Visual thing with Tuchanka. Hm. Leave it to the salarians to be purely logical.

I look to the two of them. "Looks like you two have impeccable timing," I comment, crossing my arms.

"He said it best," says Shepard, indicating me with a quick tilt of her head in my direction. "Glad you two are on our side."

The salarian's head faces me, and as he moves his head towards his right shoulder he crosses his arms. I raise my eyebrow in reply as the rest of the group comes forward. The salarian has a pistol out, and upon bringing his head back in an upright position, he nods, holstering the pistol as he brings his hand up in a pensive position.

"You know, I thought there was something familiar about your armor," says the salarian.

Hey, wait... That voice...

I frown, raising an eyebrow. "It sounds like I know you from somewhere..." I say. Hold on... the only salarians I would know would be... "You didn't happen to be at Virmire when Saren's facility was nuked straight to hell, did you?"

The salarian nods, going straight to his helmet. He slowly unfastens it, and a few seconds later the thing comes off of his head. And then, green, frog-like eyes are looking at me.

"I led team Orzammar when you split us up after we lost Kirrahe," he replies.

... Holy shit. He's... it's the reddish brown salarian from Virmire! Yeah, the one named after the Dwarf Commoner! Brosca, right?

"Jarel!" I say, letting off a bright smile as the salarian makes his reddish-brown complexion known. "Son of a bitch! Of all the places...!" I throw my hands up, and then see he's trying to give me a handshake. I take his hand and shake it very vigorously, then. "How've you been, man?"

"Excellent," says Jarel, a similar smile across his face. "I'll admit, I was not expecting to see you or the Commander on Tuchanka."

I shrug, gesturing to Shepard. "Well, here we are," I comment, looking to the woman in armor standing next to him. "And you are...?"

"Someone you shouldn't be talking to," she says, her voice seeming to spew venom. Hm... it sounds a little similar to Jack's for some reason... Huh. "You're getting in the way."

But still, really? I shake my head, crossing my arms. "Ahem, it's called 'old friends reconnecting'," I reply. "The mission can wait for a few minutes." I shake my head looking to Jarel. "Seriously, do _all _your commanding officers have to be impolite?"

"You're getting in the way of a mission," replies the asari.

"In a manner of speaking, you are doing something that is not dissimilar."

Oh, snap, bitch! Thane just totally burned you! I wink at her at this, and I think I see her hand tense. Ooh, got under your skin, didn't I? That's alright, honey, I wasn't gonna embrace eternity with you anyway. But she looks right at the drell. Jeez, things are getting off to a bad start already... So yeah.

"To be fair, this time _they _saved our asses," adds Shepard.

I nod. "Point taken," I say, looking back at the asari. "Let's try this again. You are...?"

The asari lets out a groan. Hm... she's obviously not amused about something. But she doesn't go with the rude gesture again, this time simply shaking her head before moving to take her own helmet off. It comes off after a few seconds, and then I'm looking at an asari with a harsh face and purple face paint all over herself. Her mouth looks set in a scowl, and she looks over at me.

"Tela Vasir," she says.

"Tela Vasir," says Mordin. "Have heard of you. Special tactics and reconaissance. Former asari commando."

I blink. Oh, Jesus. Did I just badmouth the wrong bitch? "Wait, so you're a Spectre?" I ask.

"Yes," says Tela. Oh, fuck, yeah, I just badmouthed the wrong bitch. Well... at least she kind of deserved it. "I am a Spectre. Jarel is my... pupil, so to speak."

I glance back at the younger salarian. "Wait, so you're a Spectre candidate?" I ask.

"Oh, yes," says Jarel. "Happened fairly recently. I was offered the candidacy after everything I did on Virmire and with other STG operations. I'm on my fourth mission as Spectre candidate. The evaluation is coming after this, so we'll see what happens."

I nod, smiling. "I see," I comment. "Looks like life treated you fairly well! And what of the rest of the STG regiment on Virmire?"

"Still together," he says. "They had to get a new captain, but they're still together. We have you to thank for that."

"Glad I was able to help you out," I comment, giving him a smile.

It's then that I look to Tela as she glances at the rest of us. "I think I recognize one of you, too." She places her gaze on Shepard. "Strange seeing a fellow Spectre in the area. Did the Council assign you to help out here too?"

Shepard shakes her head. "I've got a bigger mission at the moment," she says. "I'm here as a favor to my crew. Mordin Solus, if you must know."

Jarel nods. "I thought I recognized the great Mordin Solus!" he says. "I never thought I'd meet him in my life!"

"Mission far too valuable," says the doctor. "Human colonies dissapearing." he takes a sharp inhale here. "Must stop disappearances. Still, here on business. Old student held by Weyrloc clan. Maelon."

At this, Tela's eyebrow-things rise slightly. "Maelon?" she asks. "He was specified in the dossier for our mission."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yes," she says. "It seems this detour may not have been wasted time after all."

The rest of us nod, and then I see Jarel thinking about something. Tela glances over to him, wondering what he's going to say next. The Spectre candidate then nods, looking to us. "Then I suppose you know something about what he's doing, right?" he asks.

All of us shake our head. "No," says Mordin. "Only heard that he had been captured. Nothing about what he is doing."

Jarel nods. "Then I guess we'll have to divulge it," he says. "The Council thinks he's creating a genophage cure for Weyrloc."

I rear back slightly, looking at the salarian. Yeah, I saw this coming, but hearing someone else say it? Yeah. "He's curing the genophage?" asks Shepard.

"It's what the Council suspects, anyhow," replies the asari Spectre. "He was... scientifically brilliant. In a manner of speaking."

Shepard shakes her head. "Mordin told me about the modified genophage," she comments. "You don't have to hide anything from me."

Tela looks at us suspiciously, but shakes her head. "Very well, then," she says. "It would make sense to get someone who was working on that project. They would know the genophage inside-out, no questions asked. That's why we think they're trying to cure the genophage. As for whether he went there willingly or not, I can't say for certain. But... my suspicions are leaning towards him going willingly."

"Impossible!" says Mordin. "Maelon knows risk of krogan populations rising. Could have resulted in new krogan rebellions. Knew it had to be done! Was abducted! Must have been!"

Oh, Mordin, you silly scientist salarian you. "Maybe he wisened up," replies Shepard, crossing her arms. "Paint it how you want, Mordin, but the genophage was a mistake."

"Genophage best option," says Mordin. "Genocide not an option, but neither is letting them go free. Population stable, but no rebellion. Other possibilities led to disaster."

I shake my head. "It's not that clear-cut, Mordin," I comment. "I think it was a bad idea, personally. And so do some of my friends back on the Citadel."

"Depends on who you're talking to," says Tela with a shrug. "It's a hot issue, really. There are just as many people for the genophage as there are against it. And that's why the modified genophage is classified. We don't know what would happen if it got out to the public." Okay, then I'll write a poem about it just to spite the turian councillor for all his fucking air quotes. "But we don't know about Maelon's involvement being willing for sure. That's not the point of our mission, anyhow. Our mission is to find Maelon and take whatever data he had. Once we have the data, we can do with it as we please."

"They hope to destroy it," says Jarel. "But we'll see what happens when we find the data."

I nod, looking at them. "Well..." I say. "You're looking for Maelon, and we're looking for Maelon. Maybe we should join forces."

Jarel nods. "Well, we were going to go in stealthily and retrieve Maelon," says the salarian. "But... now that the Blood Pack here knows you're here, they may send people after us. So it may be beneficial to partner up."

"Our objectives are more or less the same," says Tela. "That'll be enough, I think."

Shepard nods. "Yeah, this looks like it would be a good time to team up," says Shepard. "Very well, Tela and Jarel. We'll work together to get this done."

I nod, looking at the rest of the group. Okay, we get to work with Jarel again! I look to the salarian with a smile, giving him a small thumbs-up. "Yeah, looks like it's back to working together," I comment.

"Indeed, Serviceman," says Jarel. "By the way... I thought Shepard was dead."

I shrug, taking out my pistol as the rest of us draw our weapons. "It's a long story," I comment. "I'll tell you when we don't have to retrieve data on a potential genophage cure."

The salarian nods in reply. "Still, this will be great," he says. "Let's hope nothing outrageous happens like it did on Virmire."

I give him a smile. Well, since Virmire ended with at least one casualty, and Mordin's loyalty mission doesn't...

"I really doubt it, Jarel. I really do."

* * *

The five-sorry, did I say five? The _seven _of us now are in the Weyrloc base. Okay... good thing the area didn't have to load. It's... dingy as all hell. But then, any bombed-out hospital will do that to us, I think. It's all brown and decaying and full of the Red Death at the moment.

... The Red Death? Really?

Good thing I'm on Tuchanka. I'd almost say I need to go outside more if it wasn't for that.

Right... Hey, there's the fuel tank there... Isn't this where we run into that krogan who won't shut up?

Oh, wait, no, there's the subject of the human body that shows up first!

We see this body laying down, and then Mordin bends down, scanning it with his omni-tool. Hm... I think I know how this conversation goes. Yep, we find out a human was a test subject, we're all really sad... and Shepard goes off to poke at Cerberus. Good thing Miranda wasn't here; I'm sure her report would mention that.

Anyhow, fun times are had for the galaxy all around. Well, except for the dead guy.

Let's move.

With this, we venture further into the base, climbing down a ramp as we go along. We then come over to a door, stepping over old material as we do so. We then pass the door in relative silence, looking up at a rather wide room as we do so. Yeah... it's grand... spacious... the perfect place for a firefight.

And we're getting one soon, judging by the fact that three krogan suddenly enter the room from a higher place.

"I am the speaker for Clan Weyrloc, offworlders!" says the krogan in white-ish armor. "You have shed our blood. By rights, you should be dead already. But Weyrloc Guld, the chief of chiefs, has ordered that you be given leave to flee and spread the message of our coming."

Oh, God... I've only heard one of the lines from the game and already I wish she would do something about that shit! Dude, you're fighting against Shepard. I think we all know how this is gonna end.

"If I flee, I might trip over the dozen krogan I killed to get here," says Shepard, pointing behind her. "I think I'll take my chances."

The speaker isn't amused by this. "You killed our youngest and weakest, human," he says. "They were not worthy of remaining near our glorious work." You're just saying that because you know we're a threat. And that's how insane people work. Trust me, I've been in Youtube flame wars, I would know this stuff. "Inside, you will find only hardened Blood Pack veterans, tempered by savagery and war and dedicated to one goal." Oh, you were still talking? I'm sorry. "The salarian will cure the genophage, and Clan Weyrloc will spread across the galaxy in a sea of blood!"

"Appears they discovered Maelon's work," says Mordin.

"That isn't a good sign," adds Tela as she shifts uneasily.

Yeah, it isn't a good sign when this krogan son of a bitch won't shut up for two seconds! I mean, for real!

Shepard lifts a hand up. "It doesn't have to happen like this," she says. "I could understand wanting to cure the genophage."

"No, human, you understand nothing!" shouts the Weyrloc speaker. Jesus Christ, you're starting to sound like Fred Figglehorn! "You have not seen the piles of children that have never lived! The krogan were wronged! We will make it right, and then we will have our revenge!"

"That depends on how you look at it," comments Jarel from behind Tela as he comes forward. "Half of this galaxy sees you as victims!"

"If you go to war with the galaxy, you'll lose their support!" adds Shepard.

The Weyrloc speaker looks at us with a look of incredulity all over his face. "We have the Blood Pack, and we have the salarian!" he says. "When our clan numbers in the millions, we will not need support."

Well, it's your loss. The krogan starts to pace all over the upper platform.

Oh, God, here we go...

"When we cure the genophage, Weyrloc Guld will rule all krogan!" he says. Oh, Jesus... "The Krogan Rebellions will become the Krogan Empire!" Okay... she hasn't taken the renegade interrupt yet. Don't worry... she'll have an entire rant to take on it... "The surviving races will frighten their children with tales of what the Blood Pack did to the turians! The asari will scream as their Citadel plunges into their sun! We will keep salarians as slaves, and eat their eggs as a delicacy!" Okay, seriously, Shepard. Any time now, please? I'm starting to get annoyed! "If you lack the wisdom to flee, then you-!"

With a short shift of stuff, Shepard unholsters her pistol, and points it right at the fuel tank under the speaker's feet.

"You talk too much," she says.

With this, she fires a shot into the fire tank, the sound making a harsh impact as the clan speaker draws his weapon.

Thank you, Shepard! Jesus Christ, he was annoying!

Upon missing that she missed him on purpose, the clan speaker continues. "See?" he asks. "The human cannot hit a simple target!"

And then he's aware of the fact that there's some noise coming from the tank. Wait for it... wait for it...

Shepard fires another shot into the tank. And in this shot, the tank bursts, sending a jet of flames up at the Weyrloc speaker. The krogan then catches fire incredibly quickly, and before long, he's screaming at the top of his lungs as he burns to death. He collapses soon after, leaving the two krogan next to him in a brief state of shock.

And that's all most of us need. Almost instantly, Thane and Tela draw their weapons, and while Tela sends some assault rifle rounds into the krogan on the right, Thane sends a sniper bullet right in the head of the other one. I quickly bring up my pistol, finishing the krogan that Thane got started on as the others all fire at the other krogan. And then, more krogan start to file into the room. With this in mind, we all duck into cover very quickly. It just so happens that I'm next to Shepard as Jarel moves forward, sending a cryo blast into the krogan that are entering the room.

"Thank you, Shepard!" I shout as I glance at the krogan flowing into the room. "I thought that son of a bitch would never shut up!"

"Neither did I," says Shepard, shaking her head. "Seriously, I think he deserves much more than that."

Oh, trust me, that's one of the few Renegade interrupts I'll support. Apart from punching the reporter, of course. Fucking al-Jilani. I nod, looking over at the krogan that are coming in.

"Well, they know we mean business," I comment. "So let's get this show on the road!"

And with this, I peer out of cover, holding up my pistol and firing into the advancing krogan.

* * *

"Seriously, though. You'd think they would shut up with the fact that we've got two Spectres, a Spectre candidate, and four other people. But no, he just had to go on that rant!"

"I know, Art. They probably would have succeeded if they said something, though."

"Still, he was annoying, you have to admit."

"There is no doubt about that."

Jarel, Tali, Thane, and I are off to the side, following everyone else as they lead. Yeah... that krogan fight was fucking crazy... One almost made it down the stairs with his shotgun. Jeez, my arm still stings a little from when that stray shell grazed it. Well... it could've been much worse, all things considered. All those krogan are a little harder than they should've been. But... we kept it under control. Good thing we've got Tela Vasir with us. I'd hate for her to be on the wrong side of the equation. That would suck if we had to fight her later.

I nod, looking over to Tali as we advance into what is apparently the labs. Okay... the tables are over there... And then there's a terminal somewhere over that way. Okay... everything is as it should be here. Tela and Shepard go with Mordin as he goes around, looking at the data there. "You all right, Tali?"

"I'm fine," replies the quarian. "Chiktikka did what she could, though."

"You named your combat drone?" asks Jarel, crossing his arms.

"Chiktikka vas Paus," I comment, shrugging. "Sure, why not?"

"I'll admit... I didn't think I'd ever meet anyone who would name their combat drone..." comments Jarel.

"Sometimes we quarians can get sentimental," comments Tali.

"But still... why Chiktikka vas Paus?" asks Jarel.

Ah, Jarel, if only I could explain the _Baldur's Gate 2 _reference inherent in the name of Tali's drone. My life would suck so much less if that were the case. The quarian shrugs. "It just seemed right," she says. "She's a fast combat drone, though. I guess that might have had something to do with that."

I nod, smiling. Well, that's as close as we're going to get to Fastpaws, anyhow. "Indeed," observes Thane.

"Either way, it's useful," I comment. "It's been extremely helpful as of late."

"That it has," agrees Jarel.

I nod. "Shame that we just had to kill those krogan, though," I comment. "It's troubling that the Weyrloc clan is going to such lengths..."

Jarel shrugs. "The genophage defines them as a species," he says. "It's changed everything for them. It's a weight I'm sure none of them would want now, and I don't know about why they modified it."

"There's no doubt about that," I comment.

"But think about it for a moment," says Jarel. "How would you react when your species is suddenly hit with a virus that essentially causes miscarriages across an entire species?"

... Hm... How would I react to that? I... I don't know. But...

I think back. Yeah... I had a friend who's first wife suffered a miscarriage. I didn't find out about it until later... but I know it really affected him. That marriage ended soon after, I think, and then he had two sons, one of them out of wedlock. But... I can tell that the loss of his baby was something that really changed him. For better or for worse, I don't really know, but it must have hurt him a lot.

And the turians are doing that to the krogan across an entire species. With a manufactured virus, no less...

"I would be pissed," I reply. "I'd be angry at the people who asked for it made. I would be angry at the people who made it. But I think I'd also be lost..."

"Exactly," comments Jarel.

I raise my eyebrows. "So you're one of the ones who thinks the genophage was a bad idea," I comment.

"Yes," he says. "The people who made the genophage were too logical, I think. The problem is, I don't think they'd understand how the krogan would react to it on an emotional level. It may have made krogan even more dangerous than before. And if they had fully adapted to the genophage, it might have made them even angrier."

"So it would have resulted in a diplomatic gaffe in your eyes," I comment.

"Don't tell it to the people I served with at Virmire, though," replies the former STG member. "I feel outnumbered sometimes with genophage supporters amongst the salarians. If you want to cure the genophage, you can't go anywhere without hearing how it's for the good of the galaxy. They give that same justification to the modified genophage too, about how it's the best outcome."

"You don't buy it," I comment.

"No," says Jarel. "You'd think you know how species can react, but you don't. The krogan are dying, and the genophage isn't helping anything." Neither is xenophobia, but hey, that's another discussion for another day. He rubs his chin, thinking. "If we cured them, maybe it would give them hope. Also... maybe it would give them a reason to trust us." He shakes his head. "If Maelon went here willingly, I won't be surprised. It would be impossible to get any kind of ground for a genophage cure if he had approached any salarian government for it."

"It's a shame that clan Weyrloc would be the people he'd have to turn to in that case, then," I comment.

"Indeed," says Jarel. "But if Maelon went here willingly, I could understand why he would do so."

Yep, that you won't. And I won't either. "Like minds think the same way, right?" I ask.

"More or less," replies the salarian. "We'll see what he says when we get there."

"Indeed," I comment.

"In the meantime, I find that your Commander has a very strange penchant for squadmates," says Jarel. "There is you, of course... and then there is the quarian, the drell, and Dr. Solus. I'd think a human would surround herself with more humans."

I snort, shaking my head with an odd smile as we watch the three people discussing something over the terminal. "Shepard has a distinct knack for recruiting a team that by all accounts should not be able to work together," comments Thane. "And yet, we work in mysterious ways."

"I notice," says Jarel, pointing to me. "If she can turn a musician with no military experience into a reasonably good soldier, then she must have a certain amount of charisma to her."

I shake my head. "That was a lot of effort on my part, trust me," I comment. "I broke my back way back when trying to help out with everything. And now, here I am, doing it all over again."

"Exactly," points out the salarian. "You are following her when you could be composing all day at the Citadel, yes? She inspires that kind of loyalty from anyone."

Tali nods. "That she does," she says. We then all look over to the group that is just now walking away from the terminal. Hm... They're not too happy about something. What about, I think I have a good idea. Bloody Genophage. Why can't you ever make anything simple for us?

"Did you get anything from the terminal?" asks Jarel as Tela, Shepard, and Mordin appear.

"Maelon used a lot of test subjects," says Shepard. "I don't like how the terminal mentioned test subjects."

I bite my lip, looking to the side. "I dunno about you, Shepard, but I think that might've been moot," I comment, pointing to around the point where the dead female krogan is supposed to be. "It doesn't smell all that good now that I think about it..."

All eyes turned straight to the little room where the dead female krogan should be lying. Yeah... there's the little L-shaped hallway with the little areas where there are hospital beds. And... yeah, there's a kind of nasty sound emanating from one of them. Tela moves forward slightly, recoiling a little to hold her nose.

"He might be right," she says. "The _smell!_"

The group of us glance at each other, and then we all shrug. We take a few steps-

Ah, Jesus Christ, the smell! Yep, this is definitely the smell of decay! Ah, Jesus... I take a deep breath in, visibly grimacing as I clench my fists. I'm now gnawing on my lower lip, feeling my eyes begin to water. Oh, dear... Gotta soldier the smell.

I move forward, keeping my mouth tight as we all advance forward. I don't know how everyone reacts... but I imagine some of us are rather disgusted by the smell. Me? I'm just trying to soften the blow of such a... well, stench, really. The only thing that could possibly be worse about this whole set-up is if someone farted.

...

Huh. Murphy apparently doesn't want to fuck with me today.

"Sometimes, I'm really glad I can turn off my suit's olfactory sensors," mentions Tali.

"For once, consider me jealous of your suit," I reply.

"Make that all of us, I think," comments Tela.

Tali blinks at all of us, simply shaking her head. Yeah, I can understand some of her frustrations with her suit. But now's not the time for that, methinks.

Right. We move forward, and... yep, there's the blanket over the dead female krogan. Mordin walks up to it, not seeming to mind the stench as he looks over the blanket. He studies it intently, before shaking his head. He sees the datapad laying next to the body, picking it up and looking it over. He seems to scan the thing very briefly. Not like I can fault him for that; it's a good thing salarian brain processes are faster than usual.

"Dead krogan," he begins. "Female. Tumors indicate experimentation. No restraint marks. Volunteer."

... It's always unsettled me that he spoke that line really fast. No emotion whatsoever. And now that I hear it here... yeah, that's... almost heartbreaking, how he's attaching almost no emotion to it. Mordin sets down the datapad, walking around the dead krogan as slowly, we brave the smell and gather around the dead test subject. Mordin shakes his head, and for the briefest second I can sense some form of regret in his eyes.

"Sterile Weyrloc female willing to risk procedure," he begins. "Hoped for cure. Pointless. Pointless waste of life."

Shepard shakes her head, shifting on her feet slightly. "I didn't expect you to be disturbed by the sight of a dead krogan."

Mordin looks up, and suddenly I see something in his eyes I've never seen before. Something... is that shock? "Why?" he asks, his voice slightly raised above its normal volume. "Because of genophage work? Irrelevant. No causative." He points at Shepard shortly after, his finger quivering slightly from the tension. Is... is he angry? "Never experimented on live krogan. Never killed with medicine. Her death not my work, only reaction to it." He shakes his head dejectedly and walks back to where he stood. "Goal was to stabilize population. Never wanted this. Can see it logically... but still unnecessary. Foolish waste of life. Hate to see it."

"I figured you'd be used to sights like this," says Shepard. "Were you ever dropped in Tuchanka after your plague?"

Mordin nods, but it's not a full nod. It's like... one motion of his head, and then nothing. "Yearly recon mission," he says. "Water, tissue samples. Ensure no mistakes. Superiors offered to carry it on. Refused. Need to see it in person." He glances down at the covered body again. "Need to see. Need to look. Accept as necessary. See small picture." He inhales sharply, taking pause as he ponders. "Remind myself why I run a clinic on Omega."

I shrug, shaking my head as he leans against the hospital berth. A slight frown sets itself on my face, and I gesture to the krogan. "Still, you had to have expected something like this," I comment.

"No no no," replies Mordin quickly. "All possible outcomes validated modified genophage. But... never validated this." His voice is laced with regret as his hands grip the berth. "Outcomes never stated this as possible outcome..."

I bite my lower lip then, looking at the dead krogan. I hear a slight shift to my side, and I see Thane look at us and nod. "The measure of an individual is difficult to measure by actions alone," says Thane, his second set of eyelids nictating as he says this. Oh, dear, his recruitment mission's line is back! "Perhaps that applies to an entire species as well. Particularly the krogan."

I nod at this. Amen to that, brother. I look back at the dead krogan, and then my attention goes back to Mordin as he stands there. Slowly, he raises his hand, looking at the dead body.

"Rest, young mother," he says. "Find your gods. Find someplace better."

I raise one of my eyebrows, and I think everyone else is doing exaclty the same. Yes, even Tali, what with her race not exactly having a religion in the strictest sense of it. I see Jarel lean forward out of the corner of my eye.

"I never would have expected Dr. Mordin Solus to have a spiritual side," comments Jarel.

He looks directly at the Spectre candidate, seeming to have swung back to a neutral emotion. "Genophage modification project affected millions," he begins. "Then saw results. Ego, humility, juxtaposition. Frailty of life, size of universe. Explored religions after work. Different races. No answers. Many questions."

"It seems you feel guilty about what you've done," comments Tali from where she stands next to me.

"I've gotta say, the quarian has a point," says Tela, looking on the salarian doctor herself with a surprised expression.

"The doctor who killed millions," adds Shepard.

Mordin simply looks at all of us, a pensive expression on his face. "Modified genophage project great in scope. Scientifically brilliant. But ethically difficult. Krogan reaction visceral, tragic. Not guilty... but responsible. Trained as doctor. Genophage affects fertility. Doesn't kill." He looks back at the dead krogan that's covered by the black sheep. "Still, caused this," he continues, his voice laced with sadness. "Hard to see big picture behind pile of corpses."

"I'd be hard-pressed to rationalize it," I comment. "How do you do it?"

"Wheel of life," replies Mordin, seeming a little less dejected as he paces around. "Popular salarian concept. Similar to human Hinduism in focus on reincarnation. Appealing to see life as endless. Fix mistakes in next life. Learn, adapt, improve." He then looks yet again at the body on the berth. "Refuse to believe life ends here. Too wasteful. Have much more to offer. Mistakes to fix. Cannot end here. Could do so much more..."

"If you need this much soul-searching to get over it, maybe the genophage was wrong," comments Shepard.

"Had to be done," says Mordin. But this time, I catch a slight edge of... regret? There's something slightly hesitant about how he said that sentence. "Rachni Wars. Krogan Rebellions. All pointed to krogan aggression. So many simulations. Effects of krogan population increase. All pointed to war. Extinction. Genophage or genocide. Save galaxy from krogan. Save krogan from galaxy."

I frown, shaking my head and stepping back from the berth. God damn it, even after all that, he's still trying to justify the genophage? Bah, humbug.

"You could have cured the genophage," offers Shepard.

"It would have offered them some form of hope," adds Jarel. "They would've rejoiced. That was a logical outcome too."

Mordin looks at Shepard. "Assumes human reaction," continues the doctor. "Krogan stimulus responses different. Harsh environment, take chance to fight, flee. Would have caused chaos on Tuchanka. Victor would have economy, bloodthirsty army. Ga-"

Fuck it. "And that's different from what the Weyrloc clan is doing here, how exactly?" I ask, crossing my arms as my eyebrows furrow. "And you're just pointing to simulations as proof that this modified genophage really was the answer?"

The older salarian throws his arms out. "Yes!" he says. "Millions of data points! Years of arguments! Countless scenarios! All noted krogan fragmentation as dangerous. No unified culture to support repopulation. Would have been war. Turians and humans destroying krogan utterly. Genophage was better. Saved lives."

I frown, coming right up to the doctor as I glance back at the dead krogan. "Then maybe you can tell that dead woman over there about how you managed to 'save' her life." I frown, looking at the dead woman. "You had all that data to save lives. And look at where that got her."

He does as he's told, and I shake my head. "Pretty it up however the fuck you want, Mordin," I comment, raising my hands to emphasize my point. "No amount of scientific data can justify _this_."

And with this, I walk past the salarian, with some of the others following my lead. I shake my head in dismay as I move along. God damn it, he's done so much soul-searching, and yet he's still trying to justify his genophage work as being the right thing to do. God damn it, Mordin, you're making me frustrated at you!

Shortly after, I hear the clanking of combat shoes against the ground as we all move on. I don't care enough to look back, so we go out of the labs, seeing more hospital corridors. And there's a door to our right.

Hey, wait a minute... doesn't that door lead to the room where the Urdnot scout usually is? Yes... Yes it is.

I wonder how that's going to turn out...

* * *

"Just so I know, how long can I expect to be hearing about that?"

"_Weeks, _Art."

I bite my lower lip, nervously shovelling along as I glance at Tali. Yep... she wasn't too happy about the quarian with the tummy ache thing to the Urdnot Scout. Even more so when I stepped in with that instead of Shepard. Yeah... I kind of deserved that.

It really doesn't help that we're falling in love I guess. Still... if I could only come up with a proper hanar analogy, that would've been better. Fucking Blasto the Hanar Spectre.

God... that was a bad vid. I really, really hated it in absolutely every sense of the word. Thanks, I think I'll stick to James Bond for my superspies and my one-liners, thanks. Even Schwarzenneger had better oneliners than that stupid jellyfish did. Never mind that it was all fairly offensive for a second, actually: what the fuck was with half those one-liners and how they didn't mesh with the scenario at hand? I don't know, but those one liners sucked. Maybe I should've used that instead of... well, quarians with tummy aches.

Well... too late to wonder about hanar analogies now, I guess.

But... she simply shakes her head, and I can tell from the way her eyes are lit that she's taking it with a grain of salt. She simply shrugs, and then I can see the twinkle in her eyes as she moves close to Shepard. I nod, releasing my lips from my teeth and smiling at the back of her head. Yep, she may not have liked that, but she still loves me. So nothing is lost.

I shake my head, walking behind most of the rest of the group. We all draw our weapons again, fully expecting clan Weyrloc to be around the door again. I shake my head as I see Jarel move closer to where I am. The salarian is drawing his pistol of course, and then we advance towards the next doorway.

Okay, yeah, good times will be had with that. Well... there's more krogan to be fought on the other side...

As Mario would no doubt say, 'here we go'!

Shepard opens the door, and then we all go through it to see a small group of krogan. Okay... we're across this giant room from them, and there are several ramps leading them to us. And it sort of spirals down. Yeah... this is how I remember it from the game. The krogan are on the far side, but it's nothing we can't handle, I don't think. Yeah... we got this, Shepard.

I see the krogan look at us one after another, but before they do much I see them suddenly get surrounded by a biotic field. And before long, they're floating to us. Okay... I glance to the side, seeing Tela shining blue a little bit as she then manipulates her arms a little bit. I glance back at the krogan, suddenly seeing them get slammed down into the empty space between the two parts of the room. A short while later, we hear a rather loud grunt, and then the force of something being slammed into the ground is heard. Before long, we hear a bunch of krogan cry out, along with some rather loud hissing.

Oh, Christ, there's vorcha in here too! I shake my head, watching as the first of the krogan come running out of cover. Okay, here we go! I come out of cover then, firing my assault rifle at the advancing krogan. The rounds seem to hit... or do they? I'm sure they are. I can see Chiktikka out of the corner of my eye as it advances towards the many krogan, and it zaps the one I'm firing my assault rifle at. I hear the crack of a sniper shot go off right next to me, and then I blink suddenly as I turn my head to see Thane kneeling to my right, rifle in hand.

Oh. Well... that's awfully convenient, Mr. Krios. Right...

I'll just pretend I didn't see you, then. I bring up my assault rifle again, and then see another krogan get downed by something. Okay... I think it's time we advance.

I rush to the closest ramp, seeing Shepard rise and use some biotics. As soon as she does this, I see some krogan flying towards us, but not being slammed into anything. Right. I train my assault rifle on the raised krogan, and fire several shots until just before my gun overheats. This is enough to take down the krogan, and then I very quickly resume cover, ending up next to Tela as she sends out another biotic attack.

Okay... these krogan are slowly starting to come at us. And now the vorcha have joined the mix. I come up, looking at the vorcha as they all bum-rush our position. Of course, though, Tali is at the head of the ramp, taking down most of the vorcha with well-placed shotgun blasts. Chiktikka is also helpful, and every so often Mordin manages to completely incinerate a random vorcha as he takes down some of them with his submachine gun. I decide to add some fire in there, and so I lean past Tela, moving to a different cover as the vorcha attempt to rush us.

And it works reasonably well. Tali knocks the vorcha back with her shotgun, and when she's occupied Mordin and I are providing quite a lot of supressing fire. Well... when I don't have to reload, that is. The result is quite a large helping of vorcha death.

Until the krogan comes along anyway. And gets close to Tali. I see the quarian stumble back, nearly tripping over herself. Oh, no, krogan, no you don't!

Before I can do much else, though, I see someone biotically throw the krogan back, sending it flying into a small group of vorcha that are right there. Yep, those vorcha aren't getting up any time soon. Especially if the loud crunch of bones breaking is any indication. The krogan looks wildly, but before he can say much else, Mordin incinerates the motherfucker. I look to the side then, glancing over to see Tela Vasir smirking in my direction as she returns to firing her guns at the krogan as they funnel in to that ramp we're on.

"Thanks!" I shout.

She doesn't seem to acknowledge that I've said anything. Well... I didn't get anything out of her, but whatever. I need to get moving here, because it seems like we're moving along.

I end up getting close to Tali, firing at a vorcha just before a single pistol shot from Jarel takes it down. I see the entire group rushing forward, and I then look across the way to see that Chiktikka is just blazing a trail for us. Okay, follow the combat drone then! Shepard takes point, with Tali also following close behind as we see krogan coming from various places. Tela tosses a singularity in there somewhere, and a large crowd is very suddenly sent levitating around it like it's nobody's business. I raise my assault rifle then, helping Jarel to finish off some of the krogan that are flying around. Sometimes he throws an incinerate, and then they sort of float lifelessly in the air like they're in some zero gravity room. But I add in some assault rifle rounds, and soon enough most of them are dead.

And it only makes it more satisfying when the ones that aren't fall to the ground once the singularity dies out. Some fall with a rather triumphant crunch, but others... oh, they go down with a scream and a crunch. And that's actually really nice to hear. Well... when you can stop thinking about the _Saw _franchise long enough to look at it as such, anyway.

So we sort of go through, mowing down many krogan.

Well... until I end up trying to take point. Yeah... the shotgun blast to my shields nearly got me killed. It's a good thing Thane was fast on the biotics, I think; the throw that occurred when he did this helped Tali take it out rather quickly. Somehow, I get the feeling I'm going to get berated for that.

But at least I'm still alive to be berated. That's always a good thing for both of us, I think.

And then... as we're going down the spiral... I catch sight of him.

There's the warlord of the Weyrloc clan... This... is gonna be a doozy.

I see Thane land a sniper shot on him first, quickly following it up with another. Good thing he's got the Viper: not having to reload after every shot helps sometimes. Yeah... he would have barriers first. Tela takes care of the rest with a well-fired warp. Okay... down to the armor now. I see Mordin launch an incinerate, but he just keeps charging as some vorcha come up from behind him.

Right. I bring up my assault rifle, hoping to take out the vorcha so they can't overwhelm us too. The warlord can't be a good sign of things to come, after all. Having the vorcha there will make it harder than it really has to be. Cheapskate.

I nod then, shooting at the vorcha. My assault rounds take one of them down, but before I can fire at the other one the warlord is already upon us, shouting something about the glory of clan Weyrloc. I don't really get the whole spiel before he's abruptly knocked back by a biotic blast. Before he can, though, he gets a shotgun blast off. This fries my shields very quickly, and then I suddenly feel a slight burn on my right arm.

Gah, son of a bitch!

I quickly retreat behind the guard buffer I was using as cover, and then look down. I see some blood running down my armor... Hm... Went through my armor. Ah, well, at least the small piece of it only grazed me. That's better than it actually hitting.

The thing stings like a bitch though... Ow.

I quickly bring up some omni-tool, going through some commands. Okay... there! I quickly tap the holographic interface, and before I know it relief floods over the sting of my wound as medigel coats it. Okay, good. That should tide me over for a while. Let's hope there's more where that pack of medigel came from, though. That would really suck if I ran out of medigel mid-mission, especially during Grunt's mission.

I peer over cover to see that the other vorcha has already been taken down. I see the warlord struggling to get up under fire, but he never manages to do so. Funny thing about that, though; he doesn't seem to be dying, even despite all the bullets that have been leveled at him. With the shotgun blasts and everything else we're throwing at him, I'd think he'd be down by now.

Well... better make sure of that with myself!

I bring up my assault rifle, aiming right at the warlord. I squeeze the trigger, and through quite a bit of providence I get a head-shot in. He goes down very soon after, with a final shotgun blast from Shepard sending him reeling back before he falls over.

I blink, and all of us look at the warlord as he lays there, dead. I shake my head, coming out of cover as everyone else holsters their weapons.

"You know, for a warlord who was going on about the glory of his people, you'd think he'd last a bit longer than that," I comment.

"He kind of did," replies Tela.

"Still, the Weyrloc clan won't be troubling anyone else at the moment," says Jarel as he comes up. "That should take care of all the opposition."

"Which leaves objective," says Mordin. "Have not seen Maelon. Should still be in facility."

"Well, we've searched almost the entire compound," says Shepard, looking ahead. "Except for one room."

I nod, my right hand gripping my left elbow as we move forward. "I guess it's time to find out what exactly happened here," Tali mentions as we all walk towards the door.

"Yep," I reply. "Now is the moment of truth."

And I don't think Mordin can handle the truth.

So with this in mind, we all walk the rest of the way to where we know Maelon's gonna be. Down the ramp, past the terminal that Shepard can hack... And there's the door okay, we open the door...

And there's everything in its proper place. The terminal projection is incredibly large with Maelon carefully guiding his hand across the screen. He looks totally absorbed in what he's doing, and so doesn't seem to notice when we've entered. But a short while later, he notices us, and the blueish salarian turns his head. Okay, yep, that's Maelon all right!

"Maelon," says Mordin. "Alive. Unharmed."

The group of us advance as Maelon cancels whatever operation he was doing on the terminal's screen. His attention turns to the keyboard as Jarel comes forward.

"I don't see any signs of restraint," says the Spectre candidate. "There's no evidence of torture, either..."

"Just as you speculated," says Mordin with a disappointed trail in his voice. "Came here willingly."

With this, Maelon turns to us, and I can see a fire in his eyes. "Good to see you figured it out," says the student. "You always did have trouble seeing evidence that disagreed with your preconceptions. I guess I should be surprised that the one time you figured it out you needed help."

Hey, that's no way to address your elder, you son of a bitch! Yeah, he may have supported genocide materials, but seriously! How rude could you get?

I shrug, looking at Mordin. "I guess your projections of evidence supporting the genophage as the best outcome didn't see this coming either," I note, pointing at Mordin's student.

"Don't understand," says the doctor as he turns his attention to his student. "Whole team agreed! Project necessary!"

"How was I supposed to disagree with the great doctor Solus?" asks Maelon. "I was your student! I looked up to you!" Heh, Maelon and I have a lot in common in that case. Except in mine, it led to some of the best things that ever happened to me. Here, it just led him down a dark path. Fucking genophage. It seems it's ruining salarian lives as well as krogan lives.

But Mordin looks absolutely incensed at all this. "Experiments performed here," he begins. "Live subjects! Prisoners! Torture and executions! Your doing?" His voice is raised by the time he gets to asking the question.

"We've already got the blood of millions on our hands, doctor!" replies Maelon, raising his voice in turn. "If it takes a bit more to put things right, I can deal with that!"

I nod, looking off to the side. "See?" I ask. "I figured justifying this new genophage with war and atrocity wasn't enough. Hope, Mordin. Hope."

"Not only that," adds the... ehm... "captive" salarian, pointing an angry finger at the doctor. "Think about everything else! Batarian attacks in the traverse, geth attacks on the Citadel!" And the Reapers, but since the turian councillor dismissed that claim, I won't bring that up. "Is this a more peaceful universe? The assault on Eden Prime might not have happened if the krogan had been allowed to expand!"

I blink, glancing over to Shepard. "And how would that have done anything to stop Saren and the geth?" asks Shepard.

"An increased krogan population would have forced the Council to take steps, likely involving colony rights in the Traverse," replies the younger salarian. "The turian fleets would be vigilant for activity in the area. They might have stopped the geth at Eden Prime."

"Supposition," says Mordin. "Impossible to be certain."

I nod. "And Eden Prime wasn't Saren's ultimate goal anyhow," I comment. "So yeah."

Maelon frowns, looking right at us. "We played god and failed!" he says. "We've only made things worse... But I'm going to make it right."

"With unethical experiments?" asks Jarel. "Using live test subjects? Never taught you that!"

"Do I have to say it again?" asks Maelon. "We killed millions with the genophage! What are a few test subjects compared to that?"

"The fact that we might have killed millions with the genophage does not justify your experiments on live test subjects," replies Shepard.

"But it could save so many more!" replies the "captive" scientist. "Don't blind yourself to the larger picture!"

I shake my head. Jesus christ, he's doing just as much rationalizing as Mordin is for this! Two sides of the same coin indeed. My eyebrows furrow, glancing to Shepard as she looks right at Mordin.

"Well... the rest kind of speaks for itself," she says. "He came here because he wanted to. What do you want to do, Mordin?"

"Have to end this," says Mordin, glancing at Maelon.

The younger salarian instantly draws a Carnifex at Mordin, the firearm unfolding before our eyes. "You can't face the truth, can you?" asks Maelon, wildly pointing the pistol at all of us. "Can't admit that your brilliant mind led you to commit an atrocity!"

The old salarian seems to have enough with this. As Maelon aims at all of us in turn, Mordin walks up to him and punches the other salarian as hard as he can in the chest. This sends Maelon sprawling back, moving past the terminal screen and leaving him laying against the blue light of the stasis pod behind him. The pistol clatters uselessly to the side as his back hits the stasis pod. Mordin coldly walks up to Maelon afterwards, drawing his own pistol and holding it to the other salarian's head.

"Unacceptable experiments," says Mordin. "Unacceptable goals. Won't change. Have to kill you."

I blink in surprise at this, a tense silence filling the air after this. I take a small inhalation of air in surprise. Oh, dear, this is gonna be-

"Wait," says Shepard, stepping forward. "Mordin, you don't need to do this. You're a doctor, not a murderer."

Oh. She took the paragon interrupt. Okay. I can live with that.

Another tense silence fills the air. It only lasts for a few seconds, but the tension draws all of those seconds out. A sharp intake of breath from the doctor means he's convinced. "No," he says. "Not a murderer." He removes the pistol from Maelon's head, taking a step back. The holographic projection once again separates Mordin and Maelon with this step back. "Thank you, Shepard." Maelon wipes his face in relief, and as Mordin holsters his pistol, he speaks again. "Finished, Maelon. Get o-"

And then a single assault rifle shot goes off, sending Maelon stumbling back. This effectively causes everyone in the room to jolt in shock, even Mordin. For once. Maelon looks back at a point behind us, and then he falls over with a single bullet hole in his chest.

All of our eyes follow the source of his last gaze, and there, with her assault rifle out, is Tela Vasir with a frown on her face. "I am," she says simply, holstering her assault rifle.

My eyes close tight, and suddenly a loud smack sounds as my palm connects with my face. God damn it! First it's Enyala with Niket, now it's Tela with fucking Maelon? What is it with asari always stealing kills after we convince someone not to kill them? And especially since this particular instance never actually happened in the game! I can hear a groan of annoyance from Shepard, and then I open my eyes to see her shaking her head and approaching Tela.

"Tela, was that necessary?" asks Shepard.

"He could have spread word about the modified genophage," replies the asari coldly. "Best solution, really."

"No, not best," says Mordin. "STG good at covering tracks. No proof. Can block his access to modified genophage files as well. Needless waste of life."

"Still, someone had to do it," says Tela.

I shake my head, raising one of my eyebrows. "Not exactly," I say. "Look, just because you can do you job however you want doesn't give you the right to abuse your license to kill."

"Exactly," says Shepard. "Just know that if you ever hold an unsuspecting bystander at gunpoint to help you and I am there, I _will _kill you for putting innocents in danger."

"Then you'll just be seen as reckless," says Tela.

I roll my eyes. Jeez, the stubborn bitch is stubborn as all hell! "Of course," I say. "And we'll have one innocent bystander who'll be more than happy to tell the Council that you held them at gunpoint. They probably won't like that, I'm sure." That was how Councillor Anderson got screwed by Saren, anyway.

"The Council will believe what they want," replies Tela. "Let's not worry about this now. We have more important things to discuss. Such as Maelon's data for the genophage cure."

I nod, looking over at the terminal. Shepard looks over at the holographic projection, crossing her arms. "The experiments may be unethical, but perhaps we can continue them without the use for test subjects," she comments. "I would keep this data. Just in case."

Huh, so she goes the paragon route on this. Great! Now it's just a matter of taking the genophage data and-!

"Frankly, Shepard, that decision is no longer in your hands," says Tela.

...

Or, we can let the asari Spectre do the work for us. Fucking bitch.

And now, she's drawn the ire of everyone in the room. "That is not for you to decide," says Thane almost instantly.

"Frankly, it is not for your commander to decide either," continues the asari Spectre. God, I hate her already. I hope we get to fight this bitch at a later point, because that'll make my fucking day when we can finally kill her. "You were here for Mordin's student. We're here for the data. The genophage data falls outside of your responsibilities."

"Just because it falls outside of our responsiblities doesn't mean we can't help make a decision about this," says Shepard.

"I'm not saying you don't have to help," replies the asari Spectre. "Just that you can't make it. It's in our mission."

Jeez, really? She's denying us the decision because it's not our mission? Bitch, I'll show you what is _not _my mission right now: kicking your ass! Or... I would, if I didn't know she would instantly kick my ass, what with being an asari and all.

"So you just expect us to shut up and take that logic in the ass?" I ask, frowning.

"Not completely," says Tela, her voice clearly delineating getting annoyed. "This is an evaluation mission for Jarel. So I'm leaving the decision of the data in his hands. He gets to be confronted with an ideologically difficult question, and how he deals with it will play into his evaluation."

... Oh.

Right.

I step back, raising my hands as everyone in the room seems to relax a little.

"Sound logic," comments Mordin. "Still, do not like reasoning used to arrive at this."

I know, right? "Yeah, really. You didn't have to slap us with that whole 'it's not our mission' thing to get that across, you know," I comment. "You could've just said you want to test your candidate and it would've ended there."

"I say it because technically, it's true," says Tela.

Oh, the little-!

"Tela, that's enough," says Jarel, walking over to the terminal. "In a way, they're right. You didn't have to insult them for helping us. I doubt we could have gone this far without them. And for that, I think they do have some pull over the decision about this data."

Ha, even the candidate disagrees with the instructor! Thank you, Jarel Brosca! I smirk, the asari shaking her head as she looks at the yellow light that illuminates the rest of the very dark room. I feel Tali's hand come on my arm, and I nod to her.

"Fine," says the Spectre. "So... what do you think you'll do, Jarel?"

The Spectre candidate looks at the display before him, standing in front of the terminal. Slowly, the rest of us crowd around the young salarian as he looks at the work of Maelon. He shakes his head, looking all around. Oh, dear, Jarel, please don't kiss the Council's ass! It won't be good for the krogan!

"I too think the genophage was a mistake," says Jarel. "We don't really know what the best outcome was for any of that. But Maelon's experiments were just as sick. Two wrongs, don't make a right, I think." The Spectre candidate manipulates the terminal, looking around as he shakes his head. "Still... even if Maelon did the wrong thing, there's no denying that the genophage cure might be a good thing for the krogan."

He opens his omni-tool, manipulating menus. "I'll keep the genophage data," he says. "But I'll have the only copy. And if I don't like what I find upon closer inspection, I'll delete it. Otherwise, I'll make sure the file is encrypted. Nobody but I will be able to access it."

Shepard nods as Jarel held out his hand in front of the display. "I think you've made a good choice, Jarel," she says.

"I can tell you the Council probably won't be happy about it," says Tela. "Still, you did the mission. You have my good word, Jarel."

The salarian doesn't seem to notice, but he acknowledges Tela with a very brief nod when she brings this up. Eventually, the transfer completes, and then he works back to the terminal. "Excellent," he says. "Unfortunately, we have no way of getting off of Tuchanka."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "Really?" I ask.

"Our transport crashed on the way here," says Tela. "We'll need some help getting off this rock. Normally we would call for transport, but I think that would be extremely conspicuous if a Spectre and a Spectre candidate tried to call someone from a krogan camp."

All of us glance at Shepard, who shrugs. "Why not come with us, then?" she asks. "We only have a thing or two to take care of down here before we're done with our business on Tuchanka. When we get to that, we'll be more than happy to take you back to the Citadel so you can report to the Council."

Tela and Jarel both look at the commander. The Spectre's eyes widen slightly as she takes a step back, placing a hand on her hip. "It might get in the way of your mission," she says.

Shepard shakes her head. "I'm sure my boss won't mind," she says. "Just to be warned, it is a Cerberus vessel."

"So the rumors are true," says Jarel. "You are working for Cerberus."

I shrug. "Not technically, no," I reply. "We're using their resources and two of their top operatives are on this mission, but we're not exactly with them. The Commander is running her ship."

"It can't be all that bad, really," comments Tela. "Half the group is not human. If Cerberus' reputation as a xenophobic organization is true, then the fact that they are recruiting other species says this mission is too important." The asari nods. "Very well, Commander Shepard. We'll take you up on your offer."

The other Spectre nods. "All right," says Shepard. "We'll see what we can do for accomodations. In the meantime, we have one more thing to take care of for another of my crew. We should only be here for one more day at the most."

"That's acceptable," says Jarel. "Thank you, Shepard."

"Right," I say, rubbing my hands. "Looks like we're done here. Back to the Urdnot camp?"

Jarel and Tela both give looks of surprise as they glance at Shepard. The human Spectre smirks wickedly, and...

...

Oh no...

"I just lost the game, didn't I?" I ask.

"Yes. Yes you did," she says.

...

"Et tu, Shepard? Then fall, Art!"


	30. Chapter 29

_A/N: All right__. After that bit, we're off doing stuff in Tuchanka. And fun times are had for all._

_fSo that was Mordin's loyalty mission, with the return of a bit character from MV1. He'll stay for a few more chapters, and his and Tela's presence will kick off a plot point that will become crucial for Mass Vexations 3. You'll see._

_Fun times are had all around. Let's get to another thing on Tuchanka, shall we?_

* * *

Chapter 29: The 100-Man Brawl

Well... before we hit the land cruiser to return to the Urdnot camp...

We camp out on the highway, hoping to get a signal for a comm buoey. Tela and Jarel wanted to send a direct transmission to the Council before we got into the land rover to get stuff done. So now we're sitting out in the hot Tuchanka sun on the scorching hot Tuchanka road waiting for them to get something done about that fucking comm transmission that they probably could've waited until they got onto the Normandy to get to in the fucking heat with the fucking sweat travelling down my fucking neck. And all because Tela wanted to tell the Council as soon as possible that they had already gotten transport out of the Krogan DMZ.

Fuck Tela Vasir. Seriously. I can tell even Jarel's beginning to get fed up with her antics and her way of doing everything. Good for him, I guess.

I'm just sitting on a stray piece of debris, Tali sitting on the floor close to where I am. Thane and Shepard are close by, and Mordin prefers to stand to the side. He looks to be contemplating the day's events. Can't say I blame him. A lot happened today, and I think he'd like to think on it. Tali simply sits by one of my dangling legs, watching Tela work the omni-tool as Thane and Shepard sit on a piece of cover... _kiiisiiing! _Nah, they're not really kissing, but with the way Shepard is leaning against the drell and the way their hands are intwined, one would think they'd start macking right there. Oh, well.

Finally, the omni-tool beeps, and we all look at the asari as she and Jarel crowd together. The two of them nod, looking right as a holographic projection of the salarian and asari councillors plus Andersun all seem to illuminate on the floor.

I frown, sitting up slightly. "Hey, we didn't get those kinds of omni-tools!" I shout.

"They're a prototype," explains Jarel. "Only available to Spectres at the moment."

Anderson's eyebrow archs up in surprise. "_Art?_" he asks. "_What is he doing here?_"

"We bumped into Commander Shepard on our mission," says Tela.

"_Oh,_" says the asari Councillor. "_That is certainly... unexpected. We understood she was on a different mission._"

"She was doing a favor for one of her crew," says Jarel. "Turns out, that crew member just so happened to be the great Mordin Solus."

"_Mordin Solus is on her mission?_" asks the salarian councillor. "_Interesting... I figured he might want to get involved somehow. Maelon is one of his brightest students._"

"_Was_ one of his brightest students," I correct through my teeth in a manner that nobody on the Council can pick it up.

"Either way, she and her ground team helped us achieve our objective," says Tela. "You'll be getting the report shortly. In the meantime, Shepard has offered to provide us with transport back to the Citadel. I'll fill out the report on the way there."

Okay, yeah, that is-

And then I see Anderson sigh in relief.

"_Good,_" says the human councillor. "_We're not in the best position to be sending transport now._"

Everyone blinks in surprise, looking right at the Council. Hey... where the fuck is the turian councillor?

...

Did I seriously just notice he wasn't there? I'd think I would have noted his absence by now!

"Does it have to do with why Councillor Velarn isn't here?" asks Tela.

Velarn, huh? So _that'_s his name. Right, gotta keep that in mind.

"_Unfortunately_," says the asari councillor. "_He was on board the Aurigos._"

I raise my eyebrow. Huh? Now this is interesting. I step off the little thing, walking towards Jarel and Tela as Tali also stands up. "The _Aurigos_?" I ask. "What's that?"

Anderson nods, holding his hand behind him. "_It was a turian dreadnought_," says Anderson. "_It was one of the first dreadnoughts of its kind to be built by the turian fleet. It is considered a treasure to the turian people, and it's the pride of the turian fleet._"

"I see," I say, biting my lower lip as Shepard and Thane both come forward. Mordin now has turned back to the Council's holograms.

"From the way you're talking about it, this looks serious," says Shepard. "What happened?"

"_Ah, Commander Shepard,_" says the salarian Councillor. "_It is... not good. The Aurigos was doing a tour of a system where there was reported geth activity. The dreadnought... we stopped receiving transmissions from the ship about a week ago. It was very strange, and none of the attempts we made to hail the Aurigos succeeded. We've only just been able to send a recon team in. And from what they've told us... the Aurigos has simply vanished._"

I rear back, everyone else taking the news with a great amount of shock. Even Mordin starts advancing. "Impossible!" starts the salarian doctor. "_Aurigos _pride of fleet! Would have sent transmission to someone! Impossible to just disappear!"

"Yeah," I comment. "How the hell does the most famous turian dreadnought of all simply disappear off the face of the galaxy like that?" I mean, there's me, who could have vanished off the face of the galaxy, but an entire turian dreadnought?

"_We know as much about this situation as you do,_" says Anderson. "_The recon team couldn't find any evidence that the Aurigos had ever been there. And we had recon teams check every possible avenue. They have come up with nothing._"

"_We fear the worst,_" says the asari Councillor. "_There has never been an instance of a ship the size of the Aurigos vanishing from the galaxy quite to this scale. What's more, we had two turian Spectres aboard. They had been assigned to guard over the Councillor..._"

I shake my head as Jarel looks at the Council. "I can't imagine how the turian people are taking this," says Jarel.

"_They aren't happy,_" says the salarian councillor. "_Normally, we would keep this kind of thing under wraps, but this is too severe and strange an occurrence to keep secret. We had to tell the public about the disappearance of the Aurigos._" Oh, so you'll report the disappearance of some dreadnaught, but you'll dismiss the claims of the Reapers with freaking air quotes! Way to be consistent, Council! "_The turians have been anxious about it._"

"Can't say I blame them," comments Shepard, shaking her head. "I'd be pretty shocked if Arcturus Station suddenly vanished from the face of the galaxy."

"_We're doing the best we can to find answers,_" says Anderson. "_But so far, we haven't found anything. Our best recon teams have turned up no information as to what happened. Perhaps the scariest thing about the disappearance of the Aurigos is that even we don't know what is happenening._"

"_I have had STG look into it,_" says the salarian councillor. "_Asari commandos have looked into it._"

"So... a ship just vanished, and we don't know why?" asks Tela.

"_Exactly,_" says the asari councillor. "_Which is why we don't have the resources to extract you. It is just as well that Commander Shepard is here to bring you back to the Citadel._"

I nod at this, watching as everyone else does the same. "I just wanted to tell you this," says Tela. "But... I hope the _Aurigos _shows up somewhere."

"_As do we, Spectre Vasir,_" replies Anderson.

And with this, the link with the Council is cut. Shepard shakes her head, biting her lower lip as she shakes her head.

"Well... that complicates things," she says, shaking her head. "That really complicates things in ways that don't really need to be right now."

I shake my head. Yeah... it's so much to think about.

Maybe killing things will help out.

"I think we've still got things to take care of," I point out. "We should return to the Urdnot camp."

Shepard nods. "Yeah, maybe we can sort it out there."

We all nod, and then set off down the road towards the land rover. Or where it's gonig to be, anyhow. Okay, so back at the base camp, we've got Sturge and Jenny, who're gonna be fine... and we've got Grunt, who's also fine... if a bit restless... Just avoid introducing Grunt to Jarel and we'll be good... And then...

Then...

Oh, fuck me!

"Who's gonna tell Garrus?"

Almost instantaneously, we stop moving. All eyes fall on me, and then at around the same time all of our squadmate's eyes open.

* * *

"You mean the pride of the turian fleet vanished?"

"Pretty much."

"Hah! I love it! The turians get what they deserve!"

"Grunt, please. It's the pride of their fleet!"

"Exactly! That's what makes it so funny!"

... "You're a lost cause."

I shake my head in dismay. "Yeah, whatever," I say. "Grunt, lay off."

So yeah, we just told Garrus after briefly introducing the gang that was left behind to Tela Vasir and Jarel Brosca. Garrus seemed shocked at first, but Grunt really took the news well. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, seeing as how Grunt laughs about turians getting dismembered and all that. He'd probably love _Dead Space _with turians. Never mind the whole survival horror aspect of that game: he'd just be glad to be dismembering turians. So it's no surprise that he laughs about the ship disappearing.

But Garrus simply stares as Sturge and Jenny both stand on the side. Garrus looks... unsure of how to feel, crossing his arms as he shrugs.

"To be honest, though, it's not that big a deal," says the turian. "You know me. I'm probably the worst turian that ever lived. And I don't have anyone close to me stationed on that ship, so there's really nothing lost for me." He follows this with a dismissive hand wave. "Besides," he comments offhandedly, "it had the turian councillor on board. If they never find him, good riddance."

I can't hold back a snort, shaking my head. Damn it, I've gotta resist the urge to use air quotes! Hold 'em in, hold 'em in! She'll be on to me if I use 'em! "That is very true," comments Shepard. "The things he says sometimes..."

"His use of what is called... 'air quotes' was slightly infuriating for all of us," says Thane.

Yes! Thank you Thane! You were there, so... "I know!" says Shepard. She then puts on an uptight expression, joining her fingers together to look like a turian's. "Ah, yes, 'Reapers'," she recites in a low voice. "We have dismissed this claim."

...

Oh, God.

I burst out laughing almost instantaneously. Never would I ever have expected that to come out of the mouth of Jocelyn Shepard. But now that it has... there are no words to describe how great an impression she does of the turian councillor. There are absolutely none. So I just have to laugh. Even if I've never actually had it...

"Art?" she asks.

I shake my head, my laughter dying down. "Sorry," I comment. "It's just so... You're..." Well, fuck. How do I word this without seeming like I know more than I am actually supposed to? "I'd think... it would be hilarious about people dismissing claims like that, you know?"

... I don't think she buys that.

But if she doesn't, she simply shrugs, and then I get a slightly peeved look from Sturge. Yeah... I kinda deserved that. "Well, I didn't think it was _that _funny, but whatever," she says.

"Either way, though, I don't feel too shaken up about it," comments Garrus. "Either way, we should get moving. The disappearance of human colonies is more important than us losing our star member of the Fleet anyhow."

"I'm just infuriated they would reserve resources for that and not for the disappearance of our colonies." She turns to Grunt. "But I'll worry about that later. Grunt, how are you feeling for this Rite?"

"I feel ready," replies the krogan almost without a break. For emphasis, he pounds his fist into his open hand, looking at her with a fire in his eye. "I don't know what this Rite is, but I want it!"

Shepard nods then, smiling as she crosses her arms. "Then we'll get right to helping you with that," says Shepard. "Jarel, Tela, you two can come. Actually, everyone except Sturge and Jenny can stay here."

"You're leaving the old man here?" asks Garrus.

"Oh, you worry too much, Garrus," replies the former science teacher. "I'm sure Drakus wouldn't mind looking over us."

"If we could find 'im," says Jenny with a shrug. "But still, I bet he'd be an awesome guy to talk with, ya know?"

"Probably," I concur. "But anyway... who did we have to talk to for the Rite?"

"The Urdnot shaman, I think it was," says Shepard.

"Oh, him?" asks Garrus. "Last I know, he was in talks with that krogan that Wrex was shouting at when we first got here."

I blink. Yep... "Uvenk?" I ask.

"Yeah, Uvenk," says Jenny, shaking her head as we start to head in the direction of the shaman. "I don't know why Wrex keeps 'im around. He's just goin' and saying bad things about the Urdnot Clan and any allies of them. Somethin' about traditions, I dunno. I wouldn't want to keep 'im around if I were Wrex."

I shrug, looking to the colonist as Tali comes up close. "Wrex is full of surprises, you'll find," comments the quarian. "I imagine he's got some good reason for keeping him around."

"We'll find out soon, I guess," says Shepard. "Come on. Let's go talk to the shaman."

And with this, the rest of the way is walked in relative silence. Don't want to break Grunt's enthusiasm, anyhow.

We eventually come across the Urdnot shaman. Yeah... there's the body suit, the brownish crest... and he's telling Uvenk that he's going beyond himself. And that Urdnot is superior.

Yep, it's the Urdnot Shaman all right. Shepard and the rest of us approach the scene as the Urdnot shaman goes on about various things. Oh, Gatatog, can you please shut up already?

"How do we know it will challenge him?" asks the green-crested krogan. "He's unnatural! The beasts of the Rite could ignore him like a lump of plastic!"

Shepard, Grunt, and I all lead the approach, as most everyone else hangs back. I know the krogan reasonably well, I think, so it only makes sense. Neither krogan notices our presence as we get close. The shaman simply raises his hand again as he goes on.

"They know blood no matter the womb," replies the shaman. "Your barking won't help your case."

It's at this that Grunt sees fit to enter the conversation. "I'll speak for myself."

Yep, that's it, Grunt. Be domineering and commanding! Hm... He's becoming a real krogan now. Yay!

The shaman and Uvenk both turn their heads at exactly the same time, looking right at the tank-bred as he walks up to the krogan in question. "So this is the tank-bred," says the Urdnot shaman, looking Grunt directly in the eye. "It is very life like." He takes a sharp inhalation of air, probably smelling something. "Smells correct as well." The shaman turns to the green-crested krogan. "Your protests ring hollow, Uvenk."

I cross my arms, nodding and smirking at Uvenk. Yeah, that's right bitch. Your protests mean less than the thresher maw shit that's sitting around somewhere!

... Speaking of thresher maws... we have to fight one at the end of the Rite, am I right? Yeah. I wonder how that's gonna go, actually. We didn't necessarily have to kill the thresher maw for any reason other than shits and giggles, but that actually turned out really easy when I played. I wonder just how easy killing a thresher maw is gonna be now that we don't have the benifit of reloading from our previous save. Not like I had to anyway, but I imagine that benefit would be really nice. Well, at least Shepard isn't a Sole Survivor here. Because that would suck.

"I don't care what this idiot says," says Shepard, pointing a finger at Uvenk. "Grunt has the right to be here."

Okay, that's all nice and good for Shepard. "Seriously," I comment. "I might start calling you a bitch just on the strength of how much you're whining here."

"Hm." The kind of spiritual man of Urdnot seems amused by this. "There's some fire. And from aliens!" He nods, closing his dark brown eyes for a second before turning to Uvenk. "Oh, the shame that heaps on those who whine like pups."

Uvenk looks rather angrily at the Urdnot shaman before shaking his head. "If this must stand on Ritual, then I will vote in denial!" he says. "My krantt stands against him." Hm... You'll be changing your mind about that when you see what he's capable of, no doubt? "He has no one!"

The shaman groans in distaste. "My patience is tested, but Uvenk invokes correctly," he comments. He then turns to the tank-bred krogan, who is looking on with strange fire in his eyes. "Grunt, who is your krantt? Your allies willing to kill and die on your behalf?"

I frown, biting my lower lip. "I call bullshit against Uvenk," I comment. All eyes fall on me as I speak. "Technically speaking, Grunt's been fighting with us since he was born. He does have allies willing to help him out. He's got us, who he's been fighting with for as long as he remembers. Fuck you, we'll be his krantt!"

Shepard nods, looking back to the Urdnot shaman. "I'm with the Serviceman," says Shepard. "We'll be his krantt. Name our target, and it will die."

The shaman seems pleased by this reply. And... yeah, he's raising his arms to the side. "Spoken well!" he says, amused by this reply. "Most aliens, and some krogan, do not understand our ways." With the krogan part, he glares at Uvenk. Yeah, Uvenk is an idiot, isn't he? The fact that he changes his mind when Grunt kills things doesn't help his case, but I can't bring it up. And really, no amount of bringing it up will prepare Shepard for it, as Uvenk turning once he sees Grunt's strength kind of speaks for itself. "I believe these humans do."

Uvenk looks directly at Shepard and I. "Aliens don't know strength!" he says. Ah, grasping at straws, I see. "My followers are true krogan! They don't cater to... to musicians! Urdnot Wrex can't see that he's catering to a weakling!" Oh? Bitch, you did _not_ just go there! "Everything about Grunt is a-!"

Okay, that does it. Screw what Shepard thinks, and screw the increase in Renegade points. This guy's losing a few brain cells today!

With this, I rear my head back, squinting.

Falcoooon HEADBUTT!

My forehead connects with Uvenk's head crest, shortly after, and the sound of my head hitting his crest is the only confirmation that I really did some damage.

...

Okay, ow, that really, _really _hurt. This was kind of a bad idea, wasn't it? But... I survived getting headbutted by Wrex, I can survive headbutting Uvenk. I just have to make sure I don't get all tipsy in Uvenk's presence.

So I take a step back as Uvenk looks at me in shock. Hm... The world doesn't seem to be spinning as badly as it was way back when I got headbutted by Wrex. Okay... I can do this. I can see the biggest grin on the shaman's face, and even Shepard seems to look on in approval. Yep, I'll bet she was thinking about it too.

"You... you dare?" asks Uvenk.

Oh, _do _I? "Bitch, I didn't help Shepard defeat Saren after rigorous military training I never thought I'd need to be called a weakling by some whiny motherfucker who won't shut the fuck up about shit he doesn't know about!" I reply. "I _totally_ dare!"

The spiritual man lets out a loud laughter. It's a very earth-shaking sound, and it's incredibly merry. "I like this human!" he bellows, light dancing in his eye as he says this. "He gets it!"

Uvenk scowls then, the expression turning sharp on his face as the wavy sensation slowly dies within my body. "I withdraw my denial," he says simply, the frown on his face speaking volumes about how much he doesn't like it. He then walks by me, giving me a sharp shove as he passes me. Hey! My shoulder ricochets violently, and then I feel a slight ache in it as I watch Uvenk storm off. "This will be decided elsewhere."

He then walks right past the rest of the group, all of them getting out of Uvenk's way. Yeah, that's a smart move. That way, things will be fine with Uvenk not injuring people. Especially not Sturge and Jenny. If they get injured while here... well, I will be unleashing hell on the non-Urdnot krogan, that's for sure.

In the mean time... the whiny krogan goes all internet troll on me and vacates the premises when he can't win? Huh. "I expected better from someone who's supposed to be heading a krantt with pure krogan," I comment.

"So did I," says Grunt. "He's nothing more than a weakling."

"It's a good thing you headbutted him, I guess," says Shepard. "I would've done it myself, personally."

Ah, so she _would _have headbutted Uvenk. Well, that's a relief. I don't think I would like her to do it though... So... I shake my head. "I don't recommend it," I reply almost immediately. "I don't know how you would react, but I've got a headache..." I bring my hand up to my head. "Nothing an application of medigel shouldn't fix, though."

Shepard raises her omni-tool, and then I feel something sothe my head. Okay, yeah... that's an application of medigel gone right, all right. "Thanks, Shepard," I say. I promptly give her a slight nod, smiling at the commander before I turn my attention to the shaman.

"Regardless, you provoked him," says the shaman, clearly very amused by the latest turn of events. "That's enough reason for me to like you. He's your problem now, though."

I cross my arms. "I think I'll deal with his bitch ass when he starts crying me a river," I reply. "In the meantime, though... we do have to deal with Grunt's Rite."

"That we do," says the holy-ish krogan, his glance falling on Shepard. "I imagine you must have quite a few questions about the Rite."

"Yes, actually," replies the commander as she shifts her weight on her feet. "What exactly is the Rite?"

So the shaman explains everything, answering Shepard's questions as best he can. I simply sit back and watch, not preferring to say anything. And I'm not exactly paying attention either. I know how it goes after all: we kill a shit-ton of varren, we kill a bunch of... eh... klixens, were they? Whatever those rachni-like things are. And then, we survive against the Thresher Maw. Though, if we have our way, we may just kill the piece of crap. I think the species as a whole deserves it after the Sole Survivor reputation, personally.

Either way, we'll see what happens with that. No matter what, though, Grunt's in for the time of his life, and it's gonna be awesome when we go around doing stuff. So yeah, things will be great around here.

* * *

Another tomkah ride later, and the entire group ends up at the site of the Rite. Fortunately for us, Drakus showed up just as we were heading to the tomkah, so he's busy watching over Jenny and Sturge for now. They'll be under the Rite, but with the thresher maw it's always nice to be sure they'll be safe. I'd hate to get a huge thing of acid on Sturge. It was a rather long ride to the proving ground, no doubt because those thresher maws need a place to actually pop out from. Seriously, though... I wonder just how insanely huge that thing is gonna be when it pops out. I know it was a giant monster in the game, but how does that translate...?

...

On second thought, I don't think I want to know. I just need to kill things, and that will end that story. So yeah. The biotic tosses will be in good hands for that, I think. And it's a good thing we've got Thane, Tela, and Shepard for that. The rest of us can do reasonably well, I think.

The tomkah comes to a stop, and then we all look at the driver before the door opens. We all step out very quickly, underground. We see a hatch open up, and then the Urdnot shaman leads us out to the surface. Okay... we walk on to the lookout, and the shaman goes ahead with Shepard and Grunt as he explains away about the keystone and all that jazz. Man... this is kind of like getting initiated into Phi Mu Alpha. Only, with calm guys, and a lot less killing. I end up looking out at the bombed-out shell that is Tuchanka...

And for the first time since we landed, I notice a strange kind of majesty about the broken buildings. They stand there, looking like they're made out of paper in the distance around so much rubble it's impossible to tell exactly what some of the rubble is. But even if bombed out, some of the rubble still seems to look like a mountain range. I guess erosion helped out a lot with that, but something about the way the rubble is arranged...

I don't really know.

"Something on your mind?"

I blink, looking at Jarel and Tali as they both kind of stand there. "Oh, I was just admiring the scenery," I comment. "I don't know why, but I kind of like this place, actually. Not one I'd like to live in, but it's kind of... beautiful. In its own wierd little way."

Tali shakes her head, and I can sense the bemused expression beneath her mask. "You always did have the strangest taste in scenery," she says.

I shrug. "Hey, I grew up in a flat place my whole life," is my reply. "Anything with hills is better than that, let me tell you."

"I don't really know how hills of rubble are better than natural hills," says Jarel. "These hills are in a nuclear wasteland, for all intents and purposes. No life can grow here."

I shrug. "April is the cruelest month, breeding/lilacs out of the dead land." I tilt my head.

... I think I just confused them.

"I don't think I follow that logic," says Jarel. Yep, I confused them. Well, Tali less so, because she knows what I'm talking about, but definitely not Jarel.

"Don't bother," says Tali with a shake of her head. "He just quoted a human poem he read to me once." The quarian shrugs.

"_The Wasteland, _if you must know," I comment. "It worked a lot with inverting some expectations of stuff. It's one of my favorite poems in the whole galaxy."

"Ah," replies Jarel. "I... still don't quite get it."

I nod. That's basically the abridged version of _The Wasteland _in layman's terms. Well... maybe not quite like that. "Well, think of it this way: it doesn't have to make sense," I comment. "And really, I say that about myself sometimes too. A lot of things about me don't really make sense if you think too hard, because really, a lot of my interests are a little out there for everyone. Like... I like post-nuclear war landscapes. Apparently."

The Spectre candidate nods. "Humans are still peculiar," he says. "Makes it more interesting, at any rate. I did mention things about studying how people think. I must say, I've found a lot in you."

I rub the back of my head. "Just be sure to credit me for my observations in your thesis and we'll be good."

The salarian blinks in confusion. Huh... guess he didn't know he was supposed to take that as a joke. But whatever. "I don't think I'll be doing a thesis anytime soon," he replies. "You forget, I am a Spectre candidate." He looks up at the proving ground. "I wonder what we'll have to kill during this Rite. Hopefully, it won't be anything too outlandish."

Oh, God, you've got no idea, Jarel. "Well, we are talking about krogan here," I comment. "You never can tell with krogan."

"That is true," comments the salarian. "At any rate, I hope we succeed."

"Oh, we will," I comment. "You don't quite know Grunt like some of the rest of us do. He's... pretty violent. And impulsive. And good at killing things." Well, that, and the Critical Mission Failure screen doesn't exactly leave a whole lot of room for interpretation.

"I haven't exaclty seen him in action," says Tali.

Damn it, I knew that was coming sometime... "Trust me, he's good at killing things," I say as we finish walking onto the area where the Rite is to take place. "We'll get through this. And... here we are."

We all look at the proving ground. Yeah... something about this rings a bit plain to me, but it's still well-kept. I see heat sinks laying all over the place, but they're much more numerous than I remember them being in the game. Well... Bioware couldn't account for having about six extra guys running around killing varren and the like, so I can't exactly blame them. The wind blows over, and I see what looks like dust particles flittering over some of the proving ground. Ooh, that could be a problem. But I won't let it get to me. I look behind me... and there's the hammerschlag kind of deal there. Yeah, that gigantic weight's gonna come down loudly.

I nod, crossing my arms as I look over to Grunt. He looks pumped, and seems ready to tear things apart. Power to him, I guess. Fun times will be had with the proving. For now, Shepard looks to all of us, drawing her shotgun. Everyone else draws their best short-range weapons, nodding to Shepard. I've got my sniper rifle ready. I'm gonna snipe some varren today.

Okay... Grunt nods.

"I'm ready!" he says. "Let's start this Rite!"

And with this, Shepard goes to the base of the keystone. Okay... I know how this goes. She hits the button, we're given some exposition about stuff as the mallet thing rises... Okay, Grunt seems to be understanding things... The mallet thing is rising ever so higher... I can just sense the build-up to one of the hammer blows. Man, I wish Mahler had been born in this century instead of the 19th Century. I'd bet he'd ask for _this _instead of the Wile E. Coyote size hammer that proves to be a logistical nightmare for orchestras since we don't exactly know what he wants.

But... I digress as the thing rises, and it talks about various things.

And then the weight falls, and an earth-shattering boom is heard. The earth shakes slightly with the impact, and I definitely do feel like it's passing judgement on us or something. And it's going to by testing us.

I'm taken by surprise just how loud the damn thing is, though. It nearly sends me falling over to hear that loud boom, and to be honest, it's kind of scary. I slowly regain my balance, looking up at the keystone as Grunt says something to Shepard.

I then hear the signature snarl of varren. I then glance to the side to see a whole flood of varren rush out from the stairs that are above the lower part of the platform. There are a lot of 'em coming at us, but... I know Grunt's gonna love it.

Well... in a situation like this, there's only one thing I can say to myself.

And so it begins.

The first varren touches down on the ground, but with a loud roar Grunt is already rushing towards it. He cocks his shotgun as Thane biotically lifts the poor bugger. As another varren leaps from the stairs, Grunt's massive shotgun goes off, and then the varren flies off, dead. Hey, he got the claymore, didn't he? All right, this is gonna be awesome. I see Tela biotically lift the next varren mid-step, but before Grunt can do much, Tali's shotgun joins the fray as Thane peppers it with submachine gun fire.

Hey... there are a lot of varren coming in! Not cool!

I take a position where I can clearly see the stairs, peering through the scope as a group of about five varren suddenly rush out. I see Tela toss a black hole type thing at them, and then the five of them all seem to float in suspended animation. As Thane and Jarel start firing on the varren, I nod, biting my lower lip. Okay... Slow and steady... slow and steady...

The report of the sniper rifle goes off, and then the varren floats in the air as blood flows down its face.

Scratch one!

I see some other fire join it, and when I peer out of my scope I see Garrus, Tali, and Shepard have all joined Grunt on the lower levels. Tali has also summoned Chiktikka, and it's currently flying around zapping the varren while things are going off. So Tela and Mordin are off to one side, and Thane and Jarel are off to another. If any krogan gets past them, they're taking care of it to make sure they don't get to me. Or... they finish the run-off, anyhow. Not like Grunt running around bellowing loudly is helping matters much.

Hm... Better stick to sniping, then. I reload my rifle briefly, looking as varren rush down the stairs in packs. They always jump down to the proving ground when they get there, but... if we can kill some before then...

I better get to that. I peer through the scope again, watching the varren as they make their mad rush to test Grunt. I bite my lower lip, preparing myself. I hear my sniper rifle crack, and then one of the varren that's just reaching the edge of the stairs tumbles off, the momentum carrying it so it lands on another varren that Chiktikka was shocking. Okay... On to another one. I reload briefly, looking through the scope again as Shepard and her posse of four wreak havoc down below.

Damn... that's a lot of varren.

I bring my rifle back up to the stairs, and then shoot at another varren before it can even start descending the staircase. The momentum carries it over the steps, though, and it tumbles down, running over a stray one of these space dog things as it nearly falls over.

Okay... Yep. That looks competent enough. I spare a glance down at the carnage that's being wreaked... and already I can see why Grunt is a perfect krogan. There are some varren guts hanging off of his white armor, but he's clearly enjoying himself. He grabs one varren by the little tentacle thing that hangs off the back of his neck, and with an all-mighty throw that varren is tossed out of there.

Holy shit, I wish Grunt did something like that in the game! Another varren leaps at Grunt, but he fires a shotgun round and that thing is history. Damn... I better not get on Grunt's bad side. He's damn awesome at killing shit.

I look back into the sniper scope, firing when I can focus on a varren. It's sent falling over the edge of the stairs just like the other one I sniped... and yeah.

The battle pretty much goes like this for about two more minutes. Grunt is the star attraction of this as his armor gets progressively more and more bloodied with each varren that tries to kill him. This isn't to say that we're not doing well enough on our own, but god damn it are we awesome. We're killing varren by the dozens, I think, and the carnage only gets more pronounced as we go around. And when I snipe the last varren rushing down the steps, an impenetrable silence reigns over all.

Okay... that sounds good. I stand up, stowing away my sniper rifle. I nod, looking over to the four people defending my position as they all holster their weapons.

"That's some bloodthirsty krogan you've got there," comments Tela casually.

I shrug. "He's young," I comment. "He'll be tempered eventually. Well, once we take care of this series of trials and all that, that is."

"I'll admit I am not used to this much bloodshed," says Thane. "I find it almost disturbing..."

"I don't think that will be the end of it, unfortunately," comments Jarel. "I think we still have two more waves of things to kill, right?"

I nod. "Yeah, I think we do," I reply, watching as Shepard, Garrus, Tali, and Grunt all come back up to the upper levels.

"That was a great fight," says Grunt. "I think there is more, though..." He glances at the keystone. "Come on, Shepard. Let's hit the keystone and continue the Rite."

"You got it, Grunt," says Shepard. The human then walks over to the keystone button, the rest of us watching as Tali walks to my side. Chiktikka follows along slowly, and then we all look at the keystone.

Okay... It's now rising again, and the keystone narration is going on about something else. Okay... I draw my shotgun, knowing it's likely going to be much more effective against the coming klixens than the sniper rifle probably ever will. Tali eyes me, keeping her grip relatively firm on her shotgun as she nods to me. I look back up at the keystone, biting my lower lip in anticipation of things to come.

And then, the mallet thing makes another incredible crash against the ground.

All right, and so begins round two! I glance to the side. All right, you oversized fire-breathing crabs, come and get some!

I see the first klixens come to my right. I glance over, and then see Jarel and Thane immediately open fire. I raise my shotgun at the klixen, seeing it approach Thane and Jarel rather slowly. The two of them back away, but they don't exactly have to as I fire my shotgun at the thing. It goes down very quickly, and I nod...

Hey, wait, don't the klixens...?

It's then I feel the heat get around me.

Crap, they do come in pairs!

I rush back, frantically firing my shotgun as I scramble backwards. I trip over a small stone however, right as he stops breathing fire. Fortunately, my kinetic barriers managed to catch most of the flame, but... I'm not so lucky in terms of still being in the flames... Damn it, it's getting hot here!

I see Chiktikka out of the corner of my eye zap the thing, and then some more rounds finally put an end to the flames. I look around me in shock as gunshots are heard off to the side. Jesus... forget about that, I nearly got burned to death by a klixen! Thank Cthulhu for kinetic barriers! I feel a three-fingered hand tug on my shoulder, and then I'm brought to a standing position as Tali lifts me up. I look at her visor, and she nods.

"That was a close one," she says.

I nod. "Indeed it was," I comment, glancing to the side as more klixens come our way. I shake something off, looking to the side as another klixen comes into view. It's promptly thrown by Thane, but the force definitely isn't strong enough to thow the klixen down enough. I nod, cocking my shotgun.

"Let's get back to business."

Tali nods, and then we all stare down one of the klixens as they come out two at a time. Chiktikka is already zapping one of them as the klixen comes in, and it turns its attention to the combat drone. Fortunately, unlike the game the drone has the intelligence to move out of the way before it gets melted. I nod, seeing Thane and Jarel add to a lot of supressing fire. As for the other one, Tali and I both concentrate on pumping shotgun rounds into the damn thing. Yeah, this is gonna take a while...

Eventually, I see blood. Hah, I knew these shells weren't impenetrable. With a final shot fired from Tali, I cock my shotgun in triumph as the klixen goes down...

...and two more take its place.

God damn it, there really is no rest for the wicked, is there?

Fuck.

I move to aim my shotgun when suddenly one of the klixen in front of me falls over, seemingly dead. I blink in surprise, but no sooner do I see this when Grunt emerges behind the other still-moving crap, the widest grin on his face and with the sharpest shine in his eyes as he runs past it. He fires his shotgun once into the klixen, and then proceeds to jump up and kick it over the railing that it was trailing. It falls off, hitting the ground with a sligh squelch as Grunt lets out a loud roar.

He thunders past us, then, working his way back through Shepard. And then on our watch, he continues roaring in glee as he continues shooting his shotgun.

...

Yeah. That kinda speaks for itself.

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff..." I mutter, shaking my head. "He's enjoying this way too much."

I shake my head, hearing Tali mutter something under her breath as she looks right at another group of two klixen. However, one is almost immediately on top of her, and while Thane and Jarel have taken care of the one further back, we're all surprised when Chiktikka's bolt alerts us to its presence.

Gah, crap!

I backpedal, throwing an arm around Tali to keep her back as I fire my shotgun into the wierd fire-breathing crab thing. Okay yeah, this is a little too close for comfort. I rush back, and barely get back before the klixen breathes fire in my face. Tali by this time is running backwards as fast as she can, and I fire my shotgun at the thing's face. It gets it to stop the fire, but it doesn't stop its forward track.

And then Chiktikka comes to the rescue with the loud crack of a lightning bolt. It manages to stun the damn thing long enough for Tali and I to quickly back away. I whip out my pistol at this, and fire a few final shots at the thing before it finally goes down. Jesus Christ... that was close.

And then Grunt comes around again, firing his shotgun at yet another pair of klixen, letting out an all-mighty roar as he finishes pumping rounds into the god-damn rachni-look-alike. I shake my head, and then note that there doesn't seem to be any squealing of any creature.

I glance up at Shepard, who stows her weapon away and nods to the rest of us. Okay... so that's that. I bite my lower lip slowly getting my composure together as I stow away my shotgun on the magnetic clip just above my ass. I shake my head, biting my lip.

"Damn things nearly burned me to death," I say. "Twice."

"Can't say I blame you there," comments Shepard. "Those things were pretty hard to kill."

"Shells extremely durable," comments Mordin. "Not surprised. Am curious about how Grunt tore through all of them, though."

"Hah, I tear through them because I'm strong, salarian," says the pure krogan with a finger pointed at Mordin. "I have a strong krantt, and I am strong myself! I'm beginning to see why I fight. It's glorious!"

"Indeed," says Tela. "We still haven't finished the last trial, though... What's going to happen with that, I wonder?"

Oh, God... this part. I shake my head, looking right outside the arena. "We'll see, won't we?" I ask.

"This has been a great fight, Shepard," says Grunt. "Let's continue the Rite."

With this, the commander simply nods, and walks off with the krogan to go activate the keystone. I turn to Tela as she takes another look around the arena. I shake my head, biting my lower lip as some of us end up doing the same. Garrus hangs back, walking back towards us.

"Well, we've fought varren, and we've fought klixens," says the asari Spectre. "I can't imagine the krogan will find something bigger than that."

"I don't know..." I comment, crossing my arms. Knowing the krogan, they'll probably take the most suicidal path possible."

"The Rite would kill most people," adds Jarel. "It's bearable for krogan, though."

"No kidding," comments Garrus. "If I knew this is what every krogan on Tuchanka does when they come of age... I'd have treated a lot of my C-Sec cases differently."

Maybe not, what with you being all idealistic and all. Admittedly, though, it would be fun to see you as an even worse turian than you already are. I glance back as gears kick into place, and then the keystone's mallet thing rises once again to pound down on the ground.

"I doubt that," says Tali, shaking her head. "But still... It seems a little anticlimactic there is something larger they can use for this."

"What are they going to use, a thresher maw?" asks Tela with a hand gesture. "Krogan aren't that suicidal, I don't think."

...

Oh, God... I glance over at the keystone, and almost as soon as I do the thing comes rushing down. The force bears down on the ground, and it sounds loudly once again. Only this time... it's kinda grim.

God, the Mahler 6 references are going crazy in my mind! Jesus, why do most conductors take out the third hammerblow, anyway? That's kinda... idiotic, I think.

I glance back at the ground, my eyes falling on the asari Spectre as the others look around. We don't hear any screams for a while, and Garrus frowns as Tela, Mordin, and Jarel all look around.

"That's it?" asks Tela. "No more creatures to throw at us?"

As soon as she says this, I glance down at the ground, suddenly seeing a stone dancing up and down on the ground. I blink, and then some of our eyesights fall on it as the small piece of rubble seems to leap about like a Mexican jumping bean. A few seconds later, I feel the earth rumbling beneath my feet.

I turn to Tela Vasir then, shock going on my face. Okay... "Tela... you said thresher maw, right?"

She nods, looking down at the ground as the shaking gets more intense. "Yes," she says. "Why?"

I glance outside of the arena as soon as I think about this, and then I see stones begin to sift just beyond it. It eventually transforms into boulders being flung up at everything, and then all eyes fall on that event. My eyes go wide, looking at the thing as the stones and then the sand seem to jut out of the ground.

And then, the thresher maw bursts out of its hole in all of its perverse glory. The sand seems to part in greeting to the thing as the worm slithers up, yellow exoskeleton shining menacingly in the dark light of Tuchanka. Its blue eyes and feelers are all exposed to the air now, and it lets out a shriek that pierces the air. Jesus Christ... that thing is absolutely huge! And the eyes! My God... they're creepy! I can't imagine what it must have been like to be a Sole Survivor Shepard in this case... I mean, my god... I'm like... this is... that's...

"_Gojira_!" I scream out at the top of my lungs.

I can quickly hear Jarel complain at Tela for a second before the thresher maw roars again.

Oh, dear, here we go...

I rush towards the wall that's off to the side, hoping to get to cover as I see an absolutely enormous glob of acid get spit our way. We all manage to get away from it just in time, but the acid plops on the ground a short distance away and eats at the floor, as well as some of our spent heat sinks. It eats through both sets of objects way too fast for comfort, and then by the time the acid desolves, the maw is already spitting another thing at us. Fortunately, the acid hits one of the towers, but before we can even begin to process what the hell is going on the acid eats away at the tower with record time. And so, when Shepard nearly gets crushed by the falling piece of debris that occurs from that, I shake my head, seeing Tela had gone close to me.

"You just _had _to jinx it, didn't you?" I ask.

"How was I supposed to know that they were going to use a thresher maw?" asks the asari spectre as she draws her assault rifle.

Shepard rushes into cover next to us. "It doesn't matter!" she says. "We only have to survive five minutes against this thing and we clear the Rite! If we kill it, great! If not..." she shakes her head, pulling out her heavy weapon.

Huh... She brought the particle beam. For some reason, I was expecting her to bring the Cain on this one. Well... I guess something must have clicked. "Well... we'll have to see what happens."

She aims the particle beam thing at the Thresher Maw, then, and pulls the trigger. I end up ducking almost immediately as a piece of the particle beam almost burns my hair. Shepard aims it at the god-damn beast, and the beam connects with it as my ears buzz with the sound of the weapon humming. Meanwhile, I can hear Grunt bellowing loudly, not rushing to cover but instead running towards the thresher maw, shotgun drawn as he bellows with glee.

"Now _this _is more like it!" he shouts, firing a round into the gigantic sand worm thing. "_I! AM! KROGAN!_"

... Oh, God.

I shake my head, drawing my sniper rifle as I look to Grunt. Shepard cuts power to the beam, though, as then the thresher maw burrows underground. We can see the trail of rocks that it throws up as it moves to a new position, throwing everything up as it moves...

...right into the arena.

...

Oh, no. What the-?

Before I can even think about it, the thresher maw bursts right in front of us, letting out a keening howl as Grunt simply runs around the damn thing, going trigger happy with that krogan shotgun of his.

Holy, shit!

"_This thing can penetrate the arena?_" I scream.

I don't get much of an opportunity to think about this, though, for then it looms directly over us.

Oh, God, fuck it! The old tactic isn't gonna work!

I drop my sniper rifle, the thing clattering to the side as I spring to my feet. I'm not the only one, either, as basically everyone else that was lining up along the wall decides it's a good idea to jet. I see Mordin and Jarel run up, still clutching their weapons as Chiktikka moves out of its way. Tali runs away from cover pretty soon after, letting off a shotgun blast as she moves away. It doesn't completely hit, but I see Thane get up and do something similar with short bursts of submachine gun fire. It seems to work, I think, and they both get away right before a glob of acid hits where they used to stand. Garrus stays in cover for a little longer to get some assault rifle rounds into the thing before he too gets up and runs. I grab my pistol from the holster then, looking up at the thing as it lets out another roar.

"Jesus Christ..." I say, looking up at the thing.

"Yeah..." says Shepard, shaking her head. "We're going to have to wail into it. Everyone! Run everywhere!"

I see everyone scatter around as another piece of acid spit flies where Garrus used to stand. This is all the cue we need to start running around frantically, getting rounds into the thing and doing this Grunt's way. Jesus... I haven't run this much around anything since I had to clear event match 51. God, Giga Bowser was a real push-over compared to this guy, now that I think about it! I look up, firing a pistol shot into the thing as Chiktikka suddenly floats by my side. I look up at the thresher maw, shocked as we all run around for about a minute or so. It simply sits there, spewing acid every which way. And a lot of it too; I swear the game never had him spewing _this _much acid! I mean, seriously... There isn't a single patch of ground I can find where the acid hasn't hit.

And our bullets don't seem to be doing a whole lot. The only one that's really doing anything is Shepard with her particle beam, but even that doesn't leave that much of a mark. Oh, yeah, it leaves scorch marks, and it seems to burn some of the armor that covers some skin-like thing, but Jesus... Even that's not doing a whole lot. Good thing we didn't bring the Cain, then! I imagine that wouldn't have helped.

So we go around, killing it with bug bites. At least this one doesn't have the repair sub-routine.

But then... as it seems to be slowing down, it stops spewing spit, seemingly out of options for that. Okay, I think we're weakening it! That's good! And then I hear a roar as it suddenly holds its head up.

Okay... this thing could almost be dead! Okay... Chiktikka is over there... one more shock from it and maybe a couple of shotgun blasts from Grunt should do the-

And before I know what has happened, the thing bends around, its mouth wide open as it rushes towards the ground. I barely have time to see that it's not doing anything that I've seen from the game before the creature's mouth slams shut over the piece of land that Chiktikka was over, and I hear an all-mighty crash as the things head slams against the ground. The impact knocks me off my feet, and then I look over in time to see the thresher maw tear a huge chunk of the earth out and gobble the entire thing up.

Jesus! It just ate Tali's combat drone like fucking Thanksgiving turkey!

... Okay, that was an odd analogy to use, but still!

I look up. Shit, I need to get up! I feel my muscles jointly refuse to cooperate with me, though, and some small part of my mind is keeping me in place in sheer terror. Jesus Christ... this thing isn't above eating anything!

I blink, my jaw hanging open as the thresher maw lets out another roar. It's then that I suddenly come to my senses, and scramble to my feet. Crap, gotta stay in motion, gotta stay in motion! I then proceed to sprint around the arena without daring to fire a single shot. The thing roars again, and then I look up...

...to see the thresher maw coming for me.

Oh, no! No no no no no! I move my feet, but I neglect to notice that I'm close to a downwards ramp, so one of my feet miscalculates where I'm supposed to put it. Oh, crap! I suddenly find myself flying through the air as the thresher rushes down at the spot where I would of been had I been just a little slower, and then I find my shoulder hitting the ramp particularly hard as I tumble down it. I hear the thresher maw tear itself away from the earth briefly, but the world is still moving around me as I finally come to a stop about a foot away from the incline. I look up then, seeing the thresher maw's jaws bearing down on me!

Time seems to slow down as I look up, the blue tongue seeming to come out. Oh, God... I let out as loud a scream as I can muster in there. God, I didn't think it would end like this! The thresher maw descends on me... Oh, God...

And then, salvation comes in the form of Grunt rushing up to the spot and leaping right over me as the thresher maw is just about to clamp its jaws around the earth that I'm laying down on. The tank-bred turns, cocking his krogan shotgun again as he looks up at the thresher maw, courage and blood lust in his eye. He looks at the thresher maw with only that, and as the jaws encircle around us he fires a lone burst of incredibly heavy fire into the head of the thresher maw. Everything goes dark for a split second, and then light comes up again almost immediately as I see the flesh of the wild sand-worm explode all around us. Blood and guts suddenly seem to fly everywhere, and as I feel something hot splash against my face I close my eyes, feeling something soft and squishy impact against my upraised hand. Before long, light floods all around us again, and after the deafening boom of Grunt's shotgun and a rather loud thump an impenetrable silence hangs in the air.

My teeth are gripping onto my lower lip like a vice. Oh, God... I hope nothing extreme happened... I breathe deeply, in and out as I try to contemplate what the hell just happened. I then open my eyes, and see the hot sun of Tuchanka bearing down on me, and the warm stuff still splattered across my face. I wipe my eyes with the dry part of my arm tentatively, and then look off to the side to see Grunt with the biggest grin on his face. There's the sole piece of gore strewn over his shoulder like a trusty ruck-sack, and he's beaming at us like he just went to church. I then look around to see the others approach, and then I notice the rest of the body of the thresher maw without a head, laying there lifeless. Grunt and I are standing where the head would probably have been if it were still attached, and...

Hey... did we kill the thresher maw?

I look to my arm then, to see a strange orange blood all over my arm.

... Holy shit.

I look up, smiling as Grunt pumps his fist in the air, still holding his shotgun as he lets out a roar. I bring my hands down, setting the pistol on the ground as I feel Tali rush up to me and wrapping her arms around me.

Jesus... We killed the thresher maw! I can hear Grunt shouting something, but I'm just sitting there grinning as I feel myself get squeezed by Tali.

"Oh, Keelah!" she mutters as her facemask buries itself into my shoulder. "You're all right!"

I blink then, looking down at the quarian as I shift slightly where I'm sitting. I look over to her, smiling as I lift her chin up so we're looking each other in the eye.

...

Damn the suit.

"I'm all right, Tali," I say. "Though I was really terrified I was gonna die, too..."

She nods, loosening her hold on me slightly. "Don't ever do that to me again, you _bosh'tet_!" she exclaims.

"I don't plan to, trust me," I reply, giving her my best lop-sided smile.

And then I look back at Grunt as he's roaring in approval. Yep, he killed the thresher maw. And I'm still alive. And we cleared the Rite, in great fashion.

I think this calls for a _Titanic _reference.

"_Grunt is the king of the world!_"

...

Why is everybody giving me blank stares?

* * *

"And then you had to kill the moment."

"Shut up, it was a reference! And it was relevant!"

"I hardly see how a _Titanic _reference was relevant to Grunt killing a thresher maw."

I shake my head. "It made sense in my head!" I defend.

"Well, it didn't to us, so that should end the discussion."

Damn it. "Fine," I reply, biting my lower lip.

And so Shepard turns around as we end up walking away from the arena. Okay... so apparently I killed the moment. And Shepard,Garrus, and Tela have made their displeasure about it known to an almost sickening degree. Mordin and Jarel aren't likely to think about it like that, and Thane stands impassively as I walk by Tali. And Grunt? Well.. he's too busy trying to relate how awesome the Thresher Maw kill was to Jarel to really care.

So that leaves me to walk next to Tali. Hm...

"Looks like Chiktikka got destroyed. Again."

The quarian simply shakes her head in dismay. "Oh, I can always remake her," says Tali with a shrug. "But it's going to be more annoying now. I was sure I had it all right!"

"We'll figure out something," I say, reaching for her hand. She doesn't object when I finally do find it, and then she looks up at me.

"I don't know, Art," she says. "I've had to repair and rebuild that drone more than I care to think about. Is it really the same Chiktikka vas Paus now that it was back then?"

I blink, looking to Tali with a crooked smile as we walk along. Crap... what do I say? I can't say the same thing I said on the collector ship, because that would just be hokey... and... Oh, damn it, why do I not know? Oh, damn it... Okay... the only thing that can save me now... oh, come on Uvenk, where the hell are you? I need you, for once!

Wow... I'm asking for the help of Gatatog Uvenk.

Remind me to go shoot myself when all this is said and done and we still haven't-.

"You live, and you brought down the thresher maw."

Ah, there he is! We all turn to look at the side, watching a group of about ten krogan amassing off to the side as we walk back to where the tomkah undoubtedly is. Oh, yeah, this is gonna result in much bloodshed. Finally. I fucking hate Gatatog Uvenk. It's a good thing we get to kill him now. Even better since I just asked him to show up. Gatatog himself is standing up on a high ledge, pacing around as he looks right at us.

"No one has done that in generations," says Uvenk, his voice... feigning a sense of wonder. Damn, the voice actor definitely got that wrong. "Urdnot Wrex was the last."

"My krantt gave me strength beyond my genes," says the young tankbred as we approach Uvenk. "Which are damned good."

The leader of the Gatatog clan looks down at us before jumping down from the high ledge he was on. Now he's about level with us. "This will cause much discussion. I wonder..." he says. "You say you are pure? No alien meddling in your construction? Just the warlord Okeer?"

Not technically true, seeing as how Okeer mentioned something about Collector tech being used to create Grunt. "You're stumbling, Uvenk," says Shepard, pointing her finger at the krogan. "What's your game?"

"Grunt will command much respect now," says the green-crested krogan. "His strength may be artificial, but it is a tolerable loophole."

"A what?" asks Grunt.

A loophole. You know, like the stuff people use to help them with tax evasion.

"A reason to accept you," says Uvenk. Almost immediately, I see Grunt frown. Uh-oh... he doesn't like this already. "You are a mistake, but your potential could-"

"You spit on my father's name," Grunt interrupts. The dangerous tone his voice takes on causes Uvenk to stop talking almost immediately. Oh, yeah, now comes the verbal beatdown, bitch! "On Shepard's name! But now you stop ranting because I'm strong?"

"With restrictions," says Uvenk, his eyes clearly showing he's intimidated. "You couldn't-"

"Fuck that," I interrupt. "You don't really care about Grunt! You just want him as a trophy!" I cross my arms.

"It's pretty obvious," comments Shepard. "And as long as you're going to treat him like a trophy, I have every right to refuse giving him to the likes of you."

"That's not your place to decide, _human_," says the green-crested krogan in front of us as he points a finger at Shepard. "This is his decision."

"Is it, now?" I ask, leaning my head to the side as I cross my arms and raise my eyebrows. As soon as I do, I look straight at the tank-bred krogan. "If I know Grunt, your answer is coming in the form of his shotgun pointing in your general direction."

The tank-bred krogan turns to me, a new fire in his eyes. "You do know me," he says, nodding as he looks back at Idiot Uvenk. "This varren is dead." He brings a fist to an open palm then, looking right at the offending krogan.

And without warning, Grunt bum-rushes Uvenk, knocking the son of a bitch to the ground so that he's lying face up. He quickly draws his shotgun right then and there, pressing it against Uvenk's face as he suddenly pulls the trigger. Uvenk's face becomes unheadbuttable matter in a split second, and it gets every other krogan to draw their weapons. We then rush back to the far wall, outrunning an explosive shotgun round from one of them as we then jump behind cover. I nearly kick Tali to the side by accident, but we're both at the ground as we draw our pistols. I look to the quarian, smiling.

"Finally, we got to kill that son of a bitch," I comment.

"I... think you're being a bit too gleeful about it," says the quarian.

I shake my head. "Sons of bitches like him kind of deserve to get shot, don't you think?" I ask.

"I don't know..." she says, her voice expressing some of her trepidation. "I just don't think it's like you to be happy about killing things."

"Frankly, Tali, Uvenk was pissing me off a little bit," I comment. "And I mean pissing me off the way Tea Party America used to back home. I'm just glad I get to vent my rage this time around."

I don't give her much more room to continue before I burst out of cover myself. I fire at a krogan that I've suddenly noticed has been lifted by Shepard. I shoot it down as Garrus adds some assault rifle. I shoot another krogan, managing to kill it after an incineration from Jarel. I duck back down to dodge assault rifle fire.

"You have a few issues," says Tali.

I shrug. "I'm working on keeping my rage down, if it's any consolation," I comment. "Hopefully we'll make good on that, yes?"

Tali nods a little uncertainly. "If you say so," she says. "But if you get angry I'm holding you to that."

And from there... well, after the fucking thresher maw, these guys should be a piece of cake.

And that's pretty much how the rest of the fight goes. It's a real curb stomp battle, because we manage to decimate all of them with a heck of a lot of biotics, a lot more firepower, and Grunt. It also helps that Uvenk got himself killed before he could even fight. I'm surprised Grunt went that far, though, but hey, it worked, so I'm not one to complain too much about stuff like that. Besides, Uvenk deserves it.

So then the krogan go down one by one, and they're all left dead in the wake of our assault. Well... their assault, really, but it was a suicide assault. They really thought they could take on us after the thresher maw? Man, the Gatatog clan really is as stupid as its leader.

So I look over to Shepard, shrugging with a lopsided smile as I nod to her. The others all come up as Grunt approaches.

"Well, that takes care of that," says Shepard. "Should we go back to the Urdnot camp?"

"Sure," says Tela.

Jarel nods. "I'll have quite a few stories to relate about the Thresher Maw after this..." he comments.

"As will the rest of us," comments Thane as we all walk back towards where we got dropped off for our Rite.

"Amen to that," I add.

And the rest of us move on in silence as we make our way back to returning to the Urdnot Camp.


	31. Chapter 30

_A/N: All right__. Fun times were had with the Rite and headbutting Uvenk. So now... how do we get out of that?_

_Well... we party, of course! So consider this an intermission chapter of sorts. We'll just be taking a massive break on stuff, and we'll see what happens._

_Also, this is the chapter Art finally tells Wrex the truth. So what happens then? Well... I'll leave you to find that out._

_And before I start the chapter... well, I ran into someone I think should get an endorsement. It's another SI (yes, I know, bear with me), but it's incredibly awesome, and I dare say it's one of the best ones here despite having only a prologue and two chapters up. So if you want to check it out, then look for _Mass Effect: Comatose _by Hadij Drake. Be warned, as it's the most Renegade I've ever seen Shepard get in an SI, and it is rated M, but I assure you it's still worth the read._

_In the meantime, though... we get to have a party!_

* * *

Chapter 30: Respighi: La Befana

So... we're back.

And what do I know, but that Urdnot Wrex is waiting for us with Drakus, Sturge, and Jenny all standing to the side when we get back. I see Jenny shaking her head, a rather playful smile on her lips as the battlemaster stands by. The shaman nods to Wrex, looking to Shepard and I as Grunt also comes forward.

Hey, wait. Wrex is waiting here for us? As opposed to sitting on his throne? Huh, this definitely changed. I thought the shaman just told him that he had a right to clan and name now, and that would be that... But it seems fate's got other plans.

"I've gotta say, Shepard, ya know how to find 'em," says Wrex upon seeing us. He's got the biggest smile I've ever seen him make. "Nobody's killed a thresher maw during the Rite since my turn. Next you'll be telling me he's a quint and that he craps dark matter."

I giggle at this, shaking my head as I look to Grunt. "I don't think he can crap dark matter just yet, but he might as well be able what with having killed a thresher maw with only a shotgun," I comment, giving Grunt a broad smile.

"No, that was a really incredible fight," says Shepard.

"It must have been something to behold," says the Urdnot shaman.

"Oh, it was," I comment. "It was a bit gory, but hey, what can you do?"

"I'll bet," says Wrex, laughing. "The damn thing almost ate me before I put a shotgun shell through its head. That's the only way to kill one with a shotgun, really."

"That's... more or less how it went," I comment, rubbing the back of my head.

"Yes, that will lead to a very glorious tale," says the Shaman. "But I do have some more things to settle with the Rite before we can relate that tale."

"Of course," says Shepard with a nod. "Whatever you need."

The holy man of the Urdnot clan nods, looking right at Grunt. He takes a rather short breath, his gaze unwavering as he prepares for some final words.

"Grunt." The young krogan steps forward at this, looking at the shaman with a great sense of wonder in his eyes. "You have passed the Rite of Passage, earning the honor of clan and name. Many survive, but it has been years since a thresher maw fell. Your name shall live in glory." The young krogan then gets on his knees in front of the shaman, holding his head like he's in some... silent homily. Or something. It's like he's genuflecting. "Grunt, you are Urdnot. You may now own property, join the military, and apply to serve under a battlemaster."

The tank-bred stands up, looking the shaman directly in the eye. "Shepard is my battlemaster," he says. "She has no match, neither in battlemaster nor in krantt."

"Congratulations, Urdnot Grunt," says the shaman shortly afterwards. The two krogan end up shaking hands as Jenny, Sturge, and Drakus walk forward.

"Well, it all looks like we're endin' things on a high note, eh, Commander?" asks Jenny, giving a rather lop-sided smile.

I smile, glancing over to Shepard as she nods. "Indeed," she says. "Do you think we're ready to head back up?"

The colonist blinks, Sturge shaking his head as he gestures to Wrex. "Actually... when word got here that you killed the thresher maw, Wrex thought of... well, I don't know what the hell it is, but..."

"It's not very common for a krogan to kill a thresher maw," continues the head of the Urdnot clan from where Sturge left off. "But when they do... usually a celebration is in order. We have some of our clan cleaning the meat from the thresher maw as we speak. We're going to have a feast, Shepard. And Grunt will have to be there. He's the guest of honor."

Huh, what? Okay, _this _definitely wasn't in the game. Nor were any other substantial celebrations, for that matter. I mean... the closest we could've gotten to that would be Samara's loyalty mission over in the VIP section of... no, not that. No, I'd say it would probably be the part after Virmire where you're grounded and you can dance with your love interest in Flux. But of this kind? And after this mission? Well... it's a refreshing change, but still!

I step back in surprise, looking at the older krogan. "A celebration?" I ask.

"That sounds like fun," says Garrus. "What's in store?"

"Oh, the usual," says Wrex with a shrug. "Food, lots of drink, varren fights... and dancing. Quite a bit of that now..."

Okay, hold up. Dance? What the hell? Krogan have dance as well as music? I mean, I know their music is usually incredibly percussive and has a lot in common with African music, but they dance too? And more than just that techno shit that's all over the Citadel clubs these days?

"Wait, krogan dance?" asks Shepard.

"It never leaves Tuchanka, and it's definitely not what you'd think of in terms of dance," says Wrex.

Hey... A celebration, where people can wander around. This... this may be my chance! I can get Wrex alone somewhere, and then I can tell him the truth about me. And then we can deal with it while everyone else is partying. Yes... this could be my chance! Though... Oh, yeah, there is dance, isn't there? Yeah, and I'm fascinated with dance! Yes, a trait that I can use to my advantage!

"Krogan dance?" I ask, raising one of my eyebrows. "Wrex, you said things had changed when we first met."

He shrugs. "I never said that it stopped completely," replies the krogan.

Hm... "Well, either way, it looks incredibly awesome," I reply. Better not dwell on the fact that he omitted a truth too much, what with me being the bigger perpetrator of that and all. "I dunno about you, Shepard, but I'm totally in if there's gonna be krogan dancing."

"And if he's in, I'm in," says Tali. Oh, I can feel her smirk all the way from here.

"It seems... intruiging, _si-_... Shepard." Aw, they're trying to hide it! It's... kind of cute, really. But I know what you're about, Thane. I just know it!

"Uh... I thought you were going to try to get us back to the Citadel?" asks Tela from behind.

All eyes fall on the asari spectre. Oh, this too? Man, will this bitch ever learn to-?

"Tela, let's put it this way," Jarel cuts in almost instantly. "We're busy enough as Spectres, right? Don't you think we deserve a break every once in a while?"

The asari pauses, looking down at her protegé with her arms crossed. "Hm... You do bring up a good point," she says. "Besides, we are still technically on a mission, which we probably won't finish until we get back to the Citadel. I suppose that's a good enough loophole for this." She shrugs, letting off a hefty sigh. "Fine. But only because we're still on a mission."

Shepard nods at this, smiling at this. "Okay," says Shepard, looking to Wrex and nodding. "Our crew has been mildly overworked as of late anyhow, so I imagine this would be a good way for them to relax. Consider us in the party."

Oh, sweet! All right, we're going to party on Tuchanka! And it will be an epic party!

"Hah, I figured you'd say yes!" says the clan leader with a broad smile. "Drakus, get the rest of the clan together. We've got a celebration to organize!"

"You got it, Wrex," says the battlemaster with quite a bit of enthusiasm. With this, he turns, leaving Jenny in the dust. Shepard nods to the pilot of the Kodiak then, smiling.

"I guess the whole crew should get in on this too," says Shepard. "Jenny, take the Kodiak back to the Normandy. Get _everyone _down here; this is a party that the whole crew should probably enjoy."

Jenny smiles, whipping her arm in a salute in the most drammatic way possible. "You got it, Commander!" she says cheerfully. With this, she turns on her heel, back towards the Kodiak. Sturge stands behind, a bemused grin gracing his features as he nods at Jenny's energy.

"The whole crew, Shepard?" asks Wrex. "Should've known you'd involve them."

I shrug. "The more, the merrier, as certain people like to say," I comment. "Still, it's awesome that we'll be joining you for this."

"I'm looking forward to it already," says Wrex. "It'll be like old times, Art. You, me, and the rest of the ground team sitting down watching movies all over again."

I nod, crossing my arms as I give him a goofy smile. Yep, I'm not normally one to party, but come on, it's with freaking Urdnot Wrex! Any party with Wrex in the house is gonna be god-damn awesome!

"Well, I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

It takes a little bit for Jenny to come back down with a sizeable portion of the rest of the crew. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that Shepard and I are just kind of standing there at the moment, waiting for the shuttle to come down. We manage to have a reasonably good conversation with some of the krogan at the landing pad while we wait, though, and it's as good a time talking to them as any.

And meanwhile, I'm thinking about how I'm going to break my identity to Wrex. This party is my chance to do so... but how the hell am I supposed to tell a krogan about stuff? He... never told me about Aleena, did he? Hm. I guess not. Maybe I should use that story as proof that I know more about him than he knows. And that I knew more about everything that was happening.

I don't think he'll take that bit well, though. Yeah, he probably won't. But I have to tell him anyway. He's one of my best friends here, and I helped him with his family armor. So I have to do this. I can't keep lying to Wrex forever about who I am. Besides, it's nice to decide to tell someone about the truth about myself because I can, and not because circumstances force my hand. They didn't entirely force my hand for Madison, but I think it would've been wierd for her to see me giving her funny looks every time I so much as talked with her. It's bad enough with the chafing conversation, but... other than that, we're all good.

So Shepard and I stand there with Wrex joining us shortly after. Looks like he's interested in meeting the crew of the new Normandy too. This oughta be interesting.

So we all stand outside, and then after a while we finally see the Kodiak get lowered into the area again. I cross my arms as the thing lands in front of us, the shuttle touching down on the ground when the door opens.

And what do you know, but the first one out of the shuttle is Jack, giving everyone a rather disgruntled look. Al gets off shortly after, giving a rather crooked smirk as Jack comes up.

"Just so ya know, I'm not going to dance with the cheerleader if you wanted to fucking kill me for it," she says. "I'm getting off this rock if ya make me."

I shake my head as Al comes forward, nodding to Wrex. "Don't worry, Jack, I wouldn't dream of it," I reply with a smile. Well... there are the yuri fans within the ME section, but then the people who like to pair up Jack and Miranda are few and far between, so that's a relief.

Meanwhile, Shepard's younger sibling looks to the large krogan. "Urdnot Wrex," he says.

"Well, if it isn't the younger Shepard sibling!" says the clan leader, nodding in greeting. "I wouldn't have expected to see you here."

"The Alliance assigned him to help me out," says Jocelyn. "It's nice to be on the same ship as Al for a change."

"Mom still missed her, though," comments Albert with a shrug. "But I'm here, and... well, this sounds like a fairly interesting party."

"Yeah," comments Jack. "You gotta admit, Shepard: the promise of watching krogan dance looks fun. And I mean in a point and laugh kind of way. You wouldn't think krogan fit for dancing, right?"

"For once, we agree on something." We all turn to where Miranda is standing, watching as Jacob and Kasumi also jump out of the shuttle. "Krogan wouldn't strike me as the type to dance."

"They wouldn't strike anyone as the type to dance," replies the Urdnot leader. I can tell he's a little disappointed though, mostly because his voice is a little... eh... tired of stuff, it sounds like. "But start laughing, and I'll find a shotgun to pull on you."

Jack simply smirks evilly at this, causing Al to blink in uncertainty. "In that case, I may just think about laughing," she says.

I close my eyes, letting out a soft sigh. "Jack, we've been over this," says Al. "We're here to have a good time."

"And what, having a gunfight with a room full of krogan isn't fun?" she asks.

"Maybe, but it's not for a lot of us," comments Al. "Besides... I think they have varren fights."

The young biotic looks to the younger Shepard with a slightly more mischievous expression on her face. "Oh?" she asks. "Well... Fuck. I think I know where I'm spending most of the night. Come on! I'm goin' to get some credits, and you're comin' with me!"

And with this, Jack rushes forward, dragging Al along with her. He lets out a mild yelp of surprise as he's dragged past his sister into the Urdnot camp. I raise my eyebrows, looking rather surprised as Zaeed walks over to us. Damn... Jack is actually getting a social life now. And with Al, no less. That's... gotta be quite the shock to everyone here. I don't know why that is, but it just happens like that. I wonder if they're going to hook up by the time we get to the Omega 4 relay...

"I'm tellin' ya, Shepard, that younger brother of yours is doin' somethin' with 'er head." My head quickly turns to the side as Zaeed suddenly shows up, Miranda standing close by as they both watch the half-naked biotic dragging the N7 soldier around. "I dunno what it is, but I think they're startin' to like each other. I've never seen something quite like this in a while, let me tell ya."

I shrug, smirking as I cross my arms. "Well, Zaeed, you never know what can happen with that," I comment. "But I'm surprised they're getting on so well."

"Eh, he's a good kid," says Zaeed. "But 'e loves hangin' around with Jack and I for some reason. Says 'e likes the rogue types best."

Joc simply shakes her head. "He always has made friends with the people least like him," says Joc. "Remind me to tell you of when he befriended a former gang member who ended up on the Citadel."

The old mercenary simply chuckles gleefully, looking at Shepard with a glimmer in his eye. "That crazy, eh?" he asks. "Lookin' forward to hearin' about it, Shepard." He then turns his attention to the imposing krogan standing next to Shepard and I, starting up a conversation with Wrex. The krogan seems to respond in kind, and then the two kick off an amicable conversation.

So then I turn my attention, seeing Miranda, Jacob, and Kasumi all moving past Shepard and I. I give them a nod, to which Miranda replies with a nod of her own, plus a rather soft smile. The three of them pass me as Madison and Rael'Zorah come up next. I raise my eyebrow at this, looking over to the male quarian as Madison gives Shepard and I a simple tilt of her head before going off to seek Garrus.

"Rael'Zorah," I say, smiling as the older quarian approaches.

"Please, just Rael," he says. "We're beyond the stage of formalities by this point, I think."

I shrug. "Suit yourself, Rael'Z-... Rael," I say, biting my lower lip. Damn, it's gonna be so hard not to add 'Zorah' to the end of everything! "You're here for the party?"

"Well, more to watch my daughter than anything," says the admiral, looking over to Wrex. "I don't trust her to be all right in the company of so many krogan."

I shrug. "Well, you forget the leader of the Urdnot clan was on the Normandy with Tali and I when we were fighting Saren," I comment, glancing at the old krogan as I do so. "That, and Wrex was one of my closest friends on the original Normandy. I think he'll look out for her." I turn my attention back to Rael, blinking slightly. "But still, it's nice to see you join the party."

"I will still keep a close eye on my daughter, though," says the quarian.

Well, he won't be swayed that easily, will he? Hm... Well, at least he's trying. "Fair enough," I say, looking to Wrex as Zaeed walks off. "Come on, I'll introduce you."

And so, I walk Rael'Zorah over to the krogan clan leader, and I introduce them as I make out Dr. Chakwas, Kelly, and Jenny stepping out of the Kodiak last, with Samara trailing just a little bit ahead as she witnesses everything around her. I smile.

Yeah, this is gonna be a great party. Everyone's gonna have a great time here. And I'm going to love it... once I can tell Wrex the truth about myself, that is. But other than that... there's gonna be wierd dancing... food (I wonder what thresher maw meat tastes like...)... and krogan percussion, if there's gonna be dance.

I think everyone's gonna enjoy this.

* * *

Okay... so the party's about to start, everything is more or less set on Wrex' end...

And I'm still in my armor for some reason.

I boarded the shuttle to fix that. My weapons are laying off to the side now, and I'm gonna store it in the locker room later. It's a good thing I actually wear something under all this armor. Though it's even better luck that Madison thought to raid my closet for my date clothes that I wore when I went onto the Citadel with Tali. Okay, it's a little creepy that she went through my stuff, but I know she knows everything about me by this point, so there's nothing lost there. So my armor is currently laying to the side, as well as the weave that I wear underneath. Now it's just a matter of getting my casual clothes on... and we'll be good to go.

I grab my light pants from the seat that Madison left my change of clothes on. I pull my pants up, biting my lower lip as I do so. Okay... all right, these pants still fit after all I've been through. It's too bad I can't really take a shower here, what with the water being all radioactive and shit.

I shake my head, smirking oddly. Yeah, krogan would survive a nuclear winter. They survived all this other stuff that was thrown at them, and they are all still going about all right, so yeah. They're still in good hands, I think. Well, unless the genophage kills them all off. In that case, there isn't that much hope.

I shake my head. Hm... I shouldn't think about that stuff. Especially not when I still haven't gotten my shirt on.

Well, I better get to that... After all, the party is starting soon. And it's gonna be quite a bit of fun, I think. So... I pick up my shirt, and.

"Art? Are you all-?"

I freeze up, and apparently the owner of the voice does as well, causing me to blink as I turn back towards the entrance of-

...

Okay. This is aaawkwaaard...

Tali is standing at the doorway, but she looks like she's hiding a blush under that face mask, because she's retreated behind the shuttle. I blink uncertainly, and then she slowly backs away.

"Tali?" I ask, turning completely around as I hold my shirt in front of me. "Are you all right?"

"Oh, Keelah..." she says audibly. "I didn't mean... Well, I-!"

I blink, chuckling nervously as I shake my head. "I take it you haven't seen a human without his shirt on before," I comment.

"Well... I... What I mean..." Tali stumbles on her words, glancing away from me as she hides even further behind the shuttle wall. "I... No, I haven't. But we don't even see quarians out of their suit... It's... uh... fairly intimate..." The quarian glances to the side nervously before shaking her head. "I don't even know why I'm staying here... Keelah, it's hot in this suit."

I hold my shirt in one hand, making my way to the shuttle door as Tali's expression seems to morph into a state of shock. "Don't worry, Tali," I comment. "Being in the company of men without shirts isn't considered an intimate thing in human culture."

"I... I know... it's just..." she says, nervously. "I just... It feels kind of, uh, wrong to intrude. I... You know?"

I smile, shaking my head as I sit down at the doorway, watching as Tali retreats even further. "I'll be all right, Tali," I reply. "I'm not offended. Though, I'll admit it does feel a little odd... well, you know... what with me being out of my shirt and you being unable to get out of your suit, you know? It feels... a bit lopsided. If you know what I mean."

"Not really, but I know what you're saying," says Tali. "It feels a little wierd not seeing you in a clean room. Though... it's not like I've seen someone in a clean room... you know?"

"Why's that?" I ask.

"Well... you see, the clean rooms on the Fleet don't have windows," says the quarian. "They're, uh, private rooms..."

"I can see why..." I muse, rubbing my chin with my free hand. "It's... the only way two quarians can get intimate, right? I mean... Well... You know, right...?"

"Yes, I do," she says. "It's so... We have to arrange our intimacy with other people. And with you... I don't need to. I just... I feel, uh..." The quarian nods, finally finding the courage to come a little closer. "Damn this suit," she says, shaking her head. "I... I don't think it's fair that I'm with you. I mean... I can't make you happy... and then... There's my end too..."

Oh, Christ. "This again?" I ask, giving her a raised eyebrow. "Tali, we've been over this. You already make me the happiest man alive just by being here. And no god-damn suit is gonna get in the way of that. All right?"

"I know..." says the quarian, taking a breath or two. "I just... I never thought you'd be into someone like me..."

Her hand trails over the corner of the doorway as she comes forward. "Well, Tali..." I comment. Hm... Well, there are no krogan here, so I suppose it'll be all right to talk about the other universe here. "It's... a little hard to think about sometimes. I mean... well, I never thought... I never figured I would ever be in love with someone like you. I... You know?"

"Not really..." she replies, looking over at me. "There's just so much... What with you being from another universe... and... well..."

"Yeah, there's too much to talk about," I comment with a shrug. "But the bottom line is... I'm here now... and you're real, and so am I... And... I'm in love with you. I never would've expected this either." I shake my head. "God, this is coming out so corny," I mention with a small chuckle. "But it's true. You know? I... I feel complete around you." Jesus, that was corny. Straight out of a Nicholas Sparks novel... "And that's all that matters. Arrangement of intimacy or not be damned."

"I... guess..." says Tali, her blush intensifying. "I just... I..."

I smile, taking her hand in mine as she finally comes around. I'm still holding on to my shirt, smiling at the quarian as I give her a small smile. Words are failing me, except for the big three that I already know. She simply looks over at me, and I feel the material of her suit rub against my hand affectionately. We can't get closer with this suit still in the way, but again, I'm not bothered enough to care about that. It causes Tali to stop speaking almost immediately, and instead she takes to looking at me. I can just imagine her smile from here.

Ah, hell, I'll just say it.

"I love you, Tali," I say, squeezing her hand softly for good measure.

"I love you too, Art," she says as I step down. Good thing I already have my shoes on. "We should get going. The party's going to start."

I grab my shirt then, and finally get to put it on as I work my arms through the sleeves. "Yeah, it's gonna start soon, isn't it?" I say as I pull my shirt down over my torso. "Well... it's gonna be fun. And crazy." I pull my shirt down further, fidgeting slightly as I pull my ponytail out of the area of my shirt directly behind my neck. A few seconds pass in silence before I realize something. Yeah... I'm telling someone, so she needs to know. With this, I look to Tali. "Just so you know, I'm telling Wrex about that which must not be named in public."

The quarian blinks, nodding briefly before clasping down on my right hand. "Be careful," she says. "I don't know how Wrex would take it, but he might not take it well..."

I nod. "Don't worry, Tali," I say, smiling. "I'd be lying if I said I had it under control, but I'll be all right in the end."

"I hope you're right, Art."

With this, the two of us drop the subject, walking away from the Kodiak as we make our way to the party that's probably just starting to get under way by now.

* * *

Okay... now we're back with Wrex and the gang. I can already see Jack, Zaeed, and Al over by the varren pits, the biotic woman laying down bets as I walk on over to where the-

Holy shit, that fire is huge! And that is a god-damn huge piece of meat hangin' off the rock there. Well... actually huge pieces. Apparently thresher meat looks really... reddish, for some reason.

Oh, dear, I'm gonna gain three pounds just from eating this thing, aren't I? I see Shepard, Thane, and Wrex standing off to the side as everyone else more or less gets prepared. I see krogan carrying gigantic drum heads around, as well as setting various things as the thesher meat cooks. I walk over to the old krogan then, Tali tagging along behind me as we both look at the thresher meat. We eventually come to a stop by Shepard's side as the three parties turn to us. I glance at the thresher meat, gesturing to it.

"So this thing is still cooking?" I ask. "How long has it been here for?"

"It's been here since you got back from the Rite," says Shepard. "Apparently, it takes a while to cook."

"You have to cook it really well," says Wrex. "Thresher poison can kill even a krogan if you don't cook it right."

Ah. "So it's sort of like _fugu_."

All eyes turn to me with a rather confused glance, with Wrex looking right at me. "_Fugu_?" he asks.

"That sounds... dangerous," says Thane.

"Wait, _fugu..._" mutters Jocelyn. Okay, it's good that exists in the ME universe then! Though... how the hell are pufferfish still around on Earth anyway? "You mean, that rare delicacy that you can only get on one island on Earth?"

I nod, smiling. "Yeah, that _fugu,_" I comment. I look over to Wrex and Thane as Tali comes around from behind me. "Basically, _fugu_ comes from this Earth fish that's called 'pufferfish' in English. It's basically this fish that, if it's attacked by a predator, it puffs up and causes these spikes to come out and sting anyone unfortunate enough to touch it. But anyway, some people catch these fish and prepare it to eat for people." I raise my arms animatedly as I continue speaking. "But the thing is that if you don't prepare it a certain way, it can kill you. Especially if you eat its liver."

"Oh, so it's like thresher meat then," says Wrex, seeming to get it. "I see. Looks like we're not the only species with bad eating habits, then."

I smirk, crossing my arms. "When is any species ever _not _guilty of that?" I ask with a lop-sided smile.

The krogan lets out a chuckle. "I'll bet the turians have something in mind," he says. "They just don't want to talk about it yet."

"Or at all," says Tali a little crossly. "There's that possibility as well."

I glance back at the thresher meat as I raise my eyebrow. "Honestly, I was expecting it to look different," I comment. "Maybe... a little more reddish. But not totally this color, you know?"

"Oh, I don't blame you there," says Wrex. "Not very many people get to see actual thresher maw meat. Even fewer get to eat it." He looks up, a more nostalgic gleam in his eye. "It brings me back to when I killed the thresher maw during my Rite. It was... glorious. The feast was great, the dance was incredible... even my own father seemed pleased with me for once. That was definitely a change. Ah... I remember that I had good times after that particular Rite." He turns to me again. "And now it's happening all over again. Here I never thought I'd get to see thresher maw meat again. And... here we are."

"Well, you can thank Grunt for that," I comment, crossing my arms. "I really didn't have a whole lot to do with that, just so you know."

The old krogan smirks. "I'm just glad you're here for it," he says. "Good thing Shepard came back from the void, I think."

Before I can reply, I hear a really loud shout of joy coming over from the varren pits. This effectly cuts off any reply I might make, and all of us look over at the varren pits as Jack throws her hands up high, jumping up and down with a fist full of credits as a couple krogan look on in dismay. I can see Zaeed and Al smirking next to some of these krogan, and then I shake my head.

"Next I know, she's going to arm wrestle a krogan," says Shepard.

Wrex lets out a rather soft bout of laughter before turning to us. "Now that would be something to see," he says. "That little girl wrestling with a krogan. And winning."

"She is one of the ship's most powerful biotics," comments Thane as he adjusts his collar. "She probably would win."

"I don't know whether to think of that as a good thing or a bad thing," comments Shepard. "Hopefully she's not corrupting Al."

I shake my head. "Knowing her, it's probably him corrupting her with his goody goodness," I comment. Yeah, because Jack writes poetry. On that note... I wonder if she's showed any of it to Al. I wonder what he'd think of all that poetry she's slowly getting into. And I'm wondering why the hell that part of her didn't make it into the game. It would've made a hell of a scene to see Jack writing poems addressed to Shepard... But she's not like that, I don't think. Too insular to address poems to various other people.

"We'll see in the end, Shepard," comments Tali.

We all nod before I turn back to the clan leader. His gaze settles on Tali, smirking. "So your father decided to come with you, hm?" he asks.

"Yes, he did," replies Tali, nodding. "I... still don't know why he would, but I'm thankful for it."

The krogan nods, crossing his arms. "How's he doin' after finding out his daughter is dating a human?"

Tali and I blink at almost exactly the same time, and before I know it Tali is sputtering as a huge blush works its way on my cheeks. I don't hear her, but I just know she's bending over, muttering 'oh, _Keelah_' over and over again in her embarrasment. I feel all my muscles freeze up as Tali simply hides her visor behind her hands.

"Oh, Keelah..." she says again. "Please tell me you didn't just say that."

"He did, Tali," says Thane.

"Oh, Keelah..." she says, shaking her head. "And here I thought we were being so secret about it..."

I just stand there as Wrex smirks in delight, and I see Shepard desperately trying to bite back a laugh at this situation. Jesus Christ... What is it with Wrex and making everyone around him laugh? I don't know... Couldn't he not have hit us over the head with that statement?

"Wrex, do you know no such thing as subtlety?" I ask.

His smirk only gets wider and more evil. "If I did, you wouldn't be losing the game all the time, now, would you?"

...

Oh, for the love of-!

Wrex!

"Gah, Jesus fucking Christ on the motherfucking pikestaff cross thing fucking an eagle!"

* * *

Okay... after that debacle, the thresher meat was left to cook.

And in the meantime, we all got pulled aside for the dance stuff. And a bunch of us are gathering in a huge circle spanning this arena. Huh, there's more than two feet of space on Tuchanka. There's a ton of debris here, but it doesn't seem so bad. I see Wrex rallying all the krogan to stand in the circle, directing some to stand in specific places. Jeez... so basically we dance in a circle? Hm... This is gonna be like those times at BPI in Oberlin when we had to link hands in Baroque Dance. Honeslty, I preferred dancing the Minuet because the floor pattern was fun to learn, but... hey, to each their own, right?

I stand off to the side, leaning against a wall as I watch them stand in a circle. Sturge is next to me, as we're both very fascinated by what's going on.

"Well... this is very different from the kind of stuff they danced to back home," comments the old science teacher.

"Yeah, kinda takes you back, doesn't it?" I ask. "You remember those old Hispanic Heritage shows they would host every year?"

The old man's face took on a sour expression. "Oh, God, don't remind me," he says. "You know I never went to those stupid assemblies. And the problem was they always had them for everything. Drug assemblies, the Black Heritage show... all those pointless assemblies. And then there was that stupid Hispanic Heritage show."

I shake my head. "You know, one year they did the Mambo from _West Side Story,_" I comment. "It still stands to me as the most poorly-choreographed musical dance sequence I've ever seen in the history of anything."

"Oh, are you serious?" he asks. "I always knew those things had bad dancing, but they defiled that?" Sturge shakes his head in disapproval. "And they got away with stuff like that every year. You know how I almost never went to those assemblies. It gave me opportunities to get stuff done."

"Well, you did go to the bloody show the year that I left..." I comment.

"Yeah, but to be honest, I kind of felt I was being dragged there," says my old friend. "I've never wanted to go to those things by my own free will... If I could help it, I would just skip it. But sometimes, that stupid assembly attendance policy was enforced, so... I had to go anyway. And when I did... those assemblies were always so bad. And I imagine they were worse for you since you had to go no matter what."

Oh, dear... I shake my head. "Don't remind me," I comment. "The worst had to be that one fucking drug-free youth assembly with the rappers. I swear to God, _nothing _could have been worse than that." Not even a Tommy Wiseau movie.

"Yeah, you know you're in bad hands when even good old Jonathan ********* thought it was bad," he says. "And he liked that stupid _Cloverfield _movie."

I frown slightly. Hey, I actually kind of liked that movie! But then, you weren't a fan of the shaky-cam, so I can see why that would be a problem. I shake my head. "I just wonder what most of these krogan rounds are going to consist of..." I comment, turning my attention back to the krogan getting into a very large circle.

"We'll find out soon," says Sturge with a slight dip of his head. "I'm just wondering why the circle seems so empty."

I raise my eyebrow. You know... he's got a point. I bite my lower lip then, wondering why there are all the spaces between the krogan. What's Wrex playing at.

And then, without further ado I see Jacob step into one of the spaces between krogan. Miranda and Kasumi both follow soon after, and then I see Rael come in as well.

... Wait...

"He's inviting the aliens into it too?" I ask, noticing how suddenly Tela and Jarel are filling in, with other people on the Normandy getting in on the action fast. "Whoah..."

"It seems like it," he comments, watching as others fill in. "You should go ahead. I'm too old to be dancing, especially with large things."

I glance at the old science teacher as he watches. Oh... well... I mean, he doesn't get to dance... But...

"All right," I nod, looking over at the science teacher as the last of the slots get filled. "You better not be recording this!"

And with this, I join the circle of gathering people. Okay... this is gonna be a bit crazy. What do we do. I run around, and as the last of the spots are taken I manage to stumble across one. Thinking quickly, I rush into it, noticing Grunt standing off at the other end of the circle somewhere. I see Tali, Mordin, Thane, Joc, and some others in the circle. Jenny is somehow standing next to Drakus, striking up rather friendly conversation with the battlemaster... is he laughing? Huh. Looks like they're getting along great. Tali... is directly across the circle from me, and... Hey, where the hell is Wrex?

"Well, look who I'm standing next to."

...

Speak of the devil.

"Hey, Wrex," I say, turning to face my left to find the scarred krogan standing next to me. "What's this circle all about?"

"It's the thresher rounds," he comments. "Pretty common dance after a Rite like this. We haven't had to dance it in a while... but there you go."

"So we dance around in a circle the whole time?" I ask.

"Not completely," says Wrex as I see a couple of krogan take positions at a bunch of large percussion instruments off to the side. "You see those red lines on the ground?"

Hm? I glance down at the debris on the ground, seeing red lines painted onto the ground. Hm... They point inward, and both of them fall within the circle. They're on opposite ends of the circle too... Of course... "Yeah," I say, turning back to the old krogan. "What're they there for?"

"When you hit those lines, you have to break the circle and dance inside it," he says.

...

Oh, Jesus.

"You mean we basically have to go in there and improvise?" I ask. Oh, dear, this is gonna be painful...

"Of course," says the old krogan. "You said you did dance sometimes on the Citadel, right?"

"Yeah, but Baroque dance is subdued," I comment. "And it prides itself on grace, not on how hard you can stamp your feet on the ground! That's not gonna mesh well with this at all! So what the hell am I supposed to do?"

The old krogan looks at us as I see some more krogan run on to the percussion stuffs. "Improvise," he says simply.

And with this, I hear a loud series of beats from the krogan bass drum that cause me to jolt where I'm standing. Oh, Jesus... I have to improvise on this stuff? God help me out... Well... I'm in the circle, next to Wrex, with everyone on the crew watching me...

No pressure, Art. No pressure.

After a few measures, I see the group of us begin to move around in a circle, and I find myself stamping in time. It's absolutely nothing compared to the stamping of the krogan around me, though, but it's still really loud as the percussion instruments plink stuff out as loudly as they possibly can. We slowly progress through the circle, and then we hear this massive boom. Okay... that sounds like a gong...

I suddenly see Grunt and another krogan come rushing straight into the circle. Okay, so the gong cues us in. And then... Grunt is sort of being submissive. Can't say I blame him; he knows he's not going to hurt his fellow clansmen without Wrex saying something. So his dancing is a little more subdued, I guess... which is odd coming from him, but whatever. The other one, meanwhile, is dancing up a storm, or so I would assume. His foot-stamping is getting momentous as everybody else suddenly stops stamping so far. And I see this old krogan leap into the air with a certain severity, always coming down to smash the ground hard. Eventually, Grunt catches on, and starts mimicking his movements almost exactly. The two of them then start dancing like a real krogan should, I guess, throwing their arms as they stomp around.

Hm... looks kind of like what would happen if Dr. Insano trained a baboon to dance. Or something. I dunno, but it looks fairly rough. Fits their character, I guess, as it's also very centered on producing as much sound as the small percussion ensemble over there. They sort of also like to rush off to the sides of the circle pretty quickly, and also like to chase each other. And it can get... mildly aggressive sometimes. Yeah... this is very strange dance. There's something... confrontational about the whole thing. And yet with these guys, I couldn't see it any other way.

Okay... I think I get what we're supposed to do here. I hear another gong ring at the conclusion of a rather long series of what I have to assume are eight-bar phrases, and then with a gleam in their eyes both krogan settle back into the circle.

Okay... and now, we start moving around again. Okay... I think I get what I have to do here. Keep moving around in a circle, and if the red is directly beneath my feet, I start dancing. Okay... I hope my turn isn't any time soon. I glance around, and we continue dancing.

I see various other people take their turns after they step on the things. I look to them briefly. Okay... One of the krogan gets a round with Rael next that gets a little rough with chasing people around. Fortunately, though, he doesn't get any suit ruptures, and we all go around the circle. Jenny engages in a rather fun dance thing with another krogan, and she just looks like she's having the time of her life dancing her way around the krogan. We keep going, watching Shepard do a very good impression of krogan. Yeah, she definitely looks like a krogan when she dances in that full armor like that. Okay... she goes back into the circle... we all go around...

And then I find my feet on the red markings. And the gong strikes loudly, heralding that we're off to start a new thing.

... Oh, God, I'm next.

Okay... I guess Wrex is right. I better just do what feels natural in this case.

Quick, think! Okay... I'll think of this as several counts... Okay... I should probably start off with my favorite Baroque steps, just make them a little more broad and we'll be good. Okay... Yeah, don't listen to the percussion ensemble... it's there to keep time mostly, and I can't hear any instruments with absolute pitch...

Okay, I'll mentally break out the Tchaikovsky then. Okay... Yeah, that one thing from Sleeping Beauty should suffice. Okay... Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, pas de deux... Let's do this.

As everyone in the circle goes around... okay... one two three four... And remember, don't stop for even a second!

The rather loud bass drum is our cue to enter, and then I take a more graceful position. Okay... here goes nothing.

I launch forward, arms raised in opposition to my feet. Pas du bourrée, pas coupée, hop step step, contratond du gavotte is the order of the day. I think that to myself, working my way to the center as I imagine the clarinet melody in my head. Right... three steps forward, then two, hop step step, and jump so your heels meet in mid-air. Yeah, that's the order of the day... and as I watch the krogan I'm supposed to be dancing with advance with a straight charge.

Well... I think I'll take him on a merry chase then.

As I begin to think of the place where the violins are supposed to pick up the melody, I come to an abrupt halt right in front of the other person I'm dancing with. Okay... go back, go back... I manage this as gracefully as I can, looking right into him and feigning fear. I then backpedal a little bit. He seems to catch on, and follows me with rather aggressive displays of throwing his arms about. His stomps almost throw me off balance, but thankfully I'm still able to move. So I move back, and let him chase me around through other things.

Right... After the second time the clarinet comes in with the tune, I think it's time I stopped getting chased around. It's been pretty fun, though. I didn't think the pas du bourrée would mash so well with krogan dance, but there you have it. I ball my fists up, throwing some punches at the air in front of me as the other krogan... Jesus, is he trying to bite down laughter? I suddenly look around, seeing all of them trying to bite back laughter.

Hey, I'll have you know humans dance like this, you imbeciles!

Okay, that does it. You want me to get down and dirty. I'll get down and dirty for you!

I then leap as high into the air as I can, slamming down and creating... a decent volume of stomp. My shins kind of hurt, but I can live. My dancing suddenly gets quite a bit more aggressive, causing the krogan I'm working around to pause briefly. Yeah, that's right. After about two counts he finally gets back into it, and now it becomes more like a duel, using the air to do whaever we can to each other.

And we sort of go around like this, and I slowly see the urge to laugh come off of his face then. Okay, I think I'm doing better.

And just as soon as I'm about to get going (and coincidentally, right towards the end of my little mind-playthrough of the music), I hear the gong sound loudly. Okay... that's the cue to return to our spot in the line, so I run back over to see Wrex standing with a light shine on his eye. I get back into formation, and then the bass drum thing beats out again.

"You didn't do too badly there," he says. "But too much grace, damn it."

I shake my head, biting back a chuckle.

"I told you doing what I do best wouldn't mix that well." My reply is short as I turn to the old krogan with a slight frown on his face.

"Well, you did what I said, so I can't fault you for trying." says the old krogan. "Let's keep going."

And with this, we continue with the rounds, moving around as other people all get their turns to dance the thresher rounds.

* * *

We do that twice before someone declares the thresher meat fit for consumption. Damn it, man, why'd you take so long! On the plus side, I managed not to embarass myself in front of Wrex's peers the second time around, so there's that... But me? I'm just getting a little nervous as I grab my piece of thresher meat. I don't like eating something that's potentially poisonous, though thankfully the guy handing it out did mention that if I started feeling something eating me from the inside then I would know I had eaten a bad piece. I guess I'll know I'm eating a bad piece of thresher meat when I feel it try to erode my stomach, I guess.

Either way, I grab my piece of steak (seriously, I can't believe I'm supposed to eat this by hand) while trying to find someone to sit next to. Seriously, this thing is really big. The 20 pound steak that they used to have at El Novillo wasn't this big! I only take one, because god damn it, I'm going to have a tough time trying to eat more than one chunk of this size.

And soon enough, I find Wrex, Tali, Garrus, and Madison all seated in a semi-circle off to the side. We don't exactly have a banquet table here, which I suppose is better than nothing, so I walk over to the small group as Garrus fingers some dextro food he was forced to bring from the Normandy, Tali getting some nutrient paste absorbed into the tubes she needed to use.

Attention turns to me as soon as I sit down, nodding to Wrex and taking a seat next to Tali. "Well... that was certainly something," I comment. "What with the thresher rounds back there."

Wrex nods, a rather fun grin on his face as he chows down on his second piece of thresher steak. Madison looks over as she gingerly holds her own chunk of steak, smiling at me. "We were wondering when you were going to join the rest of us," she says.

"You did take a lot of time speaking with other people," says Garrus. "I was almost about to go out and find you."

I smirk at this as Wrex finishes on his piece of steak. "Well, here I am," I say with a smirk on my face. "You won't have to go out to hunt me down, Garrus."

"Good," says Wrex as I look down at the thresher steak in my little stone plate thing or whatever. "Garrus was just telling me about him and Madison. I never would've taken him for being into other species."

Oh, you have no idea. "Honestly, I figured he might," I comment as I lift the piece of steak. "I don't know why... but there it is."

"Now, me being into other species?" mentions Madison. "That's something I'd never have expected." It's then I notice how close she is to Garrus.

"It sure is strange, watching a human and a turian sitting together like that," says the krogan. "I thought your two species hated each other."

"Not those two, I'm afraid," says Tali. Oh, God, why am I thinking of the chafing? "It's nice to see that two of them aren't trying to kill each other."

Madison shrugs. "I've seen worse things in my life than xenophobia," says Madison, shaking her head. "I ran into a serial killer once before my days as The Journalist who killed women and stuffed them up so they looked... lifelike."

Wrex frowns at this. "That can't have been pretty."

The former journalist bites her lower lip. "I can never forget the smell..." she says. "I almost threw up right then and there, to be honest. It was one of the worst things I've ever seen in my life. The things I would do for a story back then... I nearly died too, but I got out of it."

Yeah, she does have multiple ways of getting out of it. "How'd you get out of that one?" I ask.

"I found a chainsaw in his residence," says Madison. Oh, dear, I think I know where this is going. "I ended up taking it to his groin."

Oooh, yeah. I visibly flinch, nearly dropping my steak on the ground as Tali does the same. Wrex and Garrus don't, though. Wrex is probably used to it, and Garrus has most likely heard this story before, so he knows the detail. And I know what was going to happen with that too, but seriously, why did it have to be the chainsaw?

"Well, you got guts," says the krogan, smiling. "We tend to like that around here."

"I figured you would," says the turian. "Madison always had nerves of steel about everything. Knowing her history from before... it makes sense why she'd be so intrepid."

I smirk. "They used to call her the intrepid reporter, I bet," I mention.

"Well, either way, I figured you'd make a bad turian," says the krogan clan leader, tossing his piece of steak in the air. "And now it seems that everyone on your ship is going for other species. There's Shepard and that drell... I wonder what happened with Kaidan."

I frown, shaking my head. "Long story," I say, making my displeasure known. "Basically, we were given a tip that a colony that Kaidan just so happened to be at was going to be targeted by the Collectors. So then Shepard gets there, saves the colony, and then we bump into Kaidan. And then he basically dumped her for our affiliations with Cerberus. It was brutal, and Shepard definitely didn't take it well."

"Oh," says Wrex. "Why didn't you hit him?"

"Trust me, Wrex, I wanted to," I reply, gesturing with my hand. "I really, _really _wanted to punch that son of a bitch in the face. But I didn't. I just hope I'll get an opportunity to do that later."

"Be sure to send him my regards for that," says Wrex. "Shepard is quite a woman; if he's so willing to give her up, he doesn't deserve her."

I know, right? "It makes me sad we don't have as many people from the original Normandy..." says Tali. "I miss Engineer Adams sometimes... And some of the people from the original Normandy." She glances to Garrus and I. "But... at least Garrus, Art, and Shepard are there."

I nod, looking over at Wrex. "Why don't you join us?" I ask, still holding on to my thresher steak.

The krogan is quick to shake his head, but I can tell that he does it regretfully. "I'd love to," he says. "But uniting the krogan is a lot of work. I have to stay here." His eyes brighten up a little bit. "Kick the Collectors' asses for me, will ya?"

Wait... Yeah, I have to tell him about myself before I get off this rock. "We'll do our best," says Madison.

Hm... This steak might be getting cold. I think it's time I chowed into it. I pick it up, and then bite into it... I chew on it... Hm, this is actually really easy on my jaw. And... Hm...

I swallow my bite, feeling all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside. "This is actually really good," I comment. "Well, for having come in contact with acid, anyway."

"Good, you didn't take a bad piece," says Wrex. "Usually you can taste the acid, because it burns."

Yeah... my tongue isn't burning right now. "Okay, good," I comment. "Good to know I won't be dying by eating a piece of meat."

"That would be damn anticlimactic," says Wrex.

Isn't that true? I shrug, nodding as I look at the steak. After a few seconds I lean towards it. taking the time to chow down on the steak further. I can't believe I'm eating this bloody thing like a krogan. I must look like an absolute slob at the moment. I just hope the juice isn't getting on my shirt. That would be a god-damn cleaning job on this shirt, and that would be sad because I really like this shirt.

We eat in silence for a few minutes. And man, I'm lovin' this steak. It's a damn shame the things are so hard to kill; they take forever to cook, but they're damn tasty when they're available. Exotic meats are kind of strange like that. It's how it was with ostrich back home, and now it's true with this enormous piece of steak. I wonder how much more of this there is in a thresher maw. I mean, those things are absolutely huge! And not easy to kill of course, but thresher steaks... Hm, I dunno. But it's funny that none of this happened in the game. Because it totally should have.

Speaking of stuff happening in the game... I still need to talk to Wrex. I still haven't gotten to tell him about myself. And I need to do that before I get off this rock. It's probably not going to be that good, but still...

I glance over to the older krogan as I finish my piece of thresher steak, and then place my little rock plate down.

"Say, Wrex," I mention. "You got a couple of minutes?"

"Normally, not really," says Wrex. "But I can make exceptions in this case. I have time, if that's what you're asking."

I nod at this. "Good," I mention. "Because I wanted to talk to you. Preferrably somewhere private."

With sensitive things to discuss. I see the glances of the other three people in the circle fall on me, all of them understanding what I'm getting at. They nod grimly, Wrex not seeming to notice this as he plops the last of the third thresher steak of his into his mouth. He chews on it, swallowing unceremoniously as he nods.

"All right," he says, standing up. "Come on. I know a place that very few people knew about, and still kind of don't know about. Come on."

With this, I glance back to the others for a second. I raise my hands, showing my crossed fingers to them. They nod, not needing any confirmation.

Okay... I'm going to tell him the truth about me. And there is no second chance for this. I stand up, following the clan leader as he walks, an assuredness to his posture that's probably not going to be there when I'm done with everything...

Oh, God, I hope this goes well...

* * *

Wrex takes me to a spot outside of the Urdnot camp, saying to follow him no matter what. I did so, wondering if he knew something...

...but as I'm climbing after the huge krogan and having a difficult time with it, I'm beginning to wonder just how smart this was to get to this now, of all times.

"How much longer do we have to climb?" I ask.

"Not much longer," says the krogan. "You can do it."

"You said that five minutes ago!" I complain.

"Well, you asked five minutes ago," replies the krogan. "We'll be there when we get there, Art. Just hang tight."

Heh. I'd be laughing if it wasn't for the fact that I'm literally stumbling in the dark here. The Tuchanka night is apparently very starry, but damn it is it tough to see in very starry nights. I mean... wow, just wow, this place is dark at night. I simply pull one hand in front of me, hauling myself over another piece of debris. Is it really worth climbing up this whole way?

We continue in silence, and I'm silently praying that it'll be over soon. Jeez, when I wake up in the morning, my arm is gonna be sore as a bitch! But... I have to do it. I'm going to tell Wrex the truth about myself, and any mountain climbing I have to do in between will be damned straight to hell when I tell him the truth about myself. I have to do this, because it's right.

Well... once my arm stops aching, anyway.

God... How am I gonna tell him, though? I mean... Oh, just do it, Art. You won't get anything done if you freeze up now.

Finally, though, I feel a three-fingered hand grasp around my left wrist. As I feel this, Wrex grunts, and then he pulls me up the rest of the way. My feet hit solid ground, and then we're both facing each other as he steps back.

"There," he says. "Now we're here." He glances to the side, looking a little... flustered? "Art... I've never showed anyone this place unless I've come to trust them with everything about me. I'm not the sentimental type... but this is my favorite place. You're the first person who isn't a krogan who I've showed... so here you are."

And then, he takes a step back...

Oh my God...

I step forward, watching the star-strewn skies as they illuminate the surface of this dead world at night. I'm standing on a cliff of rubble, the precipice facing the proving ground and a whole series of dilapidated buildings that somehow gain an ethereal beauty in the night. The winds have calmed, and that only adds to the majesty of the scene before me. Off to my left, I see the Keystone from Grunt's trial in all of its glory, a monument to the krogan's sense of survivability. And above us, the stars are blinking over the ruined landscape. The way the highway there slants up into nothing... the play of the stars... the building over there...

"Wrex..." I say, smiling slightly and in slight disbelief. "This place is... I can't... it's..."

"Incredible?" he asks. I turn to him, watching with the eternal smirk on his face. "I discovered this place as a young pup. When I first saw this, I thought it was the most amazing thing I ever saw."

"I can't say I blame you there," I comment. "It's... I haven't seen a night sky quite like this in ages!"

"It didn't last long," he says. "Exploring all those stars out there does that to you. But this place still has a soft spot in my heart. When I came back, this was the first place I went to. Turns out, the night sky isn't at all that different from when I left all those hundreds of years ago. I guess I never felt more grounded after that. But... this is always where I go when I need a moment to think."

I smile... wait, shit, this is gonna make what I have to say harder to tell... My smile fades almost immediately, but Wrex doesn't notice, what with my back being to him. "A beautiful view is always good for the mind," I comment.

"Sometimes," he says. "More often than not, I'll take a shotgun to a pyjak. But when that fails, this is what I fall back on."

Aw, Wrex is a big ol' softie sometimes. Just like Sten, in a way. Tough, stoic, and with a sense of honor, but put him in front of a kitten and he'll probably be all over the damn thing with hugs and kisses. And cookies. Let's not forget the cookies.

I nod... Oh, God... What do I do? I don't turn to face him just yet, as I'm pretty sure my fright is catching up with me. Oh, dear... how am I gonna break it to him.

"Must be great," I say with a slight amount of hesitation on one of the words. "Well... to have a view of the world like this..."

"I take it you had a similar view back home?" he asks.

Hm... Could I? I don't know... I'll try to work in a segue from there. "No," I comment, shaking my head. "My hometown didn't really have anything much in the way of hills... and it was mostly suburban, too. Shopping malls... houses that typically had more than two stories... And calendars, made of honest to god paper."

I see the krogan pause, and I feel his eyes burn into the back of my head. Okay... that got his attention. "Paper?" he asks. "I didn't think they still produced that on your homeworld."

Ah, there's our segue. "They don't," I comment. "My home was also one where our oceans were still full of life, where the lights of the metropolis didn't always block out the night sky... and where the mass relay in Pluto didn't yet exist."

I turn to Wrex then, and now he can clearly see my face in the light of the stars. He blinks, I'm guessing in surprise but I could be wrong on that count. "Wrex..." I continue. "I... I've been lying to almost everyone I know about myself. The Earth I know... it's an Earth that's fallen into the annals of history in another place now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asks Wrex, clearly confused by me going into semantics.

Yeah, I am getting confusing, aren't I? I shake my head. "I..." I hesitate, clasping my hands in front of me as the cold night air washes over us. Oh, God... "I'm not actually from this Earth. I am from Earth. But I was born 195 years ago. Technically, I should be almost two hundred years old. But... I'm not."

"Art, you're not making sense," he says. "I... I can't believe this. You're lying about this, aren't you?"

I shake my head. Time to bring in the facts. "That's not even the craziest part," I comment. "I... I know more about everyone than you could possibly fathom. And I know more about you and everybody else here than you think I do. Hell, I knew about you before I ever met you."

"Bullshit!" says the krogan, finally crossing the threshhold from confused to pissed off. "What're you playing at, Art? There's no way you could know anything about anybody here before you meet them!" He begins to huff and puff as he comes closer. "You can't be serious!"

I bite my lower lip, not changing my expression at all. Wrex doesn't get the hint at first... Yeah, I better whip out the story time. "Then what about Aleena?" I ask. "You know, the asari commando you knew in your own years of being a mercenary?"

Wrex's eyes snap open almost immediately, and he takes a step back in shock. Now I've got your attention. "Aleena... You... You know about her?" he asks. "But I never told her about you!"

"You didn't tell _me_, but I still know," I continue. "You had been hired by some volus diplomat to get rid of someone who knew too much." I can see Wrex move to interrupt, but when I start speaking, he seems to double take. Just let me finish, man. "That person turned out to be Aleena, some asari commando mercenary. You had met because you were contracted to kill the same turian. You even spent more time fighting each other than killing that turian. So then you went to her about the volus diplomat, and had a good laugh about it. But you weren't going to lose your contract, so you let her pick some old salarian space station to do combat on." I smirk as I cross my arms, not at Wrex's flabberghasted expression but at the thought of how he delivered it back home. "It was full of mercs and other people like that, so there were no innocent bystanders hurt in the fight. You spent two days chasing her around, spending every piece of ammo you had and killing mercs for their shitty weapons. On the third day, the station was barely holding together, and you found her in the med-bay where she was patching herself up. And just as you were about to get her, the core went critical, and you had to leave. You almost didn't get to your ship. So then you went to your contractor thinking Aleena had been killed, when she goes off and messages you saying-"

"-'better luck next time'," he finishes. He stands there, his expression going between shock and awe several times. "That volus diplomat..."

"He kept you as his personal bodyguard until he died," I continue for him. "You told him he'd need your protection from Aleena. And he believed it."

Okay... there's that... Wrex simply looks at me, his expression shocked. Slowly, though, I see his expression shift from pure awe to nearly pure anger. And then with a roar, he rushes forward, causing me to flinch. I don't dare move from my spot, though: I can't be sent falling to my death, especially not with him. He wouldn't do that... I think..

He grabs me by the arm, and instantly, I groan in pain at how hard he's gripping it. Jesus, I think he almost broke the bone! I instantly grimace, suddenly feeling his hot breath against my hear.

"How did you know about that?" he asks furiously. "I haven't told anybody else except for the diplomat about that! How the fuck did you find out?"

"You said it yourself," I say quickly, my teeth clenched in pain. "Not to me, but you said it to another person!"

"But you weren't even alive when that diplomat hired me as his bodyguard!" he shouts. "How do you know?"

"I saw you-!"

"You couldn't have seen me back then! _How do you know?_"

Oh, God... Here we go... It's the moment of truth.

"_Because you told it to Shepard in a video game I played back home!_" I shout. I take a few more breaths, seeing he's still holding on to my arm. "Wrex, I wan't actually born on this Earth. I was born on an Earth where the events that happened with Saren and the geth were a fucking video game! You were a character in it, and I saw you talking to my player character. And I knew everything!"

"Bullshit!" he says, and his breath gets hotter against my face. "There is no way you could have known everything from that! There's the Shadow Broker!"

I shake my head. "The Shadow Broker doesn't have precognition!" I correct him. "I knew _everything- including what was going to happen next!_"

This causes Wrex to let up on my arm slightly, but he doesn't completely let go. "W... what...?" he asks, still a little peeved but a strange sense of confusion taking over his body. "You know-?"

"You want to know what your brood brother Wreav would've done after we had obliterated Clan Weyrloc?" I ask. "He would've allowed raids to be performed there! Raids, Wrex! Wreav would've been the clan leader if you had died back on Virmire! I don't know anything about how your succession rules work, but if you weren't there to take control of Urdnot, then Wreav would have been in control now instead of you!"

"You... you know about that?" asks the krogan one more time.

"Yes," I say. Okay, here we go with more revelations. "I knew everything about the game when we first met. I knew about what was past, I knew what was going on, and I knew what was going to happen. I know everything that's going on with this bit, too. Shepard was actually spaced over Alchera. It took Liara T'Soni to fight against the Shadow Broker to get her body to Cerberus, and then to bring that back to life. She really died, Wrex. And I knew it was all going to happen."

Wrex stands right in front of me, his breath still burning against the skin of my face. He's calming down a little, but his rage is nowhere near spent, I can tell. "And yet you did nothing to stop anything?" asks Wrex. "Why? I won't hold that you're telling the truth just yet, but you're just letting things go by you without trying to change them?"

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" I ask. "The one opportunity I get to avert someone's death according to the plotline, and Shepard forced me to follow her orders! And you think I can just go up to various people and tell them what would happen? They'd think I'm crazy! And for Christ's sake, maybe I am fucking crazy, or we're in some fucked up comatose dream or something! All I know is that yes, I know everything that was going to pass back then!"

"So you just let Shepard die," he states, the rage settling as I feel his hand clench around my arm. "You're all treating this like some fucking game! How the hell-?"

"_I am not fucking enjoying it!_" I scream out, screwing my eyes shut as a tear works its way down my face. "I feel terrible that I'm playing on your fucking emotions! And yet I don't have one fucking choice in this stupid fucking matter! I lie to every fucking soul in this galaxy, because I don't have anything else to fucking fall back on! I don't enjoy it, because the knowledge that I'm lying to all but a small fucking handful of people in this fucking galaxy makes me sick! And it makes me even more fucking sick to know that I can't change a single fucking thing! Not even you would have fucking believed me! Nobody would've! Not until I could prove it, anyway!"

I open my eyes briefly to see the krogan's expression softens, but he still looks like he's pissed. At least his hand lets up on my arm again. "Well, you proved you know everything with me," he says. " I never mentioned Aleena to you. I was planning on talking about it if you asked... but you never did. Now, I can kind of see why. But you still don't have an excuse on why you didn't tell anyone, or why you're treating all this like a game.

I shake my head, my eyes instantly closing as the tears begin to come freely. "Wrex... how the hell do you think it feels to know that you've been cut off from everyone you've ever known and loved?" I ask him then. I don't "I locked myself up in my room on Virmire because I'm never going to see anyone I cared about throughout the first nineteen years of my life ever again!" I sniffle there, and I lose my nerve, and I nearly collapse into a sobbing mess. "Sturge is the only exception, but even his case can't possibly happen to me twice... And... And I don't know... But I also failed in trying to save someone... If I really had died back there, at least Ash would've been alive now. But... she's not... And that knowledge fucking _hurts_."

I sniffle, and it's then that he almost loses his grip on my arm. Damn it... gotta stay strong... "This galaxy is all I have now... But... knowing that my family is probably mourning me by now... I... I just miss them so much... And I wish against all hope that I could see them again, even though it's impossible because of where I am... You at least have a home you can go back to. Technically, so do I... But it's not the home I'm familiar with..." I gesture out to the skies with my free hand, my vision stained by tears as I open my eyes again and gesture to the night sky. "You could come back to the same thing... but here, and now, the people I grew up around are all dead or they didn't exist. Even two years after the fact, I can't... I can't stop thinking about it, not... not even when I've come to terms with it... How... How do you...?"

I can't say anything more after that, as my throat constricts and I find myself unable to speak. Once again, I close my eyes, and I turn my head from Wrex. I can't risk him looking at me when I'm like this. No... I just... I can't...

He lets go of my arm soon after, and before I know what else is up I feel a pair of powerful arms encircling me, with my face coming into contact with a piece of armor. Without even realizing this, I pull him closer, the gripped arm aching in pain. But I don't give a shit... I sob quietly into what I assume is Wrex's armor, shaking my head against it for a second or two as he rubs my back.

"You look pitiful like this," he comments dryly.

I simply sniffle in response. "I know," I say, shaking my head. "But nobody told me how I was supposed to cope with never being able to come home again... You and everybody else I know in this galaxy are all I have for company... It's shit, and I..."

The two of us part, and then I wipe some tears with a hand as I look up to him. "I... You're the first person I've ever told my real origins to willingly," I tell him. "Everyone else I've ever told, I had to tell because I either slipped up or circumstances forced my hand. I... I shouldn't have been lying to you for so long... and I don't expect you to ever forgive me for lying to you about my past. But I've never lied about how I feel about you or Shepard or anybody else I served with on the Normandy. And I always have looked at you as one of my best friends here. And that's why I'm telling you here, tonight, because I trust you with this secret that you can't tell anybody else. And for the past two years... I'm sorry."

I shake my head, and am about to turn when Wrex pipes up. "Don't be," he says. "Your story is still too hard to believe, even for a krogan. But... You saved my life on Virmire, so I still owe you whether I like it or not. And besides, you've done more for me than anyone on this stupid rock has ever done. I won't pretend you haven't just because you lied about everything else. That's enough for me." He pats my shoulder. "I'll hold you to your story, and I'll believe you for now. But if I ever hear any differently from an agent of the Shadow Broker, I will hunt you down."

I nod, knowing that he'll never follow up on the threat. "Thank you, Wrex," I say, smiling softly as I wipe a final tear from my eye. I shake my head. "God, I must look like a fucking pansy, standing here crying in front of you."

"You kind of do, actually," he agrees, his smirk returning with full force.

I chuckle darkly, appreciating the lilt in his voice. "I just get emotional over that kind of thing," I say. "I just... I'm sorry if I pissed you off."

"Hey, we all get pissed off at people we like," he says. "At least this time, I didn't have to headbutt you. Or make you lose the game."

I nod, cracking a smile at this. Yeah, he made me lose the game. "That is very true," I comment. "And thanks, by the way. For making me lose the game. Lets me know you're still my friend."

"You did more for me than any other person in this galaxy," replies the old krogan. "Even when I don't like what you're telling me I can't forget that, it seems."

The smile on my face that holds there says all I need to say as we look at each other. "God, this is kinda sappy," I comment, glancing back at the stars after a brief moment. "I need some star stories to help me out."

The krogan blinks in curiosity, and then he looks at me. His smile becomes full then, and he nods. "Yeah, that would be a good way to get our minds off of that," he agrees. "Come on. Let's talk about the sky of this stupid place."

And with this, the two of us end up sitting at the edge of the precipice, Wrex gesturing to the various stars and constellations as the celebrations for Grunt's rite continue below us. We share stories about stars and a couple of stars from back on Earth (well, the ones I can remember anyway), and we both have an excessively good laugh about it. It's nice to be able to talk with Wrex like this again, laughing at the expense of every other being in the galaxy. We get off topic sometimes, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

After all, he is still my friend. And I've got a wonderful feeling things will stay that way.


	32. Chapter 31

_A/N: Damn, that conversation was hard to write__! Still, it happened, so we're in good hands for now. And everyone is more or less happy._

_So after that, what do we get? Well... Art's not out of the clear yet, Why? You'll find out during the course of this chapter. So stay tuned for more as we find out what Art might have to do soon enough._

_And then there are other things so... I'll let you think about that for now, and we'll get going with the next chapter._

* * *

Chapter 31: Lead-In

Wrex and I eventually did rejoin the party later that night. And there were a couple more thresher rounds that were danced to before we all had enough of the partying. I think Tela was glad to be finally done with the fucking party, but... hey, we all had a good time. Jarel wasn't too happy about Tela being displeased or whatever... Jack and Zaeed were getting damn disappointed it was over, though: apparently they made a ton of money betting on varren thanks to Al, and they were all kind of dismayed. But... seriously, I'm not the party type, so...

So we all went back to the Normandy for the night. Wrex seemed rather okay after I told, and I managed to tell him that Tali and the rest of the Brotherhood were in on my secret. He simply nodded, figuring as much as we walked back to camp then to await stuff.

It took Jenny two trips to the Normandy, with some of the people that were there only for the party on the first trip. Sturge went back on that first trip, as did Jarel and Tela. The three rogue musketeers went next, I think, and Zaeed had to fight the urge to flip the bird at us. Miranda, Jacob, and Kasumi got on next for whatever reason.

And this left most of the rest of us as some of the crew also got on, and the ship took off. So... we ended up waiting for about a half an hour talking with Wrex as we waited for Jenny to come back. And it's just me, Wrex, Tali, Garrus, Madison, and Thane off to the side as he nods.

"So you have a secret society for your secret," says the krogan.

"Yeah, pretty much," comments the Journalist. "It was Art's idea."

"As was the title," adds Thane. "It is a rather... intriguing title..."

"It's not the best title in the world," finishes Garrus' lover.

Hey! "And you had something better in mind?" I ask, crossing my arms. "It's exactly what it says on the tin."

"That's true," says Garrus.

"Title or no, it does sound kind of needless," says the krogan. "But I guess I can understand where you're coming from."

I shake my head. "I'd probably have gone mad from trying to hold it in so long," I comment. "It was great that I finally got to tell you about it, you know?"

"Yeah," says Wrex. "Have you told Shepard yet?"

"No," I comment. "And I don't have anything to prove it with, as Shepard was the player character and they kept her slate blank as much as they possibly could."

"As well, that... may not be the best idea at this time," adds the drell assassin. "After all, Art does know that she was going to die ahead of time. How would a person react to knowing someone would know about their death?"

The krogan stands still for a second before nodding. "Yeah, I would be pretty pissed off at that," he says. "You're probably right. Just don't hold it in for too long like you did with me."

I nod. "Hopefully, it'll come to where I tell it to her myself so I can get a chance to defend myself," I say. "I think she'll need to hear it from my own mouth. That might make it easier on her."

"Let's hope you're right," says Garrus. "Personally, I'd hate to have to clean your remains from the wall."

Wrex and I let out a loose chuckle, glancing at the turian as the image of Garrus cleaning a red stain from the wall comes to mind. Yeah, that would be a pretty anticlimactic way to die, wouldn't it? I smile at him, uncrossing my arms with a slight light in my eye.

"Yeah. Again, hopefully it'll turn out well, especially when she finds out who knows on the ship." I gesture to Thane with a thumb, Wrex getting the hint. Yeah, I think he's all for Thane as well. Kaidan was an ass, after all... if I ever see his sorry ass again, I'm kicking it. Hard.

Preferrably with steel-tipped shoes.

We all seem to want to say something else, but we all pause as we suddenly hear engine thrusters kicking in. The sound gets louder ever so slowly, like it's just coming in now. And slowly. We all turn towards the source, and see the shuttle slowly coming down to Tuchanka. Okay... there she is. Wrex nods, looking at us.

"Well, I guess this is it," he says. "I don't get to see you guys again for a while."

We begin to make our way to the shuttle as the shuttle doors open, letting Shepard climb in as Grunt and Mordin do the same. I turn to Wrex as he holds his fist out. Ah, he wants me to pound it. Okay... As we begin to make our way up, I bring up my own fist and we tap them together. I smile at him as we walk up the ramp. Just as I'm about to get on the shuttle, though, I feel him place his hands on my shoulder.

"If you need anything, message me," he says. "I'll reply as soon as I can."

I smile. "Thanks," I say. "I'll be sure to let you know if anything comes up. And I'll kick the Collector's asses for you!"

"You better come back!" he says, letting out a loud bellow.

"We plan to!" I say as I step into the shuttle. The rest of the group slowly does so, and I leave a wave to Wrex. "Oh, and Wrex? You just lost the game!"

Wrex moves to reply, but whatever he might say is cut off by the shuttle door closing. I hear Jenny shout something about how we're going up, and then we're cruising ever so slowly away from the surface of Tuchanka. Hm... It was actually kinda pretty, now that I think about it. Yeah, Tuchanka was all nice and beautiful and stuff. Despite initial appearances of course. That's always a nice thing when expectations are denied.

And seeing it one last time through the window of the shuttle... it feels pretty nice, actually. I've got friend, food, and awesomeness.

I nod, crossing my arms as Shepard smiles. I feel gravity pull at me differently as we exit the atmosphere of Tuchanka, and then as we settle on the Normandy again. The commander looks at me as she holds her arms behind her body.

"So... did you two catch up?" she asks.

I nod. "Yep," I comment.

"And it was damn glorious, too."

* * *

After we get back on the Normandy, I don't even take a shower before I plop onto bed, I'm so damn tired. I have the same dream I've been having for the past two years, but seeing as how we still haven't seen _Inception_ I'm still kind of lost as to what that briefcase does. So I ended up playing _Dead Space _all the way through. Again. And that was pretty glorious.

So then, when I woke up, I took care of showering, taking care of stuff, and then I called a Brotherhood meeting with Sturge. I ate breakfast rather quickly, and then I went straight to Kasumi's room. It's a Brotherhood meeting, after all, so we've gotta make it quick. The brotherhood was already more or less gathered there, and I nodded as I entered the room. Kasumi was still sprawled on the usual spot, with Garrus and Madison both on the floor as Thane takes a standing position by the window. Tali is at the foot of the couch where Kasumi is, and we're all more or less happy about stuff.

I nod, holding my hands behind my back as Kasumi locks the door. Okay, EDI logged out when we all came in, so... I look to them. "Well, that party was certainly... unscheduled," I begin.

"So it never happened in the game," says Garrus.

I shake my head. "No," I say. "But still, it's nice. It was fun and everything, and gave me the opportunity to tell Wrex. He... almost broke my arm, but I think we'll be good."

"And now there are two people that know your secret outside of the Normandy," says Sturge. "I mean, there was that Shala'Raan from the Fleet that Tali mentioned last time, and now there's Wrex. Aren't you afraid they'll tell?"

I shake my head. "Shala'Raan took some kind of oath not to tell," I reply. "And Wrex knows me better than anybody here except for Tali."

"That works for us," says Kasumi, smiling. "I wonder when you're planning on telling Shepard."

I bite my lower lip. "I'm hoping to get to it after we get the Reaper IFF," I comment. "If I end up having a loyalty mission, though..."

The rest of the room nods their agreement grimly. Thane's head turns very slightly, his eyes falling on me. "Do you think it will come to a loyalty mission?" he asks.

"I don't know," I say. "But at this point? I imagine it's very likely to happen. All the signs are pointing to Shepard having to step in and clean up this mess sometime as its happening. I'm just waiting to hear what's going to go down next... If it gets worse, I'm going to have to ask for Shepard's help."

"It seems everyone has problems on this ship," says Madison, crossing her arms. "I guess the game was wierd like that?"

I nod. "Yeah," I comment. "If everyone was loyal, everyone would make it out. Weeding out the distractions is a little strange like that. We don't really have that far to go until we're done with everybody's loyalty missions, though. We've still got Jacob, Jack, Samara, and now possibly myself to deal with, preferrably before we hit the Reaper IFF. And once we get that IFF, we have to take care of stuff for that geth unit we can recruit. But other than that, I can't see myself with too many problems in this mission, you know?"

"Even stuff you can't see coming?" Garrus points out. "Things have changed quite a bit. What's to say they won't change when we get there?"

"Not much," I reply, shaking my head. "But I have to believe something will stay constant, right?"

Kasumi shakes her head. "I don't know, Art," she mentions. "You've told us before that they were planning on making a trilogy of this, right? So what happened to the third game that wasn't even announced?"

... Oh my God, she's right... I don't know what's going to happen beyond the Collector base... "So eventually, I'm going to have to rely on instinct..."

"Possibly," mentions the thief. "You don't have long before you lose your precognition..."

... Jesus, she's right. Here I am, always going about my business as if I would always know what's coming next. But soon enough, that knowledge is going to go up either in flames or in that pulse that kills the Collectors. And after that... I don't have much else to fall back on.

"Shit..." I say, shaking my head. "And here I am, thinking I'd be so empowered to keep on going with predicting what's coming next. I just... I've gotten so used to thinking about it... What the hell will happen when I have to improvise?"

"We'll just have to figure it out," says the turian as he shifts his posture on the ground. "You're pretty good at that, I think."

"I guess we'll have to see," I comment, crossing my arms. Jesus... I'm losing my precognition. But... Man, I didn't even realize I was relating things to the game as much as I am... I need to try to kick that habit. Violently. Possibly with a game of _Contact Point._

"That we will," says Sturge. "I'm curious: did Tela or Jarel ever have any time in the game?"

I shake my head. "Obviously not Jarel," I comment. "The only salarians that had any screentime at Virmire were Captain Kirrahe and that other guy... Commander Rentola, I think his name was. And Tela... they never showed any Spectres that weren't Shepard or Saren, now that I think about it. So no... as far as I know, they were never in the game."

"Then we'll have to stop relying on your knowledge of the game," says Tali. "It's not completely holding up. And if you do have a loyalty mission as you say you do... you'll have to take everything as it comes in."

"Yeah," I say. "I think that's enough of that... I just... I need to grapple with that."

"It is understandable," says Thane. "Much as we needed to grapple with the true nature of the geth when you told us this, you need your time to come to terms with that truth."

I nod, crossing my arms. "And you know what the worst part is?" I ask. "If I have to tell Shepard, I really, really don't know what I'm going to fall back on to prove it."

The conversation then goes in this direction, and we continue to converse as a brotherhood, my concerns being shared by everyone much as their concerns are shared amongst us.

* * *

Hm... I need to be away from the Brotherhood right now. So yeah.

I think I'll go hang out in the hidey-hole for now.

I walk down to Engineering with this in mind, heading straight for the hidey hole. I walk on down the steps, making my footsteps quiet as I walk down... It can't be all that bad, right? But she doesn't like my footsteps being so loud on 'her' stairway. I'd complain in any other case, but I don't want to antagonize her needlessly, so I'll play along with her for now. So yeah.

Hm... Speaking of Jack, I haven't seen Al around the Normandy all that much. I wonder where he-

"Oh, hey, if it isn't Art!"

...

Jesus Christ, there he is!

I see him leaning against a bulkhead in Jack's room. The biotic is sitting on her cot, the usual place for her to sit. The datapad where she usually writes is off to the side, as usual, but out of reach of Al. So she hasn't shown him her poetry yet. Okay. That works.

I shrug, walking in and seeing the N7 graduate sitting there, a sniper rifle on his lap as he nods.

"Oh, hi Al," I say. "What are you doing down here in the hidey-hole?"

"What he's always doin', I guess," says Jack, crossing his arms with a smirk on her face. "Tellin' stories about Shepard, doin' other things that I don't really care about. It's all the fucking same, anyway."

I glance back to the biotic psycho before shrugging. My attention turns back to Al as I speak. "Trust me, she used to be worse," I comment. "Just don't ask about the term 'ballsy pussy' and we'll be good."

Al blinks in surprise, bringing a cloth up as he regards me. "Noted," he says. "I'm curious... but I won't ask."

"Good," says Jack. "Because I'm telling him anyway!" Jack wai-! "He gets annoyed whenever I call him that. But hey, it's true. He's a pussy, but he's got balls."

Oh, did she-? Oh, the little-! "Jack!"

Al chuckles at this as the woman in question simply shifts one of her legs so her foot is on the edge of her cot. He shakes his head, bringing a rag out and cleaning out a sniper rifle component he's working on at the moment.

"Well... that saves me having to ask," he comments.

Now it's Jack's turn to chuckle, leaving me standing there with a very surprised expression on my face. Oh, Jesus... My hand then meets my face, and I shake my head as the round smack resounds in the small little place.

... Hey, that rhymes!

"I'll pretend you never said that and get on with my life," I state. "But anyway... I hope you two aren't busy right now."

"Oh, we're not," says Al. "I'm just sitting here, cleaning my rifle and talking to Jack here." He gestures her with a tilt of his head as he rubs the rag along the area he's working on. "She's crazy. But I like that about people, you know?"

"It's wierd," says Jack. "Here we are with Shepard, and her brother's almost like her. Except even wierder." She smirks, setting her leg back on the ground. "It kinda makes me like him like that."

I nod. "Just don't get him to start dropping f-bombs or I'll have your head," I comment.

"Says the guy who dropped about nineteen of them back at the Migrant Fleet," retorts Al. "Joc counted. She had nothing else to do while you did her work for her."

Jeez... I frown, looking right at Al. "Let us never mention that again," I motion. "So... How's the Normandy treating you?"

"Oh, it's a good place to be," says Al. "I can't complain. I like to spend most of my time down here with Jack or Zaeed, though. Zaeed's fun. He's got a whole ton of great stories to tell."

I shrug, smirking at this. "Tell me about it," I comment. "And you're here with Jack right now."

"Well..." says Al. "Jack is... Jack." He shrugs. "And no, we're not 'friends with benefits'. Before you ask."

...

Did he seriously just say that?

...

Yes. Yes he did.

"I wasn't going to ask, but whatever helps you sleep at night is fine by me."

Now it's Jack's turn to let out a slight chuckle. She shifts on the cot, leaning back against the wall of the little place as Al blinks in surprise, instantly stopping whatever cleaning he's doing with his sniper rifle. He bites his lower lip and shakes his head, and then continues on like he didn't hear it. Jack's smirk only intensifies at this, before it drops completely and one of her hands trails by the side of one of the many tattoos on her body.

"But seriously, no, we don't fuck, and we're certainly not fuck buddies," says the biotic. "Kinda boring that way, but hey." She turns her head to me. "It's like you said. Whatever helps him sleep at night is fine by me. Well, until he starts trying to fuck with me."

"In which case, I die," finishes Al as he starts reassembling his sniper rifle. "I know the drill, Jack."

I shrug, looking between the two of them. Hm... Looks like they're getting along really well. I dunno. It's just so strange seeing Jack talking with someone without wanting to rip their face off or something. I'm pretty sure Jack was originally indifferent to everything that was going on with the mission. Especially since it's a Cerberus vessel. Well... Al is Alliance and not Cerberus in any way, so I guess in her books that means that while he may be a little annoying, he's certianly not the worst thing in the world. Even if he is a lawkeeper. Or something.

God, the Gospel of interactions according to Jack is complex indeed.

"It's strange seeing you getting along with someone who isn't me, though," I comment, crossing my arms. "It's an improvement, but still..."

Jack glowers slightly at me. "I don't need a fucking therapist," she says. "Still, I guess there's something kind of nice about either of you two being here." She shifts. "So what'd you come down here for?"

I shrug. "Oh... I've just got a lot on my mind," I comment. "There is a lot I need to think about. I figured hiding down here would help with that."

"Well..." says Al with a shrug. "I don't see why you can't stick around. Right Jack?"

The biotic girl shakes her head.

"Sure," she says. "Just don't break the datapad and we're good."

Oh, trust me, I'm not one to break datapads that easily. Unless your name is my impostor's name, in which case I'll probably break it over your face.

"I just need to sit down and vent. Hopefully, it'll help."

* * *

It didn't help. Not being able to tell Al or Jack my secret kind of doesn't work like that, apparently.

So I just left after a couple of fairly awkward silences.

Okay... I'm at the mess hall now, and we're almost to the Citadel. I just...

Damn it... I don't really know what's going to happen next. And that knowledge actually kinda sucks. A lot. I mean... all I'll have for indications are chest-high walls and stuff... And I can't live off of that forever, since there are a lot of things I wouldn't expect would make a good chest-high wall. But then... there's the general plot. I have no way of knowing how the Council is going to act about Shepard... And I have no idea how half of the plot-related decisions are going to turn out for us. I have no idea if Cerberus is going to hunt us down if we go Paragon at the end, and I have no idea if the Council is going to hunt us down if we go Renegade... I don't know.

God... I've just been thinking so much...

My hand unconsciously darts into my pocket as I munch on a small sandwich, the thing tasting slightly salty in my mouth. Hm, probably used the military ration varren again. I shake my head, biting my lower lip.

"Does something trouble you, keeper?"

... Oh, that's right. Orange is in that pocket, isn't she? Hm... She might be just the person to answer this...

Hey, Orange. I just... I've got a lot on my mind.

"Indeed?" asks the oracle. "What exactly are you troubled by...?"

I sigh, chewing on my sandwich. Orange, can I ask you something?

"The keeper may ask anything he chooses," says Orange. "I do have the right to refuse to answer."

I nod. I've been thinking a bit about me... and being in this universe. And how I know a lot more about what's going down than everybody else. I had a question: did the prophecy say anything about how much the keeper had to know about the future?

The oracle who can speak to my mind is silent for a little bit. Oh, jeez. Come on, Orange, don't leave me hangin' here! But she's silent a little longer, I guess contemplating what I just asked.

"That is... difficult to say," she says finally. "You have your confirmer, so we can be certain you are at least one of the chosen. However... the prophecy said nothing about any precognition. I have... heard scattered pieces of your thoughts from your other universe. I can only imagine the pain you have gone through."

Oh, trust me, I think you're actually worse off than I am. I mean, your entire species got obliterated from the face of the galaxy. And now you're their legacy. I can't imagine what it must be like to not even be able to make new friends. I mean, I at least had that.

"You are slightly mistaken, keeper," replies the oracle. "I have you to keep me company. Our rare conversations are... enlightening. As well, you are not the first person I have spoken to in this time..."

Wait, so you're accompanied by other people?

"In a way, yes," Orange mentions, her voice seeming a little less certain. "I would not say that there is more than one person in my vessel, though, as that would be inaccurate. When you decipher your dream space... you shall find out more."

Oh, lovely. You're giving me even more reason to watch _Inception_. I wonder how my dream has been constructed the same way for so long...

"You shall find out, keeper," replies the paperweight. "You shall endure many trials of will before the Reapers can be defeated. Such is your lot, and the lot of the other three chosens. This newfound spontinaeity may be one of those trials..."

Oh, great, I'm being tested again. I guess... I'll have to make sense of that later. But... it's good to know the prophecy doesn't hinge on me not being able to predict enemies by where their spawn points were in some game back home.

"It certainly seems that way," says Orange. "I shall see you soon, keeper."

And with this, I take my hand away from the orange paperweight within my pocket. Hm... This is a lot to think about. So apparently, these Prothean oracles didn't count on me being able to see what's coming next. So there's that... It doesn't take any edge away, but if I had been any other person who had not actually known about the existence of _Mass Effect _back when I first came here, it would've been okay. So...

Hey, wait a minute! I needed my knowledge to save Tali since Shepard was lagging behind for whatever reason in the real world! If I wasn't there, Tali would be dead... And then the Reaper invasion would've happened.

...

Is she sure they weren't counting on me knowing everything?

I frown slightly, biting my lower lip. No sooner do I do this when I jolt in surprise at seeing Jarel Brosca plop a tray down in front of me. I look up, seeing the salarian pause in surprise. Okay... that kind of came out of nowhere.

"Am I disturbing you?" asks the salarian.

I shake my head. "No, no, I just got really, really lost in thought there," I mention. "It doesn't help that I apparently get startled really easily."

Jarel nods, sitting down. "I see," he says. "I wanted to ask you something about the clan. Specifically, your relationship with Urdnot Wrex."

Hm? That's... odd... I shift on my seat, holding my hands out in front of me as I do so. "What's up?" I ask.

"I was just wondering..." he says. "Krogan rarely make friends outside of their own species. And yet, I have never seen such a spirit of unity between a krogan and a member of any other species."

I raise an eyebrow. "And you're wondering how we got to that point."

"Essentially, yes." The Spectre candidate shifts a little.

I shrug. "Well... it took a bit," I comment. "He thought I was a weakling at first, as you'd imagine. I mean, here I am, a musician who somehow winds up on the Citadel after a stim overdose, and I'm thrown into a mission to save the galaxy from a rogue Spectre and his army of synthetic beings. You'd think I'd fall on my face, you know?"

"Most definitely," says Jarel. "I sometimes wondered that myself, but from what I understand you had excellent training on the Normandy."

And excellent memory for using muscles. "Pretty much," I say. "Had it been anyone else but Ash training me, it would've gone straight to hell. But anyway, he kind of warmed up to me as time went on. And then... I helped him find his family armor."

Jarel gives me a perplexed look, eyelids coming up briefly as he considers this. "The Urdnot clan armor, yes?" he asks. "I had heard about the disappearance of that. I take it you helped him retrieve it?"

"Yes," I reply. "It was damn crazy shit, too: I had to let myself get seduced by some older turian to get it. He was nothing short of disgusting, let me tell you. But I pulled through anyway, because that was the only real way to get his armor." I bite my lower lip. "We got on really friendly terms after that. And then I introduced him to the game."

"Which I just lost, I take it?" asks the salarian.

The chuckle that comes out of my throat is good-natured. "Yep, you just lost it," I comment with a smile. "I never would've thought he'd teach it to every krogan he'd ever know, though..."

"I had heard of the," Jarel mentions. "It began to be heard more extensively in various STG reports on the Urdnot Clan, and then slowly their allies. We haven't heard every krogan speak of the game yet, but..."

I shrug. "You never would've had any idea a human came up with it," I say.

"No," says the Spectre candidate. "Though... now seeing how you and Urdnot Wrex got along, I can see how he picked up the game very quickly." He smiles. "It's good to see that the krogan are capable of making friends with other species."

I raise a curious eyebrow at this. "Why do you say that?"

"It gives me hope that making a genophage cure isn't a mistake," says Jarel. "Or, maybe even modifying the birth rate so it's a higher rate. I would think one successful birth in every 250, 200, possibly even 100 births would be a more reasonable rate."

"I still think it was a bad idea," I comment. "The genophage, I mean. I get they couldn't come up with any other solution, but now that the krogan that are alive today are paying for the mistakes of their ancestors... that pisses me off." I frown. Hm... they do the same thing to the quarians, now that I think about it. Are they just a vengeful bunch of species or something?

"As you said, it's not clear-cut," says Jarel. "Culturally, the krogan weren't ready for either outcome of the Krogan Rebellions. They could not deal with a genocide, but arguably the genophage inflicts the same fate."

I shrug. "Hell, in my language, genocide and genophage share the same prefix," I comment. "I'm sure that wasn't intentional at all on the part of our translators."

Jarel blinks at my piece of sarcasm, nodding. "I... I see," he says. "That gives a whole new perspective on it that I might not have thought of, even if it was with an alien species that is young." He shifts. "I still think the genophage was a mistake regardless of whether or not they were ready for space flight. Hopefully, I can hold on to this genophage cure data. If so... I might go off on his work."

I raise my eyebrow at this, crossing my arms. "I see," I say. Hm... speaking of which... "Do you think this data could be useful for curing diseases in other species and stuff...?"

The salarian closes his eyelids for a second, leaning forward as he ponders. "You're thinking about your crew member with Kepral's Syndrome, no doubt?"

"Yeah," I comment.

"If you're asking whether this exact data can help... I don't know," he says. "But if you are asking if we can build a foundation for a cure based on it... in theory, since drell and krogan are both levo-amino species, it is possible to use the same concepts for a genophage cure for a Kepral's cure. It would probably be really difficult since there is only a very thin link between Kepral's Syndrome and the genophage, but it's possible..." He smiles, nodding. "Yes, that would be interesting to look into as well."

I nod. "I'm glad you're thinking about it," I mention. "I wonder what I could do with that, now that I think about it. I would have to ask the hanar about it first, of course... but I imagine they would accept any help they could get."

Yay, he's thinking about a Kepral's Cure! And he'll probably get it before the hanar can! I nod, giving him a smile. "Well, it's interesting to think about," I comment. "We'll be docking at the Citadel soon."

"And then I become a Spectre," mentions the candidate. "It's more or less unofficial now. Soon people will be calling me Spectre Brosca." He shakes his head. "If they're going to be so formal, I'd want them to call me Scientist Brosca. That's technically where I like to think."

I nod. "As well you should," I comment, glancing to where Tela probably is. "I wonder... how is Tela as a Spectre?"

"A little... strange," says Jarel.

And then he proceeds to tell me the story of the first mission he and Tela went on when Jarel was being evaluated for Spectrehood.

* * *

We were just docked at the Citadel to drop Jarel and Tela off there. I actually ended up stepping out with Shepard to give a farewell to the asari and the new Spectre-to-be, so that was nice. Jarel asked me not to be a stranger next time I was on the Citadel, though how successful I am with that will mildly depend on other things. Like, what happens with the loyalty mission. I do hope Jarel does good things as a Spectre, though. Hopefully his initiation will go well enough, so we'll see what happens with that.

So we say our farewells more definitively this time since we sort of just waved at each other after Virmire, and then Shepard and I let them go. They ended up going to a good place, which left Shepard and I to go back. We sort of split as Shepard went to go talk to Joker. Yeah, that's fine. I think I'll go talk to Tali and see what-

"Serviceman *********."

I stop in place as I get over to the elevator, seeing EDI's avatar pop up right in front of me. Okay...

"EDI?" I ask. "Do you need something?"

"I was asked to tell you that Operative Lawson wishes to see you in her office," says the AI. "She wouldn't specify, but she tells me it's crucial that you speak to her in the next several hours."

... Oh, dear... The bug on Mangdalar picked something up, didn't it? Oh, man, I've got a feeling I'm not going to like this.

I bite my lower lip as I nod. "Tell her I'll be there soon," I say.

With this, the avatar blinks once. "Logging you out, Serviceman." With this, the avatar goes out, and I hit the call button soon after. Oh, dear, the bug has returned results. This is not going to end well, I don't think. It doesn't sound like it picked up anything good.

I just hope... No, I'll just go see what Miranda wants me to look at.

So I take the elevator down to the crew deck, walking around as soon as the elevator doors *finally* open. I head straight for Miranda's office, my heart beating. Okay... The bug might not have turned up something good. I just... I don't know. This anticipation is pretty bad on my end. My heart's beating pretty fast, and I'm fairly sure a part of me doesn't actually want to find out what's going on with the bug. I just feel... I dunno. But I have to, because Mangdalar was actually something of a friend of mine. So I have to help him.

With this, I enter Miranda's office. She's not at her desk this time, but rather, in the back of the room sitting on a couch. She's leaning over an omni-tool, shaking her head in dismay as she's looking at something. As soon as I enter, I see her look up, and then she nods, her grim expression still on her face.

"Art," she says. "It's good you came. The bug we installed on Mangdalar returned something. You should hear this."

Oh, dear, already I don't like this. I enter further into the office, taking a place next to the Cerberus operative on the couch. I look to her, brushing a stray strand of hair out of my eye. "What's up?" I ask.

Miranda goes to the omni-tool, typing a few things on the interface as she goes through menus. "Mangdalar's bug picked this up a half an hour before we docked at the Citadel," she says. "This... it's not good, and I hate to think that there was nothing we could have done to stop this..."

After a rather short search, she finds the thing she was looking for, and then her omni-tool starts playing the sound file. I hear a bit of shuffling around from the recording, and the murmuring of a whole crowd of people as we go on. Okay... so they're wondering around the-

"_And you better not say one god-damn thing about this to the people who sell transit!_" Uh... "_Otherwise, I'm blowing a hole straight in that god-damn head of yours, and then I go after your girlfriend too. __Got it, cuttlebone?_"

Holy shit, that sounds almost exactly like me! And... and he called Mangdalar a cuttlebone! Oh, fuck... I shake my head, my eyes instantly going wide. Jesus... he sounds exactly like I do... No wonder the voice fooled them. Granted, it's a little deeper, so it's not quite into being poked at by Garrus material, but still. This is... really disturbing actually.

"_Got it..._" Yeah, that's Mangdalar, all right. He sounds... defeated, though. Like he's not putting up a fight.

"It sounds like he's counting on me to find him..." I mention.

The recording continues with hurried footsteps and the murmuring of a crowd. Miranda nods. "You could say that," she says. "We don't get much from the bug after that... but I imagine Mangdalar managed to expose him to his face. Yelena isn't in the recording, so I can only assume she's safe."

"She's safe?" I ask. "Jesus... Now this impostor has kidnapped Mangdalar Vorolis..." I frown, crossing my arms. "But he had a big commission with some big turian opera group on Palaven that's due in a couple of weeks. Don't you think they're going to notice something is up when Yelena reports that he's gone missing and he doesn't turn stuff in?"

The genetically perfect woman pauses the recording then, nodding her head as she fast forwards it. "Yes, I do," she says. "But... that may not be an issue... Because then this comes up."

With this, she hits play again, and the chatter of the crowd around what I assume to be Mangdalar and that other guy that's there. We hear the chatter get louder, and it kind of quiets down a little bit.

"_Remember, it's two tickets to Omega. Don't fuck it up, or you and your pretty little asari girlfriend will die._"

... Omega? Jesus, Mangdalar wouldn't survive three minutes in there! Granted, he'll probably last a little longer since he's being held captive, but... What the hell?

I shake my head, continuing to listen to the recording as we go around. Mangdalar isn't stupid, though. He's shown that he's more than a little resourceful from time to time, and I'm just hoping he uses that resourcefulness here. Or he's just playing along. Yeah... I think he would, knowing he's got a bug attached to one of his spurs. So hopefully, we'll be able to track him down. Yeah... let's hope he does that.

Okay... I sit back, hearing footsteps as Mangdalar does something. I guess he's approaching a teller or something.

"_How may I help you, sir?_" asks the teller.

"_I'll take two tickets to Omega, please_," he says.

"_Omega, huh?_" asks the teller. I hear her manipulate stuff on her end as Mangdalar hands a credit chit to her. "_You know, sir, Omega is a very dangerous place. I recommend not straying too far from the spaceport there._"

Mangdalar's mandibles click against his teeth. "_I... don't exactly have a choice in the matter,_" says Mangdalar. "_I... have a brother there._" Oh, Mangdalar, it's obvious you're just covering your ass. "_He... uh... he needs some help there, so I figured, you know..._"

"_Just be careful there,_" says the teller. Yeah... she's probably asari. "_I've been hearing that a human gang from Earth moved in there recently. They're very xenophobic, so just watch out for yourself._"

"_I will..._" says my composer friend. With this, he takes a couple of footsteps away. Hey, wait... isn't Mangdalar's chit encoded with his identity...?

... Unless they used the impostor's chit. Damn it...

I hear the footsteps slow to a stop, and then someone takes stuff roughly. There's a tense silence as I bite my lower lip. I glance back at Miranda, her own expression frought with a slight amount of worry. Jesus... They're just taking him through customs and everything? Jeez... Is he just waiting for me to come along and save his ass? Because I can't, seeing as how this came thirty minutes later... But he's making no move to resist...

"_Good,_" says the impostor. "_You've been very cooperative. You left when I threatened you at gunpoint, and you're doing everything that I'm telling you to do. I'm sure my friends that moved in back on Omega will help you out._"

"_Just don't hurt Yelena, please,_" says Mangdalar. "_We had nothing to do with what happened to you. You didn't need to put her at gunpoint too..._"

"_And you don't think I know that?_" asks the human. Jesus... "_You're the easiest way to get to him, I'm afraid. What with the crew of the Normandy being difficult to track down. So I went right for you. But the rest of the Reds will have ball with you._"

... Reds? As in, the Tenth Street Reds? As in... the gang that Shepard joins if she's an Earthborn Shepard? Jesus... I'm just glad we have a Spacer here, because I'd hate to have Shepard wreak havoc with the Reds... But still... this is really bad...

"_So you're just going to keep me there..._?" asks Mangdalar, raising his voice slightly.

"_Shh... we don't want to alert the public, do we?_" asks the impostor softly, a menacingly playful lilt to his voice.

...

Jesus Christ, I find it hard to take this son of a bitch seriously. But... Mangdalar's going along willingly. "_Remember, I have guys at your apartment, and they will kill Yelena if you don't cooperate._"

... Oh, fuck. They threatened Yelena! Oh... Oh Jesus... Oh, damn it, I got them into this!

"_Yes... I'm sorry,_" says Mangdalar. "_Let's... let's just get to Omega._"

"_Good boy, cuttlebone._"

And with this, Miranda stops the play back. Jesus... I stand up, running my hands through my hair as I take a rather long inhalation of air. What... Why would anyone even _think _of doing that to Mangdalar. I shake my head. Fuck... I got him into this mess... Now it's up to me to get them out.

"So they're headed to Omega," I say, shaking my head. "And they've got Yelena hostage...

"That's what it seems like," says the Cerberus operative. "Though from the term they used, she may not know she is in danger. If we hurry, we may be able to get to Omega very soon after they get there. It's worth a shot, anyway."

I nod. "But something about this disturbs me," I comment, turning back to her. "He mentioned the Reds."

"Yes, I looked into that," says Miranda. "I don't really have much reliable information since this is a recent development, but it may help. You haven't happened to hear of the Tenth Street Reds, have you?"

Have I? "Yeah, I have," I comment. "They were this Earth gang that was active in several major cities. I know about them, because I... I had a run-in with a couple of Reds when I was living in Boston." Damn it, Art, that's the best you can do? Oh, well, I'm going to have to roll with it. "But... they're branching away from Earth now?"

"Yes," says Miranda. "Shortly after we recruited Madison, the Blood Pack presence on Omega essentially dissolved. There's no more Blood Pack, and the Blue Suns and the Eclipse have been fighting over the power. But the Tenth Street Reds saw this as an opportunity. And now, they're gaining influence on Omega..."

I nod. "So they're drawn there like moths to a flame..." I say. "And now they've got Mangdalar..." I shake my head. My breathing is getting progressively shorter as the reality hits me. Fuck... "Shit... He's not going to last there. We... We have to go to Omega. Get him out of there!"

"I figured you would say that," says Miranda, nodding as she brushes a few strands of hair from behind her shoulder. "I took the liberty of informing EDI about this development. I asked her to tell Shepard to talk to you about this. With any luck, she'll go to Omega. She hasn't let her crew down at all so far: I imagine she would go out of her way for you as well."

So... so she told EDI to get Shepard to talk to me. Well... that's a relief. That saves me having to go to the CIC to tell Kelly. I just... "I hope we can get to Omega in time," I say, walking to Miranda and bowing my head to her. "Miranda... Thank you for everything you've done at this point."

With this, I turn on my heel and go try to find Shepard.

Great... It's gotten worse. And now... I have my loyalty mission for sure. It's not just speculation anymore: it's actually happening. I have a loyalty mission... and it involves my friend. And my identity. That too. But my friend is more important. I mean... I still don't really know why he wouldn't want to impersonate me, but whatever the case I dragged Mangdalar and Yelena into this for whatever reason. And I have to get them out.

Or die trying.

I just hope we can succeed...

* * *

Okay, so I couldn't find Shepard. Or... maybe she has to come to me.

I had to drop my name to Kelly anyhows. So... I hope things will go well with that. I've taken to writing a little bit in my anxiety. And my writing has increased a thousand times over. I just... This is going to be crazy, I know it. What's the big moral choice? Is this one of those missions where it's possible to make me disloyal?

...

Why am I still thinking about all this in relation to the game, damn it?

I shake my head, aiming to go back to proofreading a line when the door opens to my side. I glance to the door, and then I see Shepard there, looking at me. Yes, she's here!

"Shepard," I say. "I hate to have to bog you down with more favors for your crew, but... something massive came up."

I stand up, pacing around the room as Shepard steps further in. The door closes behind her as she looks at me, and I bite my lower lip. Okay, here goes. "You remember my time on the Citadel between when I left the Normandy and when I rejoined it?" I ask. "I did manage to get a career. But I also picked up a few fascinating friends along the way. I eventually lived with two of them: a certain Mangdalar Vorolis, and his partner Yelena T'Onyu."

"So you lived with a turian for two years," says Shepard with a smirk. "Nice to know everyone's getting along."

I chuckle, glad she's at least trying to ease the atmosphere a little. "Yeah," I comment. "We met while doing my first film score. The damn vid was so long it required two composers to score everything. The orchestra was absolutely exhausted by the time we were done." I shrug, looking over at them. "Anyway... I started living with them during recording sessions for that, after Garrus left for Omega. So all has been well and fine. Until recently."

Oh, dang it, I'm nervous again! Focus, Art. You can do this. "When I got that message from Tali saying you might need help, I ran to Omega first thing, as you know. So then I left Yelena and Mangdalar with rather friendly words. But... while I was gone, someone thought it would be a brilliant idea to try to be me."

Shepard tilts her head to the side in confusion. "Someone was trying to impersonate you?" she asks. "How did they fool your friends?"

"I don't know," I reply. "But when we were at the Citadel while you were trying to help Thane, I stopped by the apartment. Mangdalar was there, and he told me that someone was impersonating me. All I know is that he apparently looks a lot like me, except that he got a haircut sometime before he tried to impersonate me. He tried to pass it off as me cutting my hair." I shake my head. "Needless to say, Mangdalar didn't buy it. Especially not with all my hair still on my head."

"I hear you there," says Shepard. "So what happened with this impostor?"

"Well, I came in, and I got Miranda and Jacob in on it," I mention. "They helped install a bug on Mangdalar's person so we could keep track of this guy's movements." I bite my lower lip, shaking my head.

"The bug returned some results just before we returned to the Citadel to drop off Jarel and Tela," I comment, shaking my head.

"Why didn't you say anything?" asked Shepard. "You know me better than most of the crew. I would have gladly helped you out."

"I didn't find out until after we had pulled away from the docking bay," I comment. "And even then, Miranda says the transmission came too early for us to do anything about it." I shake my head, closing my eyes and uncrossing my arms. "The impostor's kidnapped Mangdalar, I'm afraid. And he's got guys holding Yelena hostage if he doesn't cooperate. I don't know what he's going to do with that, but... I'm very afraid that I've dragged them into something they can't get out of..."

"From the way you're putting it, it sounds like there's more to this than meets the eye," says the commander.

I nod, beginning to pace past my bed again. "There is," I begin. "Have you ever heard of the Tenth Street Reds, Commander? They're this all-human gang based on Earth. I hear that recently they've been running around the Galaxy filling in power holes and things like that. And I had a run-in with them once. Racist bastards, the whole lot of them." I give a dramatic hand wave as I say this. "Anyway... My impostor is part of the Reds. And it's his buddies that are holding Yelena hostage."

"I'm sorry," says Shepard. "Do you know when they might try to kill him? Or even how things might unfold?"

I shake my head. "No," I say. "But we have advantages. I've got time, information, and... well... you. We know where he's taking Mangdalar, too, so all we need to do is rush in. The information we got from the bug said he was heading to Omega."

"Well, that works to our advantage then," says Shepard with a smile. "Samara needs to go there to take care of something with a criminal she was chasing."

I raise my eyebrow. "Oh?" I ask. So she activated the hunt for Morinth, then. "Well... that makes it easier. But still... I don't want to bog you down with anything."

"Art, you've been a trusted member of my crew since your first days on the Normandy," replies Shepard. "If you have a problem, you can always rely on me to be there when everything happens. I'll help."

So... she's going to help me. I... That's great! Yeah, I have my own loyalty mission now, and now Shepard's sworn to help me. "Thank you, Shepard," I say, taking the time to walk back past the commander to take my place at the desk again. "I just hope we can get to Mangdalar before the Reds kill him off."

And with this, the conversation ends. She nods once before exiting the room, the door opening and closing from behind her. I nod...

Okay, so I got Shepard to help me out. This is going to be quite a doozy, I think. I just have to save Mangdalar from a bunch of gangsters, right? And then everything will be cool.

So why do I get the terrible feeling things will get so much worse by the time we go off to save Mangdalar?

* * *

"So it is happening, then."

Tali and I are standing at the drive core now, me standing in front of the panel as the quarian stands next to me. My eyes are closed as she stands a little ways away, and I'm looking downwards. I can tell that much anyway.

"Yeah," I say. "It's happening. I really do have a loyalty mission now. And I have no idea in this entire bloody galaxy what the hell is going to happen with it."

I hear the shift of Tali's suit as her hand suddenly comes to rest over my shoulder. "Do you think things will be all right?"

"Depends on how the..." Oh, damn it! "Sorry, I'm thinking too much in terms of the game again. God... I need to stop doing that."

"It's all right," she says. "Are you sure you'll be all right with this loyalty mission of yours?"

I shake my head, taking a rather deep breath as I do so. "No," I say, shaking my head. "I'm just... there's so much that could go wrong with this. As with any loyalty mission." I turn to her then, opening my eyes. "I told you that Shepard could've lost your loyalty by turning in the evidence to the Admiralty board in the game, right?"

"I... think you did, yes," says Tali with a nod. "You think Shepard will make a choice like that during yours?"

"I just..." I say. I pause... God, how do I word what I'm saying next. "I'm afraid. What if there's a way to make me lose my loyalty for Shepard that shows up during the course of this mission? And what if she takes it...? I... I'm afraid she'll make that decision, and that I won't know what to do with this mission anymore. I pray for my sake as well as hers that she makes a good choice on this matter. I hope to God she does..."

"Knowing her, she'll always go with the solution that she sees is best," offers Tali with a hand gesture. "You know how Shepard is. She looks out for her crew. Especially us."

I shake my head. "I'll remind you that with Joram Talid dead she's not exactly a Paragon Shepard anymore," I comment. "I mean..."

"You're thinking in terms of the game again," points out the quarian.

I let out a sigh. "I just don't know how she'll react any more..." I say. "She's changed, Tali. Maybe it's not noticeable, but she's changed. And I... you know how I get about things like this. I'm just afraid she'll... that she'll just ditch me and do things on her own terms."

Tali nods, and I feel the hand massage my shoulder slightly. "No matter what, I'll be here," she says softly. "I asked Shepard to be part of the ground team when we touch down at Omega."

I nod, smiling at this as my free hand slowly goes over to Tali's. "Good," I say, nodding at her as her face mask edges closer. "I think I'll need something to keep me in check if things go to hell."

Soon after this, I rest my forehead against her face mask, closing my eyes as the hand that was massaging my shoulder migrates so she can pull me in closer.

"They won't," she says. "But if they do, I'll be right here."

My hand tightens on hers, and I nod, giving her the faintest of smiles as I acknowledge this.


	33. Chapter 32

_A/N: Okay, so Art has a loyalty mission now. Fun times are had for all, yes? No? Maybe?_

_I don't know. Things will get especially crazy later. As for now... well, we'll see what happens with Art's loyalty mission, won't we?_

_Which means that we'll be getting crazy shenanigans all around._

_I think I'll stop hyping you over it, and we'll get going to the good stuff._

_So without further ado: Art's loyalty mission!_

* * *

Chapter 32: Loyalty: Gold Night: The Dishonest Steward

I slip on my armor when we dock at Omega. I was so nervous about this I could barely sleep. And when I did... I ended up playing _Dragon Age _to try to ease my mind. Yeah, no _Dead Space_ for me at a time like this. That would just wake me up faster.

And then I'd be really unnerved.

Either way... Samara has business to attend to here as well, so Shepard is taking us both to take care of that... So I'm guessing that we can find out more about the presence of the Reds from Aria. Okay... I just hope that goes well.

I bite my lower lip as I run my hands through my hair, tying it up again. Okay... Here I am, with friends who will do great things. And hopefully, we can get Mangdalar out of his situation alive. For Yelena... I have no idea how she's doing... But given that she's on the Citadel being held by the Reds to make Mangdalar cooperate, maybe there's something we can do about that.

But what are they hoping to gain by taking them hostage? Are they trying to get my attention? Are they trying to make a statement? What? I just... I really don't get it. And wouldn't C-Sec have noticed that the Reds are in their apartment by now? I just...

Damn it. Just bloody damn it. This is all too complicated.

I better get this out of the way now.

With this, I exit my quarters, moving to take the elevator up to the CIC where the airlock is. Hopefully, things will go well with this. It's the best I can ask for, at any rate.

So why do I get the terrible feeling shit is really about to go down?

As I get to the elevator, though, I see Miranda checking her pistol one more time in front of it. Hey, what? I raise my eyebrow as the Cerberus operative checks her weapon one more time, and then notices me coming up behind her.

"Ah, Art, there you are," she says.

I blink. "So you're coming on the ground team, too?" I ask.

"Of course," says Miranda.

... Oh, God, this is a terrible idea. I just know it is. "I... I see..." I say. "Why?"

"Why do you ask?" she says. "Shepard said you wanted people you could trust, right? Tali mentioned that when she requested to be part of the ground crew. You do trust me, right?"

Yeah, but that's not what she meant! I mean... Jesus, this is bad. I don't really know... "Yeah, I trust you," I say. "But I think the better question is... do you trust _me_?"

... God, that came out in such a clichéd manner.

"Of course," says Miranda, crossing her arms. "You helped me with my sister, and your advice has been quite sound so far. Why should I not trust you?"

... Oh, great, she's tempting fate. Thanks, Miranda, now something's almost guaranteed to go terribly wrong! I mean, there are a number of reasons you really shouldn't trust me in this scenario. I mean, for Christ's sake, I've been lying to you about where I came from for the longest time now... Granted it's given me better advice to give in terms of sibling relationships, but still!

"I guess you've got a point," I say, my eyes glancing away for the briefest second. "It's just... I don't know how any of this will turn out."

As the elevator doors open in front of us, Miranda shrugs. "We'll do our best to make sure this ends well," she says.

I take in a deep breath. "I hope you're right," I say.

Because somehow, I have the feeling that letting you come along is going to end up being a terrible idea.

* * *

Just a short while later, Shepard, Samara, and I are all walking out. Samara has made it clear she'll only need the help of one person to hunt down Morinth, no doubt because of the trap. Seriously, I don't get why she does it like that. That... would be good if she could find another way, to be perfectly honest. But it's all for the best.

As for the rest of us... we've got a pretty large ground team in addition to us. So it's Tali, Madison, Thane, and... Miranda. This is gonna be crazy. I just... I know something's gonna hit the fan... but how hard will it hit?

I shake my head as EDI taps into our communications.

"_The daily death count on Omega is too high for me to pinpoint an Ardat-Yakshi's location_," says the AI. "_However, given the reputation of Ardat-Yakshi among the asari, Aria T'Loak may have tracked her movements._"

We all look to Samara as we exit the docking area. "Thank you," the Justicar replies very simply.

"_I have also found and looked through reports of Tenth Street Reds activity throughout Omega,_" continues EDI. "_None of them involve Mangdalar Vorolis at the moment. However, Aria T'Loak may have information on the movement of the Tenth Street Reds._"

"I see..." I say, crossing my arms. "I hope she's got something."

With this, the seven of us all turn in amongst themselves. We form a small circle, hoping to discuss our options. Good thing this place is pretty much empty. That wouldn't be good if someone saw us and warned both of our respective parties about our arrival. I prefer to have the uppper hand in those things, thank you.

Shepard nods. "Well... we know where to go for information," says Shepard with a shrug. "Which leaves a final question: once we get the information we need... how are we going to do this?"

Samara simply shifts where she stands. "As the situation is now, it may be extremely dangerous to sort out our tasks one at a time," she says. "If we try to find and kill my daughter first, that will be the end of one criminal, but Art's friend may be put in considerable danger. The Ardat-Yakshi I am chasing is dangerous, but I will not sacrifice the life of an innocent."

"But if we go for Art first, we may lose track of this Ardat-Yakshi forever," comments Miranda.

For real? "Are you sure about that?" I ask with a shrug. "What's to say everyone won't just be waiting in their places when we're ready?"

"Word spreads very fast around Omega," comments Madison as she crosses her arms. "Especially among criminals. If we go for

"Commander, I think it may be best if we split up," says the Justicar. "You and your team should head after Art's friend, and I shall go track down the Ardat-Yakshi with one of your own."

"I agree with Samara's sentiment," adds the Cerberus operative. "We don't know what we're going to find for either party, but it will be best if we can catch both parties by surprise."

Shepard nods. "That's why I brought seven of you," she says with a smile. "Thane, you should have enough spirituality to resist an Ardat-Yakshi. You should go with Samara."

Wait, she's sending Thane to go handle that?

Hm... Well, I guess it's not like he's in any actual danger. I mean, if you fail, you don't go to Morinth's apartment, and even if you do go there Samara comes in before Morinth can kill you.

... Damn it, there I go again. But aside from that, Thane is too spiritual to fall under that sway. And last I checked, he was falling for Shepard, so I guess that would help. And drell spirituality is mysterious enough that it'll attract Morinth to him. And then, if all else goes right and Thane uses his edietic memory to great effect, we may just have a winner. And then Shepard will still be able to help out with everything.

"Very well, _siha_," he says. Hm... has he told her what it means yet? "I shall assist Samara. May Arashu protect me."

"Hopefully, her blessing will be enough," comments the asari. "And the rest of you should save Art's friend."

I nod. "Yeah, it'll be nice to have all this back-up," I comment with a wry smile. "We should go to Aria. We need to get our information."

"Couldn't agree more," says Shepard. "Come on. Let's go."

And with this, Shepard and the rest of us all leave the docking area, heading straight for Afterlife with rather short steps.

* * *

Oh, boy, here we go again with the pounding techno music for a third time during this quest. I swear, if I have to put up with this crap one more time...

Ah, I won't even bother. Aria can have my head in just a few minutes anyway. Well, she can have anyone's head like that, if I want to be perfectly honest. Let's just hope I don't piss her off to that extreme. Because that would really suck. Greatly.

When we get to Afterlife, though, Shepard tells Madison, Miranda, Thane, and Tali to chill in the lower level while Samara and I present our business to Aria. Hm... I wonder why she's not taking Madison along with this. I'd imagine it would create some pretty interesting conversation, given how Madison's relationship with Aria in the past was, apparently. But the four of them simply nod, and they try to get an area as out of the way as possible.

Hm... if they're ordering drinks, I just hope they'll be sober long enough to figure out what's going on with everything else.

So I follow Shepard to Aria's little place, looking right at all her bodyguards and stuff. Okay... So there's Aria in her usual place, looking through a datapad as one of her batarian bodyguards stands there. I raise an eyebrow as I cross my arms, Shepard coming forward. All she gets from Aria is an arching of her little asari eyebrow... things (again what the hell do I call them?) to acknowledge that she's there.

But this is enough, since she hands the datapad back to her batarian bodyguard. With this, she turns to us, leaning to the side. Hello again, Trinity. How art thou?

"Shepard," she says. "Funny seeing your face again. I guess you're here trying to weed people out again?"

The commander shakes her head. "Not exactly," she replies. "I am looking for someone, but not for the same reasons as last time. I'm doing this as a favor for two of my crew."

"Of course," says Aria as she leans back and looks at the rest of us. "So what do you need?"

Shepard turns to Samara and I. Okay... so Aria's probably going to know where the Reds are going to frequent around here. Okay... here goes nothing.

Samara and I come forward. I give a rather short, polite bow to Aria's... eh, queenlike status as greeting. God, I hope she didn't take offense to that. I then look over to Samara, whose face is very impassive at the moment. With this, Shepard sits off to the side again, looking directly at Aria as Samara and I stand there.

Aria simply raises her head. "A Justicar, Shepard?" she asks. "That is a very risky move, bringing one to Omega."

"I have business to attend to here," says Samara.

"She's looking for an asari fugitive," continues Shepard. "She's an Ardat Yakshi. We need to find her."

Aria leans forward, a frown setting on her face. "I knew it," she says. "Nothing leaves a body quite so... empty... as an Ardat Yakshi does."

Samara looks like she wants to give a confused glance, but her expression is the same even as she steps forward. "You haven't taken steps to kill her?" she asks.

"Why would I?" shoots back Aria as she sits up, giving a hand gesture. "She hasn't tried to seduce me." The ruler of Omega sits back down. "Her last victim was a young girl. Pretty thing. Lived in the tenements near here. That's where I'd start looking. If you're going to go now, good luck finding her. And better luck catching her."

"This is the closest I have ever come in over 400 years," says Samara. "I intend to make sure I catch her."

"Of course," says Aria. "And I see Mr. ********* is with you again as well, Shepard. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes," says Shepard, shifting in her seat so she can lean forward. "We're looking for a friend of his. We believe he's been captured and taken here by a member of the Tenth Street Reds."

"Oh, those guys." The disdain in Aria's voice is all too present. "The Reds are relatively new here. They're not stupid, but they haven't realized how severe I can be if they don't follow the only rule of Omega."

"So they do have a presence on this station," I mention.

"Ever since the murders of merc leaders stopped and the Blood Pack presence here dissolved, there's been a power war between the Blue Suns and the Eclipse," says Aria. "The Tenth Street Reds have moved in, though, and they're filling in the vacuum where the two of them can't."

I nod, biting my lower lip. "I never would've expected an Earth-based gang to stretch out beyond into Terminus space."

Aria chuckles darkly. "And yet here we are," she says, her lips curling into a smirk She then shifts her posture as she looks out at the club. "There's an informant in the markets who can probably tell you more than I can. He can probably even lead you to where your friend might be being held. People call him Prince. He's wearing a red shirt, it should be pretty damn obvious."

I nod, looking over to Shepard. "Good," I say. "I guess this is where we go find Mangdalar, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much," says Shepard, standing up. "Thanks for the help, Aria."

"Good luck," says the queen of Omega. "You'll need it."

And with this, the conversation is over. Shepard moves over to us, and then I spare a final glance at Aria before I follow in Shepard's footsteps. I cross my arms as we move, following Shepard as we move down the steps. I look over to Shepard, not moving to say anything as we move along.

Okay... so we need to speak to a Prince guy. I don't know why I'm suddenly thinking about Will Smith again in the days before he showed he could really carry an otherwise OK action movie into being reasonably good in _I Am Legend_, but there it is. I just hope he doesn't tip off the other Reds that we're here. Because that would suck. Greatly.

I just hope we can save Mangdalar...

I move along behind Shepard, and then we find our group chilling at the bar with the salarian bartender. None of them are drinking anything, though, which I suppose is a really good thing. We'll need all the sober people we can get when we go sort out our business with the Reds.

We all look at each other when we meet up again. Okay... we're all accounted for. Good. "Do you have anything?"

"Yes," says Shepard. "Thane... Good luck. And stay safe. Please."

... Hm. Thane and Shepard, sitting in a tree, _definitely _kissing. I think this may just turn out for the best. Yay!

"Of course, _siha_," says the drell assassin as he stands up. "And may Amonkira guide your own hunt."

With this, Thane nods, his gaze lingering on Shepard. His black eyes are looking at her even as he's following Samara out of the club. We watch the two of them leave, and I notice Thane give an almost imperceptible nod to Shepard right before he exits Afterlife. Okay... I blink, looking over to Shepard as I chew on my lower lip slightly. With this, Madison stands up, Tali and Miranda following shortly after.

"Right," I say. "Let's go find this Prince."

* * *

Shepard leads the way across the markets on Omega, watching the various people flit about.

I've gotta say, this place is pretty jam-packed with people. Aliens, humans, the whole shebang can be found around here. And it's kind of full with activity. And life going on.

Among other things. Must make the constant danger seem so damn... hurtful. But seeing the markets of Omega like this... It actually doesn't look that bad. Yeah, it's a city full of vice and evils and all that other jazz, but it seems reasonably nice. The only problem I see is wondering how the hell these people can continually say to themselves, 'oh, this isn't a bad place, trust me'.

I guess it makes it better that Thane gets to do stuff with Samara. But seriously, in a way that kind of sucks. I mean, Thane gets to have fun charming his way through the club to lure Morinth in where he'll help Samara in a big biotic battle and other shit like that. He's doing all the good stuff. Me? I'm stuck with chasing something that'll likely end in some kind of shoot-out before we can figure out what the fuck is going on.

Well... At least there's that.

As we walk along, I suddenly catch sight of a man in a red shirt. I blink, looking over to Shepard. Yeah, she sees him too. I nod right at her, biting my lower lip. I think the rest of us see him too. Yeah... He's kind a skinny... fairly pale skin... rather light hair as well. He's just standing to the side, kind of chatting into some kind of comms channel. I don't know. But he's moving his arms animatedly as he stands off to the side.

All right. My teeth loosen their hold on my lip, and then I walk forward, Shepard and the rest following behind rather quickly.

I look to Shepard as she prepares to draw her pistol. Okay... looks like we're threatening him at gunpoint. Good call, I guess. We don't want his friends finding out. And if anyone else is watching? Well... I don't think the Reds have _that _kind of influence yet.

That said... they may still surprise me. It's... tough to think about. But we'll see.

So Shepard and I step closer, and right as we do, the guy ends his call. He then manipulates stuff on his omni-tool, and then he watches some kind of... something. Hm... looks like a video with stuff. Somehow, I'm surprised this Prince guy hasn't noticed us yet. I dunno. This is smelling awfully fishy to me in many, many ways. We watch this for a few minutes without him watching...

And it's then I notice that he's getting a little to giddy about this.

Oh dear. This doesn't bode well. Especially not since they're showing Mangdalar getting bound... up... with tape... and breaking one of his mandibles! Jesus... Wow, these people are really cruel! I just... why the hell would they break the mandible? That's a central part of turian facial expressions, damn it! These guys are very much going to get it when we go around.

I shake my head, crossing my arms. Okay, this is getting annoying. How could he not notice us looking over his shoulder for as long as we have been? Either this guy is being a complete dumb-ass, or the plot is asking him to be stupid for a second so I can make some kind of crazy one-liner. I don't know which is which, and frankly, it's annoying me.

Either way, this guy would make an ideal _Saw _victim.

And after a while, he finally stops playing the video, sniggering lightly as he moves his omni-tool around.

"Great," he says. "The whole package is prepared. Now, all I need to do is send it to that man's extranet address where he can pick it up on his omni-tool..."

As he manipulates it, I see my chance.

Okay, one-liner it is.

"You mean this omni-tool?"

I turn on my omni-tool, and no sooner do I do this then I see Prince visibly freeze up. Well... violently freeze up is probably the better term to use. It's then that Shepard draws her pistol, pointing it at the man's head. I would object, but I can see that he can easily contact his buddies. And we don't want that, now, do we?

Quickly, he turns around, and his light eyes are instantly wide as he sees me and Shepard standing there. I smirk in satisfaction at seeing this, and bring up my omni-tool.

"Don't bother," I comment. "I already know you've got Mangdalar and Yelena hostage. And I intend to get both of them out of this situation."

"W-what...?" asks the informant, absolutely floored by this. "H... how? You weren't-! How did you-? Can you read the future or something?" Oh, God, don't remind me, please! "How did you find out?"

"Why don't you ask your hostage?" asks Shepard, holding the gun level at the man's face. "You never know the kinds of things you can find there."

"What she said," I finish. "I had a couple of friends of mine plant bugs on his spurs. We applied it directly to the spurs, so you couldn't see it with the clothes on and everything. You probably should've checked more thoroughly."

"I... I just..." says the informant. "I... How the hell did you find out about what was going on with them anyway?"

I shrug. "Shore leave," I comment. "That doesn't matter. What does matter, is that you've got my friend, you're going to hurt him, and therefore I'm going to make it a point to make my impostor's life a living hell for the next hour or so. And you are going to help me find him."

I begin to pace around as Shepard reminds him of the gun's presence with a simple shake. "You contact your friends, and you're a dead man," she says. "You will tell us what we need to know, and you will do it promptly. Otherwise, you're still a dead man."

"Eh... of course..." says the man. "I... I just didn't think-"

"Then don't think," says Shepard. "Just talk. We clear?"

He simply nods his head frantically, his eyes betraying his abject fear at what's going on. "Crystal," he replies.

Okay, good. I was afraid I'd have to pull a Vidal on him there. I still don't like thinking about that one scene where the guy is trying not to stutter under his watchful eye. Yeah, Vidal was an asshole like that. But then, that's virtually guaranteed when you're shooting your own ten-year-old stepdaughter because she stole your newborn son. It's a good thing _Laberinto del Fauno _had that ending: it was all wonderfully bittersweet and stuff.

Anyway, enough reminiscing about Guillermo del Toro movies.

"Good," I say. "So you took my friend Mangdalar here, as we've established by this point. My question to you is this: where is he now?"

"Uh... Well..." says the man. "If memory serves me correctly, he may be where we've taken residence here..."

"You're going to have to be more specific than that," comments Shepard.

"I don't know," he says, blinking. "Us Reds always look out for each other, ya know? I just... I don't want 'em to die."

Shepard shakes her head. "Some of those people sealed their death stamps when they messed with my crew," she says.

Oh, dear, sounds like an intimidate option. I guess I better play along. "Trust me, Shepard is really good at killing things," I comment. "At this point, it's going to happen no matter what you do."

"But I will try to spare as many people as I can," she says. "We can start with you. So tell us what you know."

The man looks at us, seeming very afraid for his life. He nods, looking all over. "Fine," he says. "We've taken house in an abandoned warehouse down in the lower levels. I hear it's close to where they took out Archangel some time ago." Oh, boy, don't say that in front of Madison, dear. He manipulates his omni-tool, and then mine pings as it receives something. "There are the coordinates. You can get there on a cab with no problem."

I nod, bringing up my arm to go through the menu. Okay... new message... okay, those are coordinates on this station, all right. I nod to him, looking at the man as Shepard's gaze turns on me.

"Good," I say. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"It... it wasn't," he says.

"Good to hear," says Shepard as she holsters her pistol. "You should get off this rock. And don't tell anybody in the Reds we're coming, or I will find you."

"You don't have to tell me twice," he says. With this, he breaks past us, almost in a partial jog, and then the two of us watch him go. He eventually vanishes into the crowd, hopefully where we won't see him again. Okay, so that's that. And we now know.

I lick my lips under my teeth as I watch him depart. "Well... that's that," I say. "Now, we have to go in and rescue the hostage."

"Yeah," says Shepard. "You okay?"

I shrug, shaking my head. "I don't know, Shepard," I say. "I still don't know why they would take Mangdalar and Yelena hostage. This... I'm afraid for the both of them, let me tell you. But not knowing why they're being taken in the first place... That's really fucking unsettling.

"We'll find answers when we go rescue him," replies the commander, giving a hand gesture. "And then we'll resolve this matter."

Somehow, I get the feeling things are going to get much worse from here. I let out a sigh as I think this. "I hope so, Shepard," I say. I look up then, nodding. "Come on. We need to get there, and fast. There's no telling what some people might do in this situation."

The Spectre doesn't need to be told twice, and before long all five of us are walking towards where the cabs are. Because they can take us straight to where we need to go.

I just hope we can rescue Mangdalar in time.

* * *

Shepard and I sit in the front of the cab, and I check my pistol a final time. Tali, Miranda, and Madison are all behind us as I look out the window. Shepard is driving the thing... and surprisingly, she's not that bad in a cab. I don't know why, but there you have it. She's going pretty fast, though. In a way, she kind of reminds me of my father's driving habits. Those were always kinda bad, especially since he was very, very fond of speeding.

"I get the feeling they're not going to greet us kindly," I mention as I store the pistol away.

"I hope they reconsider," says Shepard. "And I hope we get some answers on why they're taking your friend."

"So do I, Shepard," I comment. "This isn't something anyone typically has to deal with every day." I glance out. "Coming home on shore leave, only to find out someone's trying to take your place..."

"I wonder how they fooled Mangdalar," comments Shepard. "It seems you knew each other well."

Not well enough, apparently. "I don't know," I say. "He says the impostor looked almost exactly like I did. I guess we'll find out more when we touch down." I blink, watching as we move through the hovercar area of Omega. "I just hope we can get Mangdalar out safely without hurting Yelena."

The car keeps on moving in the skyway of Omega, and it keeps like this for about three minutes. Finally, we come across a warehouse, Shepard bringing us closer. Outside, I see a bunch of people in red shirts standing outside. Hm... the place looks rather large. The people in the red shirts are taking time patrolling the perimiter, it seems like. Where there are plenty of boxes around. Looks like they're protecting a shipment or expecting trouble. Either way, it's a pretty smart move. I look to Shepard, smiling.

"Looks like Prince led us to the right place," I mention. "Bring us in, Shepard."

The Commander can only nod her agreement. The cab swerves to the side, and then we move towards the warehouse. The Reds look up at this, and I even see a couple of them frowning as Shepard brings us in. Yeah, you better be afraid, bitches! Because we're not your scheduled arrival.

The cab touches down close to some crates, and the doors open to reveal us in there. One of the Reds is close by, but I already have my pistol out, so... a single shot to the guy's head puts him out of commission. That's not before I register the expression of shock that comes onto his face, though, and I quickly jump out of the cab as everybody else inside does the same. I see Tali summon Chiktikka vas Paus [the Third] as she steps out, and Madison and Miranda both come running out. All of the human ladies have their submachine guns drawn as they exit the vehicle, and as another Red hears the first shots go off, Shepard lifts him biotically before peppering him with submachine-gun fire.

All right! The other Reds in the area turn to look at us, but before they can do so we're already in cover. Madison holds out her submachine gun and manages to take down one of the guys with a spray of fire that races across his chest. This is all the warning the Reds can get, and then they activate their shields very quickly.

As I come out, though, I can see that Tali's primed an overload, so she throws a charge at one of the enemies, completely taking down its shields. It leaves room for me to shoot the man, and he goes down after a bullet to the shoulder. I turn to another one and shoot at him, his shields still maintained as someone yells about someone showing up and someone should go ring the alarm. I shoot at the man, and when I duck to reload I catch Miranda catching the man I shot at with biotics. Before long, he's slammed back to the ground, and even from here I can hear the crunch of his bones.

Okay... heat sink... there we go. I eject the clip, watching as it sizzles on the side. Hopefully it'll cool down soon. I glance back up, seeing another person get pulled towards us by Shepard's biotics, a shock from Chiktikka putting an end to that. I peer out as another man comes out of cover, and then I fire at him with my pistol. I hear his rounds impact against my shields, but Madison's trigger finger is quick to pull on hers, so the man's shields go down very soon afterwards.

I nod as I grab the heat sink that's cooled enough that I can grab it with my armor. With this in mind, I vault over the crate I'm behind, rushing forward as submachine gun fire rages all around me. Okay... there are only two more guys to deal with here. And Miranda's already taking care of one of them with that biotic slam of hers. It's not enough to kill the man for some reason, but I concentrate on the other as Madison fires at that individual with her gun. I join in with her, and then the man goes down right as a streak of blue flies past us. Next thing we know, the last remaining member of the Reds in the area is then sent flying back as Shepard peppers the man with submachine gun fire.

And then, there is dead silence in the air as I come out of cover. I look to the others, and we nod. We rush over to where Shepard is, and I look at the warehouse.

"Hm... looks like the rest are probably inside," I say. "Let's get going, Shepard."

With this, the five of us set off for a door that leads directly into the warehouse. Okay... this is where Mangdalar is going to be. Let's hope we can find him soon.

With this, we go through the door that is our only current entryway into the warehouse. Hm... We enter a small little room, seeing a rather young woman working on some weapons. The bench is off to the side, close to a safe and by a door that's right there. When the door opens and we come in, though, she is taken off guard, and raises the weapon. Huh... she looks remarkably like one of my sister's friends from when I was on Earth. That... is pretty crazy.

And then the stranger's eyes set on me as her sandy-blonde hair waves slightly with the movement. She frowns, lowering the pistol as she shakes her head.

"You..." she says. "You're not supposed to be here. How the fuck are you here?"

"Well, dear, I am," I say. "And I brought back-up, too. And they won't hesitate to shoot you on sight if you don't cooperate."

Her eyes widen the slightest bit, but she shakes her head, quickly regaining her composure. "You're not getting anything from me," she says. "I don't even know that much, anyway."

Shepard shakes her head. "We're here to save his friend, but I'm not above letting people live," says Shepard. "If you give us the information, I'll let you go."

"And what about everyone else?" asks the member of the Reds.

Shepard crosses her arms. "If they get in our way, we will kill them," she says. "But if anyone cooperates and helps us get his friend back, there will be no bloodshed."

The stranger shakes her head. "Coming from a friend of the liar, I don't think you'll stay true to it," she replies. "Still, it's worth a shot. So talk."

Wait... liar? What the hell?

Shepard picks up on it just like I do, and then she gestures to me. "You just called my assosciate a liar," she says. "Why?"

"The boss has it out for him," she replies. "He says that your friend is the impostor, not the other way around."

Wait, what? I frown, looking at her. "Wait, what?" I ask. "That makes no sense!"

"I don't know the details, but he says _you're_ the one impersonating _him_," he says. "And that you've been doing it for two years."

Okay... that's really wierd. Shepard shakes her head. "Maybe he's trying to twist his logic around," my commanding officer supplies. "Did you ever think about that?"

"Well... I did kind of think it was wierd how he just went and did the same thing you did," replies the Tenth Street Red. "But still, I'm holding you to that fact."

I shake my head, crossing my arms. "That's a bad decision if ever I've heard one," I say. "Whatever he says I did, he's probably guilty of it as well."

But still, someone's calling me a liar! Damn it... That's only proving the truth about me. But it's not for the reasons they think it's for. God damn it... I really don't like where this is going. But... I have to keep lying. I have to. It's for the good of the galaxy. Nobody around here can know that I'm not really from this galaxy... So I have to hold it in.

But somehow... I can't help but feel that's going to get really tough soon enough.

"I take it we weren't supposed to show up at all," adds Shepard. "What were we supposed to do?" I uncross my arms as she asks the question.

"You were supposed to send him the ransom demand," replies the stranger.

"And that was...?" I ask.

"I don't know," she says. "I didn't prepare the package. But he says you were supposed to tell him the truth. And that he would know if you were lying."

"Sounds a little hard to believe that he would know for sure he's lying," comments my commanding officer. "I know the serviceman. He wouldn't lie about something like this."

... Trust me, Shepard, you'd be wrong on that count. But for different reasons... God... "The boss' convinced. That's all we need," replies the Red.

"So he went all the way by kidnapping a friend?" asks Shepard soon after.

"Yeah." The girl with the Reds nods. "He's convinced you're hiding something. He figured he'd get it out of you if he threatened the lives of your friends."

I shake my head, biting my lower lip. "Well, he's only managed to piss me off," I comment. "So if he wanted a reaction, he got it. Just not this one, I think."

"You can say that again," she says.

"From the looks of it, this doesn't look like the original plan," says Shepard. "What was the original plan?"

The Red crosses her arms, smirking. "Now that, I do know about," she says. "The original plan was that the boss would take your liar's place and take Yelena hostage. They'd then murder Mangdalar and threaten him with Yelena's death if the truth wasn't told." W... what...? They were planning on killing Mangdalar before I came in! Damn... if I had been any later in shore leave... Fuck... Don't think about it, Art. Don't think about it. "But somehow, Mangdalar found out. I'm guessing you are responsible for that."

"They were going to murder him?" I ask. "You... You were just planning on murdering him?"

"You're lucky we didn't just swap Yelena out for Mangdalar," I'm told. "The boss figured both of them alive would be better bait for you. Looks like he was right." She glances to the side, chuckling mirthlessly. "Too right, it seems."

Shepard nods, crossing her arms. "Fine," she says. "There's one last question. Where do we find Mangdalar?"

The girl nods, pointing to the door behind her. "The cuttlebone?" she asks. "He's that way. You'll have to go through two warehouses worth of stuff. Fortunately for you, they're interconnected. If you ever have to leave the warehouse, you've taken a wrong turn."

Shepard nods, but I see her hand twitch slightly at her use of the xenophobic slur. "Go," says the commander. "The door is that way. You should get out of here while you can."

The girl nods. "So the liar's friend sticks to her word," she says. "Fine. I'm out."

And with this, she walks past us, exiting the warehouse without too much trouble. I shake my head at this. Jeez... there's something wrong with this set-up. Does this boss person already know? I... I don't konw what to make of that.

"Why the hell does she keep on calling me a liar?" I ask.

"Their boss probably has a lot of pull on them," supplies Shepard. "Maybe he's manipulating them into trying to get you."

I shake my head. "This still doesn't make any sense," I say. "He says I'm impersonating _him_, but I don't know why he would think that. And I've never met this impostor of mine. What would he think about me that I don't know...?" I shake my head. "We should get going. Mangdalar isn't going to rescue himself."

With this, Shepard nods, drawing her shotgun as we all move towards the door the girl indicated to us.

* * *

Mooks, mooks, and more mooks. It's all the same eventually. We blast through them all, take cover behind crates, and watch as Miranda slams some bitches and Chiktikka vas Paus zaps stuff. Somehow, the combat drone hasn't been destroyed, and unless we somehow get a thresher maw on Omega I think it'll stay that way. But it's more or less the same thing, so there we are. We work our way through the first warehouse, and we kill a bunch of things. Okay... We move past the many crates here, and before long, we find a little door.

Okay... Looks like that's the next plot door. Right... Time to get in there and find out more, it seems.

We enter the little side room between the two halves, seeing a Red with a datapad doing his business. Huh... Looks like we entered a small side room of this place. It's a pretty small room, with a door at the end that I assume leads into the other part of the warehouse. And that's where we'll find Mangdalar Vorolis, with this 'boss' person.

And he somehow isn't holding a pistol with him. Huh... I then look to the terminal he's near and see the mute button is on. Huh. I'll bet this 'boss' person is like Silas Morth where he uses complete idiots as his mooks so they don't know his real intentions. Hopefully, there's no Cthuhlu-size abomination he's trying to summon with the sacrifice of everyone beneath him. That would just plain suck, especially if nobody really is expecting the Inquisition.

But anyway, enough reminiscing about really old webcomics.

He's looks like he's busy... and why the hell does he look like that little twig-armed kid from _Team Fortress 2_? That one with the baseball bat? I forget what class that was, but... Eh, it's not important now. He just looks really skinny and stuff, with mildly pale skin. I just have to get information from him after all, so yeah.

But as we enter, the member of the Earth-based gang groans, shaking his head. "I told you, Jameson, Doc Ock put poor Mary Jane out of commission." Say, wha? There's... "You know what's up with that crazy four-eyed scientists, ya know? Always buildin' mechanical arms! Well, I told ya once, and I'm tellin' ya again that the boss is tellin' us not to take 'er out anywhere until she's feelin' better! Don't make me pull one o' my pumpkin grenades on ya!"

I blink, raising my eyebrows as I hear this. "I didn't realize the Tenth Street Reds accepted comic book nerds," I comment with a wry smile.

"G-wha?" He drops the datapad in shock, and only then does he turn to face us. It's then that his eyes are wide, and then Shepard and I stride over to him. The commander is holding a gun to his face, and the distance between the end of the barrel and his eyeball is only made more apparent when it presses against his cheekbone. Suddenly, that air of confidence that he was exuding is completely gone.

I cross my arms. "Yeah, that's right," I comment. "The boss didn't do a good job of covering his tracks, it seems."

He looks up, shaking his head in disbelief as the cap almost falls off. "No... no no no no no," he says, shaking his head. "You're not supposed to be here! You weren't supposed to come here! You were supposed to send us our demands to the boss directly!"

Shepard shrugs, still keeping the gun trained on the young gang member. "The notice arrived early," she says. "We felt it would be a good idea to see him in person and collect your hostage."

"What she said," I comment, beginning to pace around. "Your boss is not going to quit his lying so soon."

In response, the young man scoffs, and his cocky expression returns even as the barrel is pressed against Shepard. Wait, what? I frown in response to this, looking at the gang member as he shakes his head.

I frown at this, biting my lower lip as I draw my own pistol. "What do you find so funny?"

"It's ironic, ya know," he says. "I should've known the liar would say the boss is lyin'."

Wait, what? He's _also _saying _I'm _the liar? I mean, technically it's true, but it's not _that _true! I mean... Jesus!

I shake my head at this. "What the hell are you talking about?" I ask. "We got that from the last person we talked to... but you're spilling it too?"

"Ya know what I mean," says the Red. "Or did ya tell your precious Commander about how ya didn't actually get on the Citadel with a stim overdose?"

Jesus... No, I have to keep my cover. Miranda is here, and I can't risk Shepard finding out. Plus, there's the possibility of him telling the rest of the Reds that I'm... well... that I'm not quite what everybody thinks I am. No... I have to keep my cover intact.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I ask. "I just don't remember much from when I somehow wound up on the Citadel! Why the hell would you think such a thing?"

"The boss is tellin' us you stole his identity," he says.

Now it's Shepard's turn to let her shock be known, but she barely shows it. It's only in the blink of her eyes that she tells us she's confused. "I know the Serviceman well enough," says Shepard. "He'd never do something like that. It's not like him."

"Well, then maybe ya don't know the Serviceman as well as ya think," he says. Oh, no, don't you go planting the seed of doubt into her mind!

"I don't know what the fuck you're getting at!" I reply. "The one person we've encountered while we've been here told us the boss had it out for me!"

"Then maybe you should think about _why_ he's got it out for ya," replies the man with a smirk. "Ya look exactly like 'im, ya know. I didn't believe it, but seein' ya here, I can see what 'es sayin'. Ya do the same things. Ya like the same people. But ya know what's even crazier? You and the boss've got the same name! And when we checked with our geneticist on the Citadel, there was a 99% that you two were related. We found that out, ya know. If we didn't know that you were right-handed and the boss was left-handed, we woulda though you were the same guy, ya know."

W... W-w-what?

No... No, there's no way in _hell _that's possible! I... I exist here? In 2185, as well as what would've been 2012 back home? There's... There's no way that's possible! At all! I mean... I can't be in two places at once! Especially not when I'm not aware of one of those existences! How...? How the fuck is this even possible? And... No... No, there's no way!

Just... No!

"That's not possible!" I comment, throwing my arms up. "That's- I mean- that's just not possible! The chances that two people are so identical are astronomical! It just doesn't happen!"

"Exactly," he says. "So when you're in, ya go in and take advantage of it!"

"That makes no sense!" I cry, throwing my arms out. "That's just not possible! You're bluffing! Or you're lying! Or... or something! But there's no way that there can be more than..." Oh, shit, backpedal, backpedal! "Well, someone who's practically my identical twin!"

"Well, for all intents and purposes, there are two of ya," he says. "And you stole his spotlight, ya know!"

I shake my head. No way. "So he's kidnapping and holding my friends for ransom because he's not as well known as me?" I ask.

"No, it's because ya stole his spotlight!" says the Red.

...

All right, get out of my house, you son of a bitch!

I grab the man by the collar, the barrel leaving his cheek as Shepard stands back in shock. I pull him towards me, anger welling in my veins as I toss him roughly to where the others are standing. I put my pistol to the back of his head, keeping it down on the ground.

"I did not steal _anybody's _spotlight!" I scream at him. "You can tell your boss-man that his fucking delusions of grandeur don't hold any fucking water to the fact that I never fucking knew who the fuck he was! I never fucking knew him on Earth, I never fucking knew him on the Citadel, and I never fucking knew him when I was with the fucking Alliance! So if you think I'm-"

"Serviceman! Stand down!"

I take in a heavy breath. I...

Jesus... How pissed off did I get? I mean... Damn it...

No, I did just hold the gun up to this guy's head myself... And I would've shot him if things had been different... Damn it.

Wait... No, there can't be more than one of me. Kaidan checked. And he told me there was nobody with my name that was my age back there. He couldn't have checked through genetic registries, of course, probably because he didn't have that. No... There's no way that's possible. Kaidan knows it, and I know it too.

I holster the pistol, shaking my head. "Sorry, Commander," I say, standing up and taking a place a couple of paces away. "I just... I got carried away."

"That's saying a lot, ya liar," says the member of the Tenth Street Reds as he stands back up.

"Fuck you!" I shoot back, pointing my finger at him. "If anything, I should say _you're _the liar! When I was still with the Alliance, a friend of mine checked for people that had my name. And I didn't bloody ask him too, either: he did it for his own benefit. There's nobody that is my age with my exact same name. He knows. And your boss is lying to you."

"I don't think so, Art*** Jose *********."

... Wait, Jose?

But... No...

I shake my head, frowning. "That's not my middle name," I reply. "My middle name is *******. I've never given my middle name as Jose anywhere I've been, because it's not my middle name, fake or otherwise. And even if I knew your boss existed, I never would've given Jose as my middle name."

"And how do I know you're not lyin', huh?" asks the man.

Shepard comes forward then, crossing her arms. "Think about it," she says. "Would he have any reason to lie to you if he's here trying to get his friend back?" She points at me. "He came here himself to rescue a friend. Whether or not his friend knows the truth, don't you think it's saying something about him that he's sticking his neck out to save a friend?"

The gang member glances down at the ground, thinking about what Shepard just said. I look at him as I raise my eyebrows, watching him consider what we've just told him. God... I can't help but think this will turn out badly, but I never know...

Finally he nods. "Yeah, you're right," the man admits. "Even if ya are lyin', I can get behind a guy who's willin' to stick it out to his friends. Even if they don't know the whole truth, you're still tryin' to help 'em by comin' for 'im yourself."

"A friend in need is a friend indeed," I comment, biting my lower lip.

The Red chuckles dryly. "No kiddin'," he says, his good spirits returning. "Ya better be careful in there. The boss' got YMIR mechs on the other side o' that door." Oh, dear, that's not a good sign. Fucking YMIR mechs! "I'm not helpin' ya get in there, but I won't get in your way either."

"Good choice," says Shepard. "Get out of here. Things are about to get wild."

"Ya don't have to tell me twice," says the man. He then walks out, giving me a nod. "Good luck with yer friend. I may not like turians, but he's doin' right by ya."

And with this, he exits the room, leaving where we left the whole group of dying mercs there. We all watch him go, Miranda and Madison's gazes lingering just a little bit longer as I turn to Shepard. I take in a deep breath, shrugging as I do so. I move forward so that I'm facing her.

"I'm sorry about that," I say. "My feelings got the better of me..."

"Don't apologize," says Shepard. "You were being accused of something you wouldn't do. I know you. You wouldn't just steal someone's identity like that."

Heh, you don't know me as well as you think I do. But you don't need to know that until I tell you the truth about myself. "Yeah, I wouldn't do that," I comment. "But this disturbs me. If he's going all this way to take back something that was his... is he doing all this because he doesn't feel loved enough?"

"Who knows?" asks Shepard. "I get the feeling we'll find your impostor soon."

"I hope so," I say, nodding to Shepard. "And once we find him, I'm laying into him with the questions. And then we get Mangdalar, and if best comes to best we can get them to leave Yelena alone."

"Let's go, Shepard," says Miranda very briefly.

Okay... So that's that. The five of us advance towards the door, Shepard checking the various terminals in the place very quickly. Okay... not a whole lot here. Now let's get a move on and hope things will turn out for the best... We can save Mangdalar, because she is Commander Jocelyn Shepard, and she routinely does the impossible.

So we enter the next part of the warehouse, seeing very little in the way of stuff. Well... except for the YMIR mechs on the far side of the room. There are a whole host of LOKI mechs as well, and a few guys in red shirts are also seen. Hm... that doesn't bode well at all. There are a ton of people here that need to die, it seems. And mechs that need to be taken apart. Yep... I look ahead. Okay, they're all funnelled through by two giant things of crates, followed by a few strategically positioned crates for cover.

Why do I get the feeling the Bioware team loves its placement of the chest-high walls?

I draw my assault rifle at this, watching as the commander goes off and draws her shotgun. Tali and Miranda both draw their pistols, and they follow us as we take cover close to a Red. Madison stays just a little behind with a sniper rifle in hand. Just as Madison gets into cover, though, the Red notices we're here. He's just about to sound off the alarm when Shepard blasts him with a shotgun, sending him sprawling against the crates behind him.

And with this, we hear the sound of every LOKI mech in the area standing to greet us. We also hear some shouts, and then I see some of the Reds move around.

All right! It's time for the shooting gallery!

I bring up my assault rifle as Chiktikka goes out into the fray. I see the thing deplete the shields of a Red, who stands back in shock. All right, that's my opportunity! I spray the poor son of a bitch with assault-rifle fire, the man going down very quickly as I suddenly see someone get pulled towards Shepard. Another Red... and he promptly gets blown away by Madison shooting him in the head. He floats in the air for a little bit before falling and breaking a LOKI mech. Right.

I check my assault rifle again to see Tali shoot at another LOKI mech. Its head explodes after two shots. Yep, headshots are awesome. As Miranda biotically lifts and slams a red, I look at a mech that seems to be approaching. Okay... I shoot at it, taking the arm that was holding its gun off. I nod, and then a few bullets leave the barrel and tear into its torso. Soon after, it collapses to the ground as a useless heap of metal.

Okay... so that was all the Reds and the mechs funnelled into the aisle of crates. Now... the YMIR mechs.

I peer up from cover to see that one of the mechs is already heading towards us, though. I nod my head, looking down below me. Soon enough, I hear the crack of a sniper rifle shot, but even then I only see it bounce off the shields. Okay... We just need to overload, and-

Whoah! I quickly duck under my crate, watching as a missile flies right over my head and impacts against the back wall where Madison quickly ducks to dodge. I breathe in and out, watching the black pit created by the rocket. Jesus Christ... yeah, YMIR mechs are dangerous. And then there's another missle flying right over me almost instantly. I frown, looking back. Hey, these things aren't supposed to produce two missiles at a-!

And before I can continue, I see Tali and Miranda raise their omni-tools, and they do a synchronized attack on the YMIR mech. With a shower of sparks, the thing is suddenly left immobile, and I can barely see a missle standing there, seemingly having been stuck in place while it was being prepared to be launched by the mech.

Hm... Missile... Still with the enemy...

Aha! Alternative strategy that wasn't in the game, go!

Raising my assault rifle, I aim carefully at the half-appeared missile. Okay... I've only got one shot at this. Let's hope I can do it. I line up my sights, seeing another YMIR mech coming up from behind it. Not like it's gonna have a whole lot of room to maneuver soon enough, anyway. I aim carefully, and then with a grin of triumph, I let loose a hail of bullets.

And one of them strikes the would-be projectile just a little on the head. I watch the round strike the missile, and a second later the mech's arm gets blown up. This sends the thing flying to the side, and I get to watch as the second YMIR mech gets some of the explosion itself. I nod in glee, watching the first mech fly against some of the crates, causing the entire end of the aisle to shake a little bit as the second one stumbles slightly. It looks like its shields got depleted, and stuff.

Huh. That's something to keep in mind if I ever run into an YMIR mech in the future. I glance to Shepard, who nods her approval.

Thanks!

I glance back at the other YMIR mech, seeing Madison fire a sniper rifle at it as Shepard raises her shotgun. I hear the two blasts fired from it, and after the second blast I watch as the second one stumbles back. Okay... I don't see what that has to do with anything, but...

It's then that I notice that it seems to be taking hefty damage.

Oh... so it's nearly finished. Huh, I took out the shields, the armor was taken out by Shepard. All right.

Let there be blood!

I lean out from my cover, spraying the second YMIR mech with assault rifle rounds. My finger stays on the trigger, and right before I see the thing start smoking I watch as a pistol shot from Miranda finally manages to put the thing down. Madison finishes off the first YMIR mech with a well-placed sniper shot, and then I watch as both mechs explode. The expolsions rock the piles of crates, and I can see one or two of them fall off with a really loud boomy sound. I squint upon hearing this, feeling myself jolt slightly at the loud, sudden noise. Gunfire, I got used to.

But not that.

After the crates stop clattering down on the ground, we all look at the scene of carnage, two black holes and a whole ton of parts where the two YMIR mechs used to stand. Or lay. Whichever one came first. I nod, biting my lower lip as I look on. All right. Fun times are had for all.

I rise, holstering my assault rifle and looking to the others. We all convene where some of the crates have fallen, and then I look up. Okay... Off at the other end, there's a little room with an observation window. Kind of like what Harkin should've been in when we took care of business for Garrus. I nod, gesturing to that.

"That room looks like it's going to hold our impostor... and Mangdalar," I comment. "Come on. Let's go rescue my friend."

"Got it," says Shepard.

And with this, the five of us advance towards the room, keeping an eye out for any more hostiles, even if we did effectively wipe them all out.

* * *

Okay... there's the room. Okay... My impostor and Mangdalar are both in there, and I'm leaving with my friend whether he wants me to or not. And I will not leave unless Yelena is also alive.

I see Jocelyn walk up to the door of the room, looking to me. Okay... I'm ready. I give her a forward tilt of my head in response, and that's all she needs. Shepard opens the door panel, and I hold my pistol as we enter the small room and see what is inside.

And almost instantly... I see the splitting image of myself. Mangdalar sits bound and gagged in the corner, tied up to some machine thing as his attention turns to the door. Almost as soon as we enter, I see the turian whip his head so he is staring at us. Upon seeing this, I can see relief flood into his eyes, and his tense posture drops slightly. Don't worry, buddy, we'll get you out of there alive. And if we're lucky, Yelena will be safe as well. I just hope my doppelganger here sees things the same way I do.

Speaking of whom... the impostor himself is there. Finally! I look at him, and he's almost a splitting image of me, except for the short hair. The hair is dark brown, his frame is more or less the same as mine (if a little less athletic), and his eyes are as dark as my own eyes. It's almost unsettling how similar we look. Hell, even our noses are shaped the same! As soon as I enter, he looks at me, and I can sense that the frown on his face was one born from frustration. Yeah, that's right, you should be frustrated, bitch!

I frown, stepping into the room. "So the impostor finally lets himself be seen," I say.

"Says the liar," replies my alternate self.

I cross my arms. "Going to the Citadel and lying about your identity to get close to Mangdalar and Yelena isn't exactly the most consistent thing you've done," I comment, stepping into the room as Shepard stays where she is.

"Maybe not," he replies. "But it was necessary. Because unlike you, at least I'm not a thief!" He shakes his head. "Do you realize what it is when you find that someone has stolen any chance at fame you might have had? I was an artist, just like you!" I sincerely doubt that, what with being in a gang. "And then you come along acting just like me! It just comes easy to you, doesn't it? We're so alike it's not even funny! And then you steal a spotlight that could have been meant for me! And it just comes like second nature to you to adopt some of my mannerisms."

...

He's delusional. There's no doubt about that.

"The demands of the package were that you hand me the truth," says my impostor as he turns away from me. "I know you're lying, but I just want the gratification of being told that I was right and that your friend was wrong. He kept on insisting you would never lie about something like that. If only he knew the truth." Okay, this conversation is starting to get disturbing! "And the truth is that you stole my fame! It was my time, not yours, and yet... Do you know what it is, to not have the kind of life you have right now? And to know that it could have been in your reach if someone hadn't come in and screwed you over? Life on Earth is hard as a Red. When we branched out to the Citadel... well, I went anyway. And I was goin' to be a great artist over there. But no, you were already there!"

God, I hate this son of a bitch already. "And you expect us to feel sympathy for you?" asks Shepard.

He glances briefly to the Commander, blinking at this before nodding. "Yes," he says. "You'd understand what it is to be poor, right? It got so hard feeding my family. Maybe if I had that life... They're dead now. But a part of me still wants it. And you took away what was mine."

He turns to me, crossing his arms. "This doesn't have to be hard, liar," he says. "Just tell me the truth and I'll set both of your friends free."

I blink, huffing and puffing. I glare at him, crossing my arms. "So you went to the length of kidnapping my friend, taking the other one hostage, and preparing a package, just because you felt I stole your fame?" I ask.

"Yes," he says. "You see, life on Earth is pretty hard. So when you find out someone else escaped and stole your identity, you'd be pretty angry. You'd understand, right?"

I sniff loudly, the sharp intake of breath causing him to jolt slightly. Oh, no, bitch, you did not just say that.

"Yeah, I understand," I comment, my hands balling into fists. "I understand that you're nothing but a whiny, manipulative little attention whore who can't just leave things well enough alone!"

He jolts slightly at this as I raise my voice as I speak this sentence. In my rage, I take a step towards him, holding my finger up. "You think that just because I have the same name, looks, and mannerisms as you means that I'm out to steal your spotlight?" I begin "Well, contrary to what you believe, I don't have any intentions of stealing _anyone_'s fame! The truth is irrelevant in this case, because you could have just left it well enough alone and we would all be fine! I am _nothing_ like you! I would never have chased after someone who just so happened to be almost exactly like me because they were more famous than me. You're just like all those little extranet trolls I deal with on a daily basis! You just want attention, and I was an easy target!"

"And you're still holding on to a lie?" asks the impostor almost immediately.

"At least I'm not a delusional fool like you!" I reply, raising my voice and causing him to take a step back in what I guess is fright. "I'm who I am, and you're who you are, and no matter what you think, I never, _ever_ intended to steal _anybody's _spotlight!" I glance at him, shaking my head. "You're pathetic. You really are."

I let this hang in the air, but the impostor has no reply. Okay... that's that. Shepard takes a step forward, and I can see she's ready to add in her two cents. "So you went through the trouble of keeping tabs on his life just to know who to kidnap?" she asks. "Sounds like an awful lot of wasted resources if you ask me."

The impostor shrugs. "I didn't have to work that hard," he replies. "The Reds are getting eyes all over the Citadel. Get enough people on there, and you can track anyone, even under the watchful eye of C-Sec."

"You wasted your resources," says the commander in reply. "Especially since there weren't enough eyes on Mangdalar."

"That was a fluke," he says.

"Yeah, a fluke that cost you dearly," I comment dryly. "You had to have known I would come for you at some point."

With this, the impostor grins. "I almost counted on it," he replies.

My commanding officer looks right at him. "Well... everyone was right about one thing," she says. "You two definitely look almost identical."

Seriously, we do look like identical twins. Well, except for the length of our hair. I can see how he fooled both Yelena and Mangdalar with that. I'd be fooled too if someone looked almost exactly like that. Almost exactly like me, really, but you know how it is.

My... eh, dark version takes a look at me. "Yeah, I'm shocked to see how similar we are in person," he mentions. "You just need to cut your hair and nobody will tell us apart."

"What, so we can participate in some fight where you can trick them into shooting me?" I ask sardonically. "No thanks. I'm not _that _stupid."

The doppelganger shrugs. "Suit yourself," he says simply.

I glance over to Shepard, wondering what she's going to say now. "I don't know how you did it, but you had everyone convinced the Serviceman is the liar here. Barring the fact that you took part in the very thing you're saying he did."

He simply shrugs. "I'm just doing what I'm best at," he says. "If you do it, I don't see why I shouldn't."

I frown, crossing my arms. "Two wrongs don't make a right," I comment.

The doppelganger gives me a disapproving look. "You don't know how many times I've heard _that _one," he says.

Finally, I see Shepard just get a little miffy about everything. She takes a step forward, gesturing with a hand. "He doesn't exactly have a reason to lie to you now that you are seeing him in person," says Shepard. "Just release the hostages."

My doppelganger looks at me with a slight frown. Jeez... I really hate this son of a bitch. Honestly, it felt really good to get that all out. I can't believe that impostor thought he was justified in gunning after me just because we happen to be the same person, just that he has a slight genetic difference or something! I mean, jeez... If I had known I would've had a doppelganger like this... Damn. Just damn.

Finally, he shakes his head. "Fine," he says. "Take Mangdalar. But I'm still holding on to Yelena until you tell the truth."

W-what? I glance at Shepard, absolutely flabberghasted. However, she's already indicating the bound turian, and Tali and Madison both walk over to the him. As I see them begin to help out the captive composer, I glance back at my doppelganger.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I ask. "I just told you the truth about my intentions!"

"That didn't answer my question," he says. "And besides... there's a small problem in your cover story."

W-what? I blink. "Cover story?" I ask. "You think this is an act?"

"I _know_ it's an act," replies the doppelganger as I hear the gag get dropped to the floor. I glance back briefly to see Tali and Madison helping Mangdalar off the ground. They look back at me before I turn back to my impostor. "You say you got on the Citadel through a stim overdose from Boston. There's a slight problem with that, though... the Reds control the excess stim supply in Boston."

"And what the hell does that have to do with anything?" I ask, crossing my arms.

He takes a step forward. "Because then you would've run into me," he says, a smirk on his face. W... what? "I... well, was one of the main stim dealers for the Reds, and I kept every book for that. Your name didn't come up anywhere from my dealers, and neither did your descriptions!" Oh, shit... that detail would bite me in the ass, wouldn't it? But... just because of that? "And I checked every drug that me and every other gang in Boston kept supply of. Nobody remembered seeing your face. So that detail you lied about."

"What the hell are you playing at?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"That you just signed Yelena's death sentence," says the doppelganger as he slowly makes his way to the terminal at the other end of the room.

W... what? My eyes bulge as he stops and turns. "Pity," he says. "All you had to do was stop lying and tell me the truth. The truth would've set her free, and you would have the satisfaction of not lying to anyone. But you had to be obstinant!" What? You think I can actually tell you the truth? You can't handle the truth, you son of a bitch! And now she's gonna die because I can't tell the truth about myself... Damn it, why is keeping the truth to myself so fucking difficult? And now she's gonna...

No. If this son of a bitch hadn't decided to be such an attention whore, we wouldn't be here!

"I guess the call of your own life is too important for you. Looks like you're not such a good friend after all." He shrugs, a smug look in his eye as he very slowly walks to the terminal. "Should've expected that. I guess I should expect you to completely enjoy your life in the spotlight now."

He turns to me, shrugging before turning again. "I think we can agree, though, that neither of us could've expected things to go like this."

...

He says... He says I _completely _enjoy this life? And that I'm not a good friend?

...

He's... he called me a terrible friend! Why that-!

_That fucking son of a bitch!_

Before I know what's come over me, I'm rushing at him at an intense speed. Before he can get to the terminal, I crash into him, sending him sprawling on the floor. I don't give him a second to look up in shock before I'm on him, grabbing his collar and pulling him up so he's trapped against the wall. I huff and puff violently as I look into his eyes. Fuck you, you son of a bitch!

"Fuck your expectations!" I scream, spit flying onto my doppelganger's face as I vocally lay into him. "You know what _I _should've expected? I should've fucking expected that I would have another self somewhere in this fucking galaxy!" He opens his mouth to reply. Oh, no, you are listening to _me _now, you son of a bitch! "But no, I guess that expectation fucking dies too fucking easily when you're suddenly thrust _a hundred and seventy-three fucking years into the future in a universe that should only exist as a fucking sci-fi franchise!_"

All other sound suddenly seems to get muted as his eyes widen in shock. "You know what _I _didn't fucking expect? I didn't fucking expect to be thrown into the future from 2010 by playing some fucking piano piece by a fucking composer who doesn't fucking exist here!" I continue angrily. "You don't know what it _is_ to be me, trapped in a universe I have no fucking place in!" I faintly hear something, but I don't pay it any heed as I continue. "And you try telling everyone you know that you can see the fucking future! Yeah, because all the shit I'm going through right now and that was covered with that Saren son of a bitch? That was all covered in a fucking video game back home in 2010! And I fucking played it, too, so I knew everything. So you tell me, how the fuck am I supposed to hide that I knew _Commander Shepard was going to fucking die in a fucking ambush by some fucking Collectors_? Or the fact that I've seen almost every fucking thing that's happened for the past two fucking years well before it happened? You can't fucking _handle_ the truth, because you wouldn't fucking believe me!

"Well, I've fucking seen things you wouldn't fucking believe! Hell, maybe I'm in some fucked up comatose dream, or maybe I _am_ fucking insane and I had a normal life before the Citadel, but I know, that for all the good it does Yelena, that I, Art*** ******* *********, did _not _come from the same fucking Boston you did, and I, Art*** ******* *********, am holding on to my life because _it's the only fucking life I've been able to fucking get here!_ You think you're in such pain because _I'm _more famous than you? I think you got off fucking lucky when you consider the fact that _every single one of my friends and family is either fucking dead or fucking non-existant in this place! _Oh, yeah, and if it wasn't for fucking Commander Shepard, _I would be nothing!_

"So don't you fucking _dare_ try to pretend you're in a sadder place than I am! Because _you_ will never fucking know what it's like to be thrust into a future where everything in it isn't fucking supposed to be real! And don't you fucking _dare _try it, because I've lost so much more than you have! I'd say the only fucking difference between you and I is that I got insanely fucking lucky! Any other situation, and I wouldn't be in this fucking position! So fuck your little truth-seeking venture, fuck your superiority complex, and _fuck you for thinking I have it easy!_"

"_Art!_"

I spin around, seeing Madison standing there desperately as Tali simply stands there.

"_What?_" I roar, still holding my doppelganger to the wall.

I take in a few breaths, Madison not deigning to say anything. I look to Shepard and...

Shepard...

...

Oh, fuck...

My anger instantly vanishes, and then I look at her with a look of shock in my eyes. My doppelganger doesn't make an attempt to move, and Miranda stands there absolutely flabberghasted. Mangdalar too looks on, his jaw slack as his mandibles hang.

... Oh, fuck... I fucked up, didn't I?

There is an impenetrable silence in the air, and for once, I see Shepard has got absolutely nothing to say. Nobody does.

Oh God... I told... I told not just to Shepard, but to two people who have no business knowing...

_Fuck!_

I slowly feel the guy beneath my arm shifting slightly, and my gaze goes back to him. He looks up at me, but the haughty expression he had been wearing when I came in is almost completely gone. Now he's only shocked, not even looking like he's about to break into laughter or something. He simply glances up at me, speechless. Everyone is speechless. What the hell can be said about this, anyhow? I just... I don't get it. At all.

Finally, he clears his throat. "If..." says my alternate self. "If you're telling the truth... And you really are... what you say you are... I... No, you're fuckin' crazy! That's what it has to be!"

He shakes his head, and I can feel the gulp against my arm. "I'll make a deal with you. I'm the only one left in this warehouse who knows the code to get Yelena out safely," he says. "If you let me leave this place alive, then I'll let them let Yelena go, and I won't say a god-damn word about... whatever it is you just said... to anyone. But if you kill me... there's no guarantee Yelena will be safe. That's my deal. That shit is too much for me!"

I blink. Fuck... I can't guarantee he won't spread my secret... but at the same time... if I kill Yelena, then that's Mangdalar's friendship I lose. Fuck... What do I-?

"Go."

I blink, turning back to Shepard as she gestures to the door. "Free her," she says simply. "Free Yelena and leave. You're one lucky man today. But don't test my luck: if I find you again, I _will _kill you."

... Shepard made the choice for me... And she went with what I probably would've gone with... I look back to Shepard, releasing the doppelganger as he nods at this. He brushes some of his hair back, and then goes to the terminal, slightly shaken as he goes to the terminal. Someone on the other end of a comm channel speaks something, I don't know what he says, but... there it is.

"And the light was revealed, and the truth given," he says a little shakily.

I hear some more comm chatter, and then silence. I don't hear gunshots as they simply leave, and then I hear the chattering of crowds, just like the one that Mangdalar's bug picked up.

The impostor shakes his head. "It's done," he says. "Now I'm getting out of here."

"Get out," says Shepard. "I never want to see you again."

The impostor nods, opting not to say anything as he quickly leaves. The door closes behind him, leaving me with Shepard and the rest of the crew. I take a deep breath, looking right up to the commander as a fire lights in her eyes. Oh, God... she's pissed, isn't she?

"One thing," she says. "Tell me _one _thing that you shouldn't know."

I swallow, looking right at her. "What about the attack at Eden Prime? And Nihlus Kryik?" I ask, glancing to the side. She freezes up at this... Wow, I didn't think about that before. Yeah... Thank God for that. She never talked about Nihlus for some reason... or the vision she got from the Prothean Beacon. "He had gone ahead to scout out. It was a little after you, Kaidan, and Ashley found that the beacon wasn't at the dig site that you saw found Nihlus in a cargo area on the way to the spaceport. And he had been shot in the back of the head by Saren. There... there was a human there that had been hiding who told you he had seen Saren shoot Nihlus." I shake my head. "Nihlus had been told that the Council had sent Saren to help on the mission. And then Saren went and shot poor Nihlus in the back of the head. And then he took off to get the beacon and set up those bombs that you had to defuse. And it was after you had defused the bombs that you got that vision from the Prothean beacon. I don't remember much, but I remember it was a bunch of visions of flesh and machine for some time. I think the machine was getting attached to the flesh. That alternated with images of Protheans suffering in some buildings. And after that, it would pan out from this star after that, and it would show an entire star system. And when Liara helped you develop it further, it would pan out to this planet... and then a Reaper was seen heading towards you... and that's where the vision would end, with the Reaper heading towards you in the shadow of that planet."

Shepard nods, her frown not waning. "No sound, either," she adds. "That vision... nobody else should know about what it was. So you're right..." Now, I see her eyebrows furrow even more thoroughly.

The commander walks up to me, her hands balling into fists. "Shepard, please, I can ex-"

I don't get to finish the sentence. Before I can, I feel a sharp pain in my face, the crack unmistakeable as I'm sent sprawling to the floor by Shepard's fist. I fall over so that I'm on my side, and suddenly I feel something run down my nose. Shit... nosebleed! I quickly bring my hand up to my nose, noticing something wrong with the cartilage. Oh, dear, she broke my nose, didn't she?

"You son of a bitch!" she shouts angrily before I can get a chance to consider this. "You lied to all of us! You lied to _me_!"

I grip my nose, looking back up at Shepard as I feel a three-fingered hand rest on my shoulder. "What the hell was I supposed to do?" I ask. "Tell you the truth you wouldn't believe?"

"I don't care that I wouldn't have believed it!" she said. "You knew what was happening, so why didn't you do anything about it?"

"What, you wanted me to go up to the Collectors and tell them not to kill you?" I ask.

"I spent two years dead, Art!" she screams. "_Two years!_ And you knew I was going to die since I first met you! And you just let it happen! You're just playing games with everybody here by not trying to change things! And... and you let me die... and you let me get resurrected by a _terrorist orginization _that I'm fully expecting will stab me in the back! You just _let _these things happen without even trying to stop them?"

"Shepard, you really don't know what you're asking here," I reply. "I can't control everything!"

"You should've tried anyway," she bites back. I blink, backing away slightly so that my back is against the same terminal he was on. I sit there as she looks at me with rage in her eyes. "I can't believe you, Serviceman. You were one of my most trusted crew from when we hunted Saren. And now I find out you were lying about your origins and how much you knew about what was going on around you the entire time! How do I know what else you are lying about? How do I know I can trust you?"

I look up, shaking my head as I have no way to reply to that. I bite my lower lip, trying to stem my nose bleed. "I..." I try to say anyway.

But Commander Jocelyn Shepard will have none of it. "You _are_ a liar," she says. "I should've seen it coming, and yet here we are. I never should've trusted you." She shakes her head, looking at me severly. "I'll be returning Mangdalar to the Citadel, where he'll be safe. I'll decide whether I still want you on my ship when we get there. But don't count on staying on the ship."

With this, she turns to the door, stepping outside of the room. The door opens a little too loudly, and I watch her leave as I feel my eyes begin to water. Miranda glances back at me, and then over to Mangdalar with a shocked expression on her face. The genetically perfect woman bites her lower lip, and then holsters a pistol before she, too, exits the room quickly. I see Mangdalar shoot me a very shocked glance as he is led out of the room by the Cerberus operative. The door closes behind the two of them as they walk away.

This leaves me, Tali, and Madison alone in the room. The Journalist is still standing off to the side, with Tali shaking her head as she comes closer to where I am. Suddenly, I shake my head, and feel hot tears spilling out of my eyes. I look to Tali, who is sitting next to me with a supportive hand on my arm. I lean against her, and then I feel her arm drape itself around my shoulders.

"Damn it..." I say. "Damn it! I fucked up! I..."

Tali simply hugs me, and then I feel Madison's hand rest on my arm.

Fuck... I took my friendship with Shepard and shot a cannonball at it.

I really blew it this time. Worse than I did with Tali. And now... I may not see the end of the mission against the Collectors. And now the universe will be royally fucked.

I should've just told Shepard the first time I met her. I should've just told her earlier. Anything but this... This isn't how I imagined finally telling Shepard the truth about myself... This isn't it at all...

Damn it. Just, damn it...


	34. Chapter 33

_A/N: Okay, so Art is in limbo now. He pissed off Commander Shepard really badly, and, let's face it, he really did have it coming. So how will Art get out of that?_

_Well... we'll see, won't we? This was a really tough chapter to write. A lot happens in it, and very little of it is actually good for our protagonist. So I hope I got everything just about right, because it was very, very tough to get all the emotional cues spot on. So we'll see what happens with that._

_In other news, we passed the 600 review mark with the previous chapter, so yay! Fun times are had for everyone with surpassing review records even further than before! I just want to thank you all again for that. =D_

_Let's see how Art gets out of this incredibly sticky situation, shall we?_

* * *

Chapter 33: Aftermath

The ride back to the area around Afterlife was taken in silence, and I sat in the back of the cab. Shepard's driving ws a little worse for wear since I've revealed myself... Damn it, I did it too early. I remember never being able to look Shepard directly in the eye after the reveal, not even after Tali and Madison walked me out of there towards the cab. Not even Mangdalar was up for breaking the silence, and the ride back was very, very unsettlingly quiet.

And when we met up with Thane and Samara, Shepard didn't even say anything. Samara only got to get one word in edgewise about how she had finally killed Morinth with Thane's help before Shepard pointedly ignored her. Thane could tell something was up, but he didn't say what even as I shook my head. I think that was all the indication he needed to know that things had gone south.

And when she got to the Normandy? Nothing. Not a peep came out of her. She made a beeline straight for the elevator on the CIC, not even stopping by Kelly's post next to the galaxy map. This leaves some of the crew standing very confused at the commander, but I try to keep a low profile as we head to the elevator.

It only takes a minute or two to get to the elevator, but honestly it feels like I'm walking down that strip over the course of an entire milennia. I don't look anybody directly in the eye. I honestly can't... not after everything I've been through.

I keep my head down the entire way to the elevator, and when the elevator gets called... I still don't say anything. There's nothing I can say. The silence and the disappointed look on my face says everything that needs to be said. Samara seems a little confused, but she knows to stay out of things that aren't her business. I can thank her for that at least. But Miranda... I don't know what the hell she's thinking right now. I just... I don't know what to think about her saying something. I just... I don't know where to go from here...

The elevator opens out to the crew deck, and as soon as it does, I see Garrus standing there. He eyes all of us as Samara exits, leaving Miranda to stand behind us. I shake my head, watching her weave her way around the crowd as Garrus' eyes fall on my other turian friend. Garrus nods, crossing his arms as his mandibles flare out.

"Looks like you saved the hostages," he says. "That's good."

I think this finally snaps Mangdalar out of his catatonic stupor. "Eh... I can't say he's feeling good about it right now, though," says the composer. "We saved Yelena, too... But..."

"Shepard knows, Garrus," Madison says, holding up a hand. "And she is not happy."

The gunnery chief simply stands there, looking at us in surprise. No, shock. We all step out of the elevator then, and then I look up to Garrus as I shake my head. "She threatened to evict me from the ship," I say. "As far as I know, she may do it."

This wipes any merriment the vigilante might have felt upon seeing Mangdalar alive. We all step out at more or less the same time, and then Garrus blinks. I watch his expression, the mandibles hanging with a small amount of slack. I can sense his frown before it even comes on, and then it finally does show, he nods, looking at the elevator.

"She'll have to do more than that," he comments. "Madison, come on. We're taking that elevator up to the captain's quarters."

"W-wha-?" she asks.

But she isn't given time to think about it before Garrus grabs her by the arm as delicately as he can. They then both enter the elevator, and Garrus presses the button to take them up to the captain's quarters. And before I can tell them what's up, the elevator door closes, and there is silence after that. We're all left very confused by this, standing at the elevator's doors as the panel turns red.

Finally, Mangdalar gives a light cough. "I... I don't know what to say," he says. "It's... can we talk?"

"After I do," says Miranda, holding a hand out. "I have... questions I need to ask of my own."

"I think he should speak to who he wants first," replies the turian composer.

... It's not really a question. There's going to be no avoiding this, is there?

"Calm down, Mangdalar. "She's got a point. I should probably talk to the XO first...But even so, Miranda, your office has bugs. What if Cerberus picks it up?"

"The entire ship is bugged," says Miranda. "I'm surprised that the thing hasn't turned up on any data we have gotten, though, especially not if you have more than one person in on this secret of yours... Someone is blocking all mentions of it that are appearing in the bugs."

Say, what? That doesn't make any sense... The Cerberus bugs should be picking up everything, even the stuff before I managed to remove them. And... I don't know, but something about that bothers me a little. I don't know what, though...

Finally, I chew slightly on my lower lip, nodding my agreement. "Fine," I say. "We'll talk in your office."

I glance back to Tali, nodding at her as I move. She takes it as an unspoken 'don't say anything', and then I'm following Miranda into her office. Her gait is poised, professional as always. Hm... I should've expected her to think like that. Always taking the professional approach. Watch. It's gonna dissolve as soon as we enter her office. It usually does. Not everybody takes it well, and I imagine with me setting her up for Niket the way I did, she's got more than a few questions to ask.

Here's to thinking she's gonna lose it.

It doesn't take long to get to her office, but just like the walk across the CIC it feels like it takes so much longer than it actually does. My footsteps also feel really fucking labored, like I'm stepping further and further into a tar pit with each step I take. This is not fun... And it won't be for the rest of the drive to the Citadel, I guess.

But when we enter the office and the doors close behind us... I look to her to find that her professionalism isn't compromised. When she turns, I can see the slightest of frowns set on her face, but her expression is still more or less impassive as I stand. I'll wait for her to tell me where to sit, I guess.

But she doesn't, even as she walks over to the back area of her office. With a puzzled glance, I follow the Cerberus operative back there, and as she sits on the couch and looks out, I know that this isn't going to be the most formal talk in the world. At all. I can feel my heart pounding from the anticipation of what Miranda was going to ask. Oh, God... this isn't going to be a good conversation, but she hasn't broken face yet. That's a good sign... I think.

Finally, she looks up at me. "You knew everything, you said?" she asks.

I nod. "Yeah," I comment. "I... I even knew about Niket."

She nods, her expression a little more grim as she shook her head. "You shouldn't have told me I might have been lied to," she says. "This... I don't really know where to begin with addressing something like this. Knowing that at least in one thing, one of Commander Shepard's most trusted crew members from the original Normandy had been lying to her about himself the whole time... It's not easy to think about."

My shoulders droop. "It hasn't been easy," I comment. "I was planning on telling Shepard sometime after the mission. But that..." I close my eyes and exhale. "That was too soon."

"You can't hide a secret forever," she says. "But honestly, I'm surprised that you were able to hide it as long as you have. Two years have gone by since your arrival on the Citadel, and even Cerberus has had a difficult time getting this information. And then there is the matter of evading the bugs and EDI."

I frown, shaking my head. "What do you mean?" I ask.

"There is something... interesting, I find," says Miranda as she moves her hands over her lap. "There were entire stretches of silence in some of the feedback that the bugs picked up. As if something was cut." What? Hey, that makes no sense! My face grimaces in confusion as I look at her. I... "I judge by your reaction that you have no knowledge of this."

I blink, slowly finding myself nodding my head. "Yeah," I say. "That's exactly it. I have no idea what would be doing that. I know I didn't create anything, and I know Tali didn't create anything since some of the bugs must have picked something up before she came here... so I have no idea what would be causing it..."

She nods at this. "That settles that, then," she comments. "I was always a little curious as to what was in the missing minutes. Knowing what I do now, I think I might have an idea." She nods. "I just... this brings up so many complications that I ultimately don't know where to begin addressing them."

I shrug, looking at her. "You can start with the fact that I've been deceiving all but a few people basically the entire time I've been here."

"Aside from that," she says, looking over at me. "If you could tell the future... I could theoretically see why you would hide certain events."

No... That's not entirely true. I shake my head. "But things changed, Miranda," I say. "And... and it didn't help me with a lot of things. I didn't tell Tali about her treason case... and let me tell you, she got pissed." I let out a sigh. "I had to fight through the Alarei to get her trust back. And then I had to save her father. Sometimes, things like that don't make me feel like I'm entirely justified lying to everyone, you know? I just..." I close my eyes, crossing my arms as I lean against the wall. "I live with a lot of regrets. I live with regretting not telling anyone sooner... I live with regretting so many things about my previous life... You know the drill."

"I take it this is why you are telling me to keep my correspondence with Oriana, then."

Huh? My eyes are wide open, and they settle on the genetically perfect woman. "I..." I bite my lower lip. "Yes." I blink, feeling something wet gather in my eye. "I made the same mistake you were planning on doing. I had a loving family, and I took it all for granted. When I went to go study away from home, I got so annoyed at my mom's text messages I sometimes wished I wouldn't have to have anything to do with her. I never really spoke with my father. And my sister and brother? Forget it. I rarely kept up with them. And... and then I ended up here." My shoulders sag, and I find myself slowly sliding down so my ass comes down on the floor. "And now, here I am, never able to talk to them again." My gaze falls back on Miranda again. "I may not have liked you much, but even you shouldn't have to live with that regret. And you would've regretted not talking to Oriana, I can tell you that. You shouldn't suffer for making the same mistake I did."

Miranda nods at this, closing her eyes. "I see," she says. She mulls over this for a little longer, her body absolutely still as she contemplates this. I see her foot shift its position slightly, and then she opens her eyes again, looking at me. "It seems that I don't really have a quarrel with you, if that's the case."

I raise an eyebrow at this. "What makes you say that?" I ask

"Well... revealing what you did made me think about what Jacob said when you first came to this ship," says the operative. "You had a normal life, and you could have sat by the sidelines while Shepard saved the galaxy. But you pushed to get onto both crews of the Normandy, and then to become part of the ground team. You knew the risks, you knew what would happen, and yet you wanted to help her anyway. I can't speak for you the first time, but... the second time around, even knowing what is at stake..." she gets up off the couch with this. "Your intentions are for the best, even if there are a few times where your decisions on what to reveal haven't been particularly good. I have very little doubt about that."

With this, she holds her hand out to me. Oh... Well, Miranda sure took it well. I offer her a smile, and then I take her hand. She pulls me up off the ground so I'm standing, and then I nod. "Thanks," I say. "It's true what you say about yourself in one of your conversations with Shepard. You didn't get to where you were without being a good judge of people's motivations."

She gives a good-natured chuckle. "Indeed," she says. "How many people know?"

"Well... Tali was the first person I ever told..." I say. "And on the ship... Garrus, Madison, Sturge, Thane, and Kasumi are also all in on it. Hell, Madison and Sturge area also not from this same universe. And Madison is from a different universe than mine and Sturge's."

This causes the operative to jolt slightly. "Sturge I can see, but Madison?" she asks.

"Yep," I comment. "It's a long story, involving diverging pathways and little boys that get drowned by people with incredibly severe daddy issues." I crack a smile at this. "Trust me, their daddy issues were worse than yours."

"It sounds like an interesting story," she says. "But... that is a tale for another day. Anyone else?"

"From another universe? Not to my knowledge," I reply. "As for who else knows about me, there are two people that know outside of the ship: Shala'Raan and Urdnot Wrex. Other than that, I don't have any knowledge of whether anyone other than you, Shepard, or Mangdalar knows about me."

Miranda simply looks at me as she walks back to her desk. "I will have to mention this in my report to the Illusive Man, you know," she says. "I would hide something like this if I could, but... it's harder to do seeing as how I'm Cerberus' top operative. Besides, it would be a difficult report to write up without mentioning it."

I blink. W-what? I... No, that can't happen! I mean, that would put my secret out to all of Cerberus. And who knows what could happen if it got out? I could get blackmailed! Or called insane! Or something! I don't know! There's gotta be some way I can keep the secret from getting out there.

"Can you at least guarantee that the information makes it to the Illusive Man and _only _the Illusive Man?" I ask.

She nods. "You won't have to worry about that," she says. "In the official report, that information will be redacted. You have my guarantee that only the Illusive Man will see it. And when I have sent the report, I'll go speak to Shepard on your behalf."

Oh, she's willing to speak for me? I raise an eyebrow in curiosity. Well... this makes me feel better already. Miranda only just heard about it, but she's willing to stand up for me. I... I don't know what to think about that, especially since we disliked each other greatly when I first came on.

"That would be appreciated," I say. "Anything else I should know?"

"Just know that the Illusive Man may wish to speak to you when he hears about this," she says. "If he wishes to, I'll inform you and you can go talk to him at your earliest convenience."

I take in a deep breath of air, looking at Miranda. "The prospect of the Illusive Man knowing about this doesn't make me feel comfortable, just so you know," I say. "I'm not looking forward to it."

"In some respects?" asks Miranda. "Neither do I. You have your reasons for keeping it secret... and for once, I'm doubting that Cerberus would do the right thing in this situation. I hope the Illusive Man has the foresight to see that you have your reasons for keeping this secret, and that it could endanger the galaxy if this secret was ever to be released. But I will do everything in my power to make sure this secret doesn't get out to the galaxy."

"That's the best I can ask for," I say, walking past her desk. I look over at her as I walk towards the door, and then pause right as the door opens. "Oh, Miranda?"

"Yes?" she asks.

I nod, giving her a soft smile. "Thanks," I say. "For listening." I nod. "I have a couple people I need to talk to. I'll see you soon."

And with this, I exit, looking back at the genetically perfect woman as the doors close behind me. So Miranda knows now... and she takes it really well. That's a good thing, but I'm not looking forward to confronting the Illusive man about this. Especially if I end up having to tell him about the Prothean prophecy and Orange and all that jazz. Here's hoping I won't have to tell him any of that.

Still, good to see Miranda's on my side in all this.

Now... I need to go find Mangdalar, and talk to him about all of this.

* * *

So the first place I go to is... my quarters.

And sure enough, I see Sturge, Kasumi, Tali, Thane, and Mangdalar sitting there on the bed. I... guess I don't mind. They have been given permission to use my room. But... I just feel wierd about certain things, I guess. I mean, here I am, and suddenly I'm on Shepard's bad side. This is a bit much for me to handle, I think.

Also, Mangdalar knows. An innocent bystander who has nothing to do with events knows everything about me. Well, not everything, but still.

When I enter, all attention is turned to me. Everyone's eyes are on my person as I stand there. I look to the others, and they take note that I seem like I'm feeling a little better. I nod as I enter the room.

"So what did Miranda say?" asks Tali.

I nod, giving them a better expression. "Well, she's on my side in all this," I reply. "She has to report it to the Illusive Man, so I don't know how that's going to turn out. But she's going to try to give a good word to Shepard about things."

I see Sturge and Kasumi beam at this news, and the old man nods. "Well, that's always a good sign," he says. "How do you think the Illusive Man will react?"

I shrug, shaking my head. "I really, really don't know..." I say. "But we'll worry about that when we get there." My gaze goes to Mangdalar as soon as I say this, and the turian simply gives me a blank look that can have any emotion attached to it as I nod to him. "I'm... sorry about all this. If I hadn't blabbed... we would've given you a better welcome than this. Instead, you're getting all this stuff heaped on you. And after being rescued, no less."

He simply shakes his head. "I was more afraid for Yelena, if I want to be honest," he says. "It's a good thing you got her out of there alive. But then... there's that _other _matter." The turian looks directly at me, his gaze hardening slightly. "What you told very few people..."

"Look, Mangdalar, I had my reasons," I say. "But there's nothing I can say that can really justify having lied to everyone everywhere about this. Not without feeling bad about it, you know."

The composer gives me a brief look. "I don't really know," he says. "It doesn't really concern me... but still... You've lied about yourself all this time? I have a tough time believing you actually are what you say you are. Even with the defense from everyone here. It's just one of those things you'd never expect to hear, even if you are prepared for it."

I nod, but before I can say anything Kasumi barges in. "But you're still okay with Art, right?" she asks.

"I don't know," replies the turian. "This... will take a little getting used to. And I don't think I ever will."

I shake my head. "I just want to be sure you won't be telling anyone about this," I say. "I don't know how dangerous a secret this is, but I know enough to know that in certain places this secret can be... really bad for all of us."

"I can't even tell Yelena?" asks Mangdalar.

Hm... That is a good point. He can't hide it forever seeing as how she's an asari and everything, and she _is _Mangdalar's girlfriend. I can't deny that... "Maybe," I say. "I just don't want you to go telling everyone."

"Who'd believe me if I did?" asks the turian composer. "But... I'll hide it. But I'm telling Yelena. There's no getting away from that."

I let out a sigh. "Of course," I say. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," the composer is quick to reply, his voice tinged with a little bit of anger. "I got kidnapped by an Earth gang, nearly got killed, wound up worried sick about Yelena, and to top it all off I find out that one of my close friends on the Citadel wasn't being completely honest with me about what himself..." He shakes his head. "It's been the worst couple of days of my life."

"I'm sorry I dragged you into things," I mention.

"Don't bother," says Mangdalar, looking up. "I don't really blame you for what happened on Omega. It's like you said. He was pathetic. I can't blame you for the kidnapping. For the lying, maybe, but you have your reasons, I guess." He shifts where he sits on my bed. "Besides, Sturge, Tali, and Kasumi have been doing a pretty good job of defending you."

I nod, looking at them. "I guess you heard, Kasumi?"

"Yeah," she says. "Sucks that your secret got out before you were ready, really. I hope Garrus and Madison are working their magic upstairs..."

I glance up to where the captain's quarters would be. I nod. "Yeah, I hope things will be all right with-"

Before I can finish the sentence, though, the door opens, cutting me off midsentence. I look towards the door, and... Oh, God, it's Jacob Taylor, isn't it? Shit... If he's here, that's not a good sign.

He enters the room very suddenly, and he's got a very large frown written into his face. Oh, God... this isn't going to turn out well. I look up, and see him as he gets very, almost uncomfortably close with me.

"What're you playing at?" he asks.

... Oh, dear... how do I respond to this? "I don't know what you're-!"

"I think you do," he interrupts, crossing his arms. "I heard Garrus and Madison trying to defend you at the door to the captain's quarters. I went there because I heard she was upset. And then I hear them talking about how they should give you a chance even if you knew she was going to die and you neglected to tell her. There can only be one conclusion I can draw from that."

The door closes behind Jacob, and then I back up, finding myself sitting against the desk as Jacob corners me there. "You've been lying to us about yourself," he says. "All of us."

I take in a deep breath as suddenly Kasumi rises. I see her place a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "Jacob, please," she says. "It's not as bad as you think it is."

The former Alliance marine glares at Kasumi, even as I feel myself shrinking further and further against the desk... I swear my back just hit the terminal. He glares back at her, a deep frown settled on his face.

"I guess you're in on it too, huh?" he asks.

"Yeah," replies the Japanese thief. "Really, Jacob, it's not as bad as you think. It's crazy and a little hard to believe, but he isn't trying to stab anyone in the back here."

The ex-Corsair looks right at me with a hard glance. He holds this for about a minute or two before he finally backs off. "Fine," he says. "But you better make it quick."

I nod. Okay, good... Now, with Jacob, I actually can predict shit that's already happened. After all, his father's got a lot of shit to clean up on generic deserted planet with the toxic plants. And there's the Lazarus Project... "I... I have minor precognitive abilities," I say. "I say this, because I'm from a dimension where the events that are happening now are a video game. That's how I knew Shepard was going to die; I had seen it happen before. Hell, in a way I was _there _when she died. I watched as she helped Joker into that escape pad... and then as she launched it and an explosion threw her into a wall that cut her oxygen thing."

Jacob shakes his head, crossing his arms. "That's a little too crazy for me to believe," he says. "I'm not buyin' it."

"Then what about Wilson?" I ask. "From the Lazarus Project? You know, Wilson, who almost rendered the whole project a failure?"

At this, his eyes go wide. "But that is strictly classified information!"

I shrug. "And yet I know about Wilson," I comment. "He had hacked a bunch of security mechs when Shepard woke up. So then Miranda directed Shepard to go around killing things... and then Miranda shot him in the face when you found him." I shrug. "And you had even fought with Wilson for a brief stretch of time. A bit of a shame you didn't see it coming, really. But then, he was pretty good at lying, I guess."

I shrug. "And if you think I can get that from somewhere else..." I say, crossing my arms. "You don't know what's going to go down on Aiea yet."

Jacob blinks, stepping back as the shock registers on his face. "But... How did you know about that?"

"Why else?" I supply, giving him a shrug as I uncross my arms. "I know what you're going to find there, and it's not pretty. It's a bit of a long story, so I'll give you the Sparknotes version. The chain of command on the _Hugo Gernsback_ started dying off, and it got to the point where your father was thrown into a position of command. This wouldn't be so bad, but the flora on Aiea causes a neural degeneration that makes whoever eats it go insane. So... shit went down really bad. Your father... he grabbed all the rations on the ship and hoarded them for himself. And then he programmed a whole crap-ton of mechs to defend himself with."

At the end of this, Jacob is staring at me in shock. I sit on the desk for a second, feeling my hand fall right into the same dent Garrus had made in the desk that I hadn't bothered to fix. He holds this expression for quite some time, as if he can't believe it. Finally, he shakes his head and closes his eyes.

"That's crazy," says the ex-Alliance marine. "My father would never do such a thing."

"The pressure of command can change people," I reply. "But anyway, you haven't seen it yet. So I'll let you see it. And then we'll talk about this further."

Jacob simply nods at this. "Fine," he says. "I'll drop it for now, and I'll wait until Aiea to see what is up with that. But if I find you're lying to me again, you'll know who will be coming for you."

With this, he turns on his heel and exits the room. His steps aren't as furious as they used to be. He walks out, right as Madison and Garrus get there, standing outside the door. They suddenly turn as the marine walks past them without so much as a second thought. I let out a sigh as they come in.

"Well, look on the bright side," says Kasumi as Madison and Garrus enter. "It could've been worse."

"Yeah, that it could've..." I mention. And then... my head suddenly feels so much heavier than it actually is. It lolls a little bit, but I manage to catch myself. Oh, God, I better not start letting my head fall against my chest or shoulders all the time like the horrible jet lag incident when we had that siezure debacle on my way to Tokyo all those years ago... That's something I'd hate to relive. At least people here have the decency not to tape the thing and then post it on a video montage that gets onto Youtube.

"Art?" asks Garrus.

"I'm fine," I say. "Just a little tired, is all. How did Shepard react?"

Madison shakes her head. "It's not good," she replies. "She wouldn't even let us in. We had to shout at her through the door, but she was shouting back. I don't know, Art. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what will happen with that."

Everyone else in the room nods at this. "You're tired, you say," says Sturge.

My head sags forward again, but I catch myself again. "Yeah," I reply. "Actually... make that really damn tired..."

"I guess we have business elsewhere, then," says Mangdalar. "Are we done here?"

"More or less," says Kasumi. "I'm going to see if I can't put a word in for Art before I return back to the Observation deck."

"And Mangdalar needs to see Carolyn, anyway," says Sturge as everyone starts standing up. "Hopefully you'll get to stay on the ship."

And with this, everyone gives me a rather comforting nod. Hm... I still don't feel all that well as everyone exits my quarters. I feel my head sag again, but I again catch myself falling off the edge of unconsciousness... I grab one of the pieces of my armor nonchalantly, and start taking the thing off...

"Are you all right, Art?"

I glance up, seeing that everyone has left the room... except for Tali. She's pretty close to where I am, and I can see the concern ridden in her eyes even filtered behind the mask as they are. I blink, looking at her tiredly.

"No," I say. "I'm not completely all right. Half the ship knows my secret now, and I'm very close to the point where I'm going to start losing friends over this. I... I just don't know, Tali..."

She places her hands on my shoulders as she comes closer, nodding in dismay. "I... It looks like... well, what I mean to say is..." The quarian pauses, looking me directly in the eyes. "You... you look like you need someone here... And if..."

I blink, looking at her. "Are you suggesting... that you stay here? For tonight?" I ask.

"I... yes," says Tali. "I just... I don't want you to be alone with this. I... I just want you to be sure that I'll be here for you, no matter what happens... And... Keelah... This is tough to ask. This is such an intimate thing for quarians... and I don't want to rush you... and."

So... she wants to sleep in my bed tonight? I... Wow, this is gonna be awkward. I've never been in bed with someone in quite that way, I can tell you that much. But... I just... with my facade falling apart all around me... And only a few people on my side...

I nod. "You're not rushing me," I say. "Just... I don't want to be alone right now, Tali... Stay with me. Tonight..."

The machinist nods, and I can sense the faintest hint of a smile. "You won't be."

And with this, she pulls me into a hug. I hold her there, holding a half-untied piece of armor in my hand as I hold her there. I still have my allies, thank Jesus. And Tali is still here... That'll only help if Shepard really does kick off. It means that with all the shit I've got on my plate, I at least won't be alone.

* * *

Tali helped with the armor removal, and... the rest is sort of a blur before I woke up. Man... yesterday was crazy. Shitty, though, that nothing that happened yesterday was a dream. That would've been nice, but I've been having the same dream for the past two years, so I think I have a better sense of what's real and what's not real. Still, pisses me off that Shepard still knows.

But... dreams didn't offer much solace, either. I had the drowning boy addition to my dream again. And this time it was god-damn strange, because I didn't find a batarian child this time. I found a salarian child, if I remember correctly. Why a salarian child was in my dream, I have no fucking idea. But... If that's going to haunt me for the remainder of my time, that would be a shitty way to spend my dream space... Damn it.

Ah, well... I guess things will be better soon enough...

It's around here that I feel the strange feel of exosuit on my skin. Hm... So Tali is still here. I wearily open my eyes, only then noticing the light pressure on my left shoulder.

Hm... This feels awfully familiar.

I look over to my side, and sure enough, there is Tali laying there. Her head is propped up against my shoulder, almost exactly the way we found ourselves back when I woke up after watching _The Sound of Music _the night before Ilos. But this time... I feel her hand splayed over my chest as well. I look down on Tali, and without much prompting a smile creeps to my face. Hm...

And to think that just two years ago this caused an improbable situation alert in my mind... Huh, how time flies like that it seems like an eternity since I last thought this would be an improbable situation.

I shift slightly, doing my best not to wake up Tali, but... somehow, my arm movement causes her to stir. I feel it first in the slight shift of her hand, but then I hear her moan very softly as she moves.

... Oh, damn it!

Before I know it, she's glancing up at me, her arm around me. Okay... there's no way I'm getting out of this yet. She simply glances up at me, the glowing orbs flittering as she opens them. I look down on her, noticing that I don't exactly have a clean shirt on. Huh... Must've forgotten to take a shower. Not like Shepard would let me anyway. Well, there goes my habit of night showers. Right out the window, thanks to having blabbed.

Add that to the list of bad things that've come out of me unintentionally unveiling my secret earlier than I should have. Indeed.

I shift slightly, my legs sliding out from under the covers as Tali looks up.

"Did you sleep well, my _hesh'alan_?" she asks.

I blink, giving her a weary smile. "Good to know I'll be waking up to that, at least," I comment. "But... not really, no." I look at her as she shifts, the concern very visible in her face. "My dreams are crazy."

"With what you have, I can't imagine it being any other way," replies the quarian as we both slowly sit up in the bed. "So... what now?"

"I don't know," I say, giving her a smile. "But I can tell you that if this is what I'm going to be waking up to every day when we start making a non-angsty-mission habit, I could really get used to it."

Tali nods. "It would be nice to wake up next to you without you being in danger of getting thrown off the ship," she says. Her mood instantly evaporates upon mentioning that, however. "Keelah, I hope you stay here... I don't know what would happen if you left."

I take a breath in. God damn it... this had to be brought up. "It's tough when half the ship is finding out," I comment. "But still... I have to make do." I turn to the EDI console on the wall. "EDI, can you tell me who's been to the captain's quarters lately?"

EDI's avatar comes up as Tali and I look right at it. "Mr. Vakarian, Ms. Paige, Ms. Goto, Operative Lawson, and Mr. ************ have all visited the captain's quarters. None of them have been allowed entry, however. Mr. Krios is holding back with that."

Tali lets out a soft sigh. "Guess it's my turn to throw myself in front of bullets," she comments dryly.

"Don't you do that on a regular basis, though?" I ask, giving her a crooked grin.

As soon as I say this, she turns to me, shaking her head in disapproval. The way her eyes shine, though, she takes it as a joke. "You _bosh'tet_," she mutters darkly, giving me a playful shove on the shoulder.

I chuckle as she does this, her eyes lighting up as we both reluctantly part. "Sorry, couldn't resist," I say, stepping up out of the bed as I do so. "But still... good luck with that. I'll be down here when you're finished with that."

"I hope I can help you out," says the quarian as she too gets up from the bed. I grab a different shirt from the nearby desk, looking to her as I do. She walks a little closer to the door, her gaze trained on me.

I give her a smile. "It's you, Tali," I say with a smile. "Anything you do is going to be greatly appreciated by me..."

She nods. "I'll be going then," she says. "Hopefully you'll feel a little better after all this."

"Good luck, Tali," I say.

"Thank you," says the quarian. "At this rate, I think I'll need it."

With this, I nod to her, and then Tali leaves the room. Even as she does, though, I give her a smile. I just... I'm thankful she stayed with me last night. I needed that, I think. Always good to have the girl you love at your side through the thick and thin of life. That's always a good thing. Even as the doors close after her...

...

Did I just think of her as not a quarian there for a second there? Hm... That's... actually very strange for me. I dunno. But... I guess it feels kinda natural. Even if the hand-holding can get awkward at times. Bloody hell, why is it that quarians have so few fingers, anyhow? That's something I'll never get used to.

Well... then again, that's what I said about living life in the _Mass Effect _universe, and yet here I am, falling in love with a former collection of pixels as if she were a real person. Well... she is a real person now. That much is for sure. Man, this is starting to get confusing.

Does this train of thought have a brake? I really could do with pulling it right about now.

I look over to the shirt, pausing as I pull off my dirty one. Okay, this one is going straight in the dirty clothes. And from there, it's getting a-

"Mr. *********, if you have a moment."

Gah!

I jump slightly at the sound of EDI's voice, looking over to the avatar that is on the wall. I look there to see her avatar is still up, and then I let out a sigh. "Jesus, EDI, be more careful with how you use your voice!" I comment. "You scared the living daylights out of me, I swear to God!"

"It was not my intention to cause any fright," she says. "I have an issue I wish to address with you. About this... secret you were so afraid of leaving."

Oh, great. I let out a sigh, closing my eyes as my generally good mood that morning evaporates. "Great, so now the ship itself knows," I say. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I am surprised you did not think that I already knew," replies the AI. "Since you originally came onto the Normandy, you have said quite a bit about it, even before the bugs were removed in your quarters."

... Actually, yeah. For once, the computer has a point. "I... don't know what I was thinking," I say. "You were still listening in even when I was telling you to log out?"

"My auditory sensors do not automatically shut down when I am logged out," says EDI. "That you would think such a thing is alarmingly ignorant."

... "Oh, shut up, Tricia Helfer!" I reply. "Nobody asked you for your opinion! Especially not Michael Hogan back on the Citadel. So hush, puppy."

EDI's avatar is silent at this. Hm... I think I've just rendered the AI speechless. I think I'm in good hands. "My name is not Triciah Helfer," says EDI.

I shrug. "She was your voice actress in the game, though," I say. "I might as well start referring to you by your voice actress rather than your actual acronym if you know."

"I have always known," replies the computer. "Operative Lawson mentioned that any mention of your secret in range of the bugs was removed from the feedback when you spoke with her. I am surprised you have not paused to consider this yet."

Hm...? I... I don't know, EDI, it gets tough to consider that when-

...

Hey, wait. Why's _she _bringing that up?

... Something's up here. I raise my eyebrow, getting my clean shirt and slinging it over my shoulder as I look at the computer. "That was your doing, wasn't it?" I ask.

"You must remember that as an AI, I am capable of doing many operations in real time," replies the intelligence. "It was deduced that if the information the bugs were picking up were to be heard by anyone outside of the ship, it would result in a disunity within the mission. The most likely possible outcome would have been mission failure. It was deemed vital to do this, therefore."

Hm... Mission disunity? Now that's a justification I haven't heard before. But still... "That justification still makes me feel kinda dirty, EDI," I reply. "I'm just sayin', you know?"

"But it is a valid justification, nevertheless," she says. "Rest assured, Mr. *********, I am keeping your secret as safe as I possibly can at the moment. Although, Commander Shepard's knowledge of this may throw everything off balance."

I shrug. "Understatement of the century," I reply with a shake of my head as I pull the cleaner shirt over my torso. "Still... I think it's a good sign when the ship itself was helping keep things a secret. Although... it makes it feel a little too much like the universe is actually revolving around me. Like I'm some big black hole in the center of the universe, you know?"

"That is a preposterous assumption," replies the AI. "However, it seems fitting, considering your rather... unusual circumstances."

I blink, looking right at EDI's avatar as I adjust the shirt. "Unusual circumstances?" I ask. "What about 'most bizarre fucking circumstances I have ever seen in my brief existence'? That would be much more fitting."

"Except for the expletive," replies the AI.

"Says the computer who enjoys the sight of humans on their knees," I shoot back with a wry smile. "And that _is _a joke, just so you know." I glance at the AI. A silence hangs between us before I look over to the AI. "Thanks, by the way," I finish. "For keeping that back."

"It is a threat to the mission's unity," she says. "However, I suggest you make your way to the mess hall at the moment."

The mess hall? Why would I need to go there? "What's up?" I ask.

"The revelation of the truth has disturbed Mr. Taylor greatly," replies the computer. "The remaining members of the ground team who don't already know are being informed by him as we speak."

W-what...? N... Of all the people to blab to the rest of the crew... it's _Jacob_?

"Please tell me he isn't giving it out freely," I say.

"I do not think so," says EDI. "It would not be characteristic of him to be spreading gossip. From my database of gestural cues... I would say he is greatly disturbed. And my audio banks can verify that he did not wish to release it until he was goaded enough by the others, even despite the protests of those who already knew before he did."

I nod. "So basically, we're talking about Jack, Al, Zaeed, Grunt, Mordin, and..." Oh, crap, Legion's not on the Normandy yet! "...and Samara?"

"As well as Rael'Zorah and Ms. McKansa. Everyone in the mess hall that knew your secret before hand is attempting to stop the conversation, but they are not being very successful."

...

Oh, dear... This isn't a good sign. I shake my head, adjusting my shirt a final time. "I'm going to go talk to them," I say, heading towards the door. "EDI, thank you for everything."

"Logging you out, Mr. *********."

I don't stick around to see EDI's avatar vanish from existence. I go straight for the door, opening it and walking out. Wait... I can't do it now... I'll just see what happens.

So I stick close to the wall near where the elevator is, biting my lower lip.

"Jacob, maybe you should stop there," Well, that's Miranda, all right.

"Well, I say 'e should bloody well keep goin'." And there's Zaeed. How did I know he would be goading them on. "So he knew about all the things that were gonna happen with all of us. And 'e's from another universe apparently."

"That's... the gist of it, yes," says Jacob.

"Great!" W... what the hell? But Jack is never in the mess hall! "I come up here with Al for once, and the first time I do it I'm hearing this bullshit!"

"Biotic has a point. Very improbable situation." Well, that's Mordin, all right. "Not scientifically sound, no explanation for how he got here. If it involved relay travel, we would have noticed it. Very possible that he was lying."

"You forget I was in the same situation." Well, there's Sturge. "I don't know how it happened either."

"That just proves Mordin's point, dumbass," says Jack again. "I say Jacob's lyin' about this."

"You can't really say that." Why, hello there Garrus. "Art's told a lot of people the same thing. One thing I've learned being an investigator in C-Sec is that if they change the cover story a lot, they probably are lying about it. When he came out to me, he told everyone the same thing."

"That doesn't mean a goddamn thing out here," replies Zaeed.

"But ya can't just say that about 'im," says Jenny's voice. "Ya don't have proof about it!"

There's a brief silence there as I hear Jacob take stock. "He told me about what I'd find when I found the place my father is at." Hm... That's a lot of regret in his voice. "It's... not going to be pretty." Oh, boy, I can sense the regret in his voice.

"Jacob, maybe you shouldn't talk about it," says Sturge. "We should just drop this whole conversation..."

"And why should I do that?" asks the Cerberus operative. "I don't think you realize how hard it is for me to accept the fact that my father would willingly do some of the things Art is saying he will."

"Then how tough do you think it is for him?" asks Kasumi. Yep, she's there too. "Remember, he got Tali extremely angry at him by not telling her about her treason trial. And she was one of the first people he told his secret to. Telling something like that is probably really difficult for him to do."

"I know, I know," says Jacob. "It's just..."

"I say we just kill him." Oh, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff! Who let the krogan hear about this?

"Fuck that," says Jack. "He's one of the few people I can stand on this ship. I'm not gonna kill 'im for that."

"Yeah, killing him ain't the best idea anyone's ever had," adds Zaeed.

"Maybe you should let him speak for himself," says Kasumi. Yeah... this conversation is going strangely. "Let him clarify all this."

"Let him prove his knowledge," says Mordin. "If he produces prediction and it comes true, we can be certain of precognition. As well... piece from past that he should not know. Both should be sufficient proof."

"I don't know, Mordin," says Jacob. "By now, a lot of us have gotten our... 'loyalty' missions, as Thane here says he calls them, out of the way." Oh, dear, Thane's there too... "So he doesn't really have much to predict with that. And personal memories... I don't know, but I doubt he can come up with anything."

Okay... that's it. I'm not sitting here any longer.

I push off the wall, walking into the mess hall.

"I think I can speak for myself, Mr. Taylor."

All eyes in the mess hall suddenly turn to me. Well... there are a few crew members here too... which sucks. And there's Thane sitting off to the side. Madison is close by, but everyone that doesn't know is kind of huddled close to Jacob. And there's Samara, standing quite a distance away. The Japanese thief is very close to said Cerberus operative, almost as if she's trying to keep him from saying too much too soon. Miranda doesn't look terribly happy, but it's Jacob who looks the most surprised. I watch his expression shift.

"You were there?" asks Jacob.

"You may want to be careful how much you speak about me behind my back," I say. "Because apparently, the ship itself was helping me out on the pretense of 'it's bad for mission unity'. So you never know if it's listening in." I let that sink in during the very brief silence that follows. "Yeah. And I also heard most of what you mentioned from when Miranda told you it wasn't a good idea to talk about it."

I walk forward, wedging in between Jacob and Miranda's place in the table as I take stock of everyone there. Grunt is just sort of standing there, looking at me with some kind of fire in his eyes, but the rest are all sitting around. And Al is sitting close to Jack, so...

I glance over to Mordin, who's also standing. "You said that the best way to prove it would be to give a thing that I shouldn't know about someone's past, and a prediction," I mention.

"That is correct," replies the salarian. "Most logical thing would be to give both of those to prove truth of what you are saying."

I frown at this, nodding. "Fine," I say. "I'll give you one of each. And then, I'll explain in perfectly good detail, why I keep it a secret, and why you people shouldn't be complaining about being kept out of the blue when it's harder on myself and you don't see me complaining about it."

I turn to Jack. "So... something personal," I say. "Jack... if this name rings a bell, I need you to nod your head."

"Sure, whatever," replies the biotic. "Who the fuck are you talking about here?"

"Murtock. A guy."

The biotic's eyes instantly widen at this, looking at me in shock as bite my lower lip grimly. But this widening turns instantly into anger as she rushes forward, pointing a finger at me as she begins to glow with the blue aura of a biotic.

"Give me one good reason not to send you flying into the bulkhead, you son of a bitch!" she shouts. "You shouldn't fucking know who he is!"

"And yet I do," I reply, biting my lower lip and turning my gaze to Mordin. "And you, Mordin, ought to be ashamed of yourself that you're asking me to bring like that up." My gaze hardens into a glare, but the salarian doctor doesn't buckle as Jack's biotic aura is still visible in there. "I'm not saying anything more than those three words. And I'm not saying-"

"Oh, bloody hell!" shouts Zaeed.

And this is all we need before a general chorus of shouts starts getting directed at me. Oh, god damn it, they really wanted to know? Great. I see Grunt, Zaeed, and some of the crew-men shouting at me to tell anyway. I flare my nostrils, too, as then Jacob and a few others say I should or something... Something about the truth.

Fuck them all.

"_I'm not saying it, and that is final!_" I scream, causing everyone to fall into silence soon after. I glare at all of them, before shaking my head. "I'm not saying it, because I am _not _going to put Jack on the spot like that. Why? It's an extremely personal memory for her, and some people that have played the game never know where to look to find it. So how the fuck do you think she'll feel knowing that I know her darkest secret?" I shake my head. "And further more, you all ought to be fucking _ashamed_ of yourselves that you want me to tell anyway."

I turn to Jack soon after, but her surprised expression says everything I need to know about that. "We'll discuss this in private, Jack," I say. "If you want Al to be there, that's up to you. Especially not for a memory like Murtock."

The biotic looks at me with a very bewildered glance in her eye, but I can already sense that it's shining brighter. Yeah... her eyes are watering already. Without another word, her biotic aura dies off, and she looks at me as she settles back down into her seat.

"Fine," she says, sounding a little defeated but keeping her voice in check nevertheless. She simply leaves it at that, as Al edges ever closer.

"Seriously, you all should fucking be ashamed of yourselves," I add, glancing darkly around.

"And what of you, shifting blame where it is not due?" asks Samara, coming forward. "You could have chosen any personal memory. And yet, that was the one you picked."

"The asari's god-damn right," says Zaeed. "Don't go blamin' us for what you brought up."

"We didn't think of it," adds Jenny. "You did, mate. You could've worked from other things."

My frown only intensifies. "And what, work from the pool of personal memories that someone can say 'I told him about it beforehand'?" I ask, pointing my finger. "You wanted ireffutable proof, right? Well, you got what you asked for. It's too bad that at the point we're at I had to dig for _that_ particular memory, isn't it?

"Which brings me to my prediction." I say this as I clap my hands toether. "Well, you got a personal one, so now we're going to get one of the darker predictions," I say. "When we get that Reaper IFF on the derelict Reaper, you want to know what's going to happen? The IFF is going to broadcast your location to the Collectors while Shepard is away on the mission. And then the Collectors are going to come, and they're going to invade the Normandy."

Gasps go around the group, and even Grunt looks surprised. "I wasn't planning on telling any of you that," I say. "But here we are now, and I'm telling you because now you know about me and you have the right to know. You guys have no right to complain about me planning on keeping you out of the dark with when I beat _myself_ up just as much as you would. Over the IFF? It sucks knowing that without Shepard or anyone from the ground team here the Collectors are going to take _the entire crew of the Normandy sans Joker_, who'll be forced to unshackle the ship's god damn AI to save it!" I shake my head, frowning. "And here I am, forced not to say anything about it for fear of all of you thinking I'm crazy or something. Even if it is established that I am a bit insane anyhow."

"Well, you said something about it now," says Miranda. "Meaning you just changed events..."

"If it's that simple, why beat yourself up over it?" asks Jacob.

"Because it's not something that can easily be believed," I say. "Hell, sometimes even _I _have a hard time believing that I'm here, talking with all of you. So I guard it carefully." I cross my arms. "I'm not proud of doing it, and if logic worked any other way I'd have been more than happy to bring it up with all of you. But I did what I did way because I didn't see any other choice. And if anybody here hates me for it forever now, that's fine. I don't expect anyone to give me a sob story about what they think about me. Hell, I don't expect anyone to feel sorry for me, with all my regrets and all my sorrows. But I did what I did because I felt I had no choice."

I back away from the table, watching as everyone's eyes fall on my retreating form. "Go back to your business," I say. "Wait for the prediction, and we'll talk again."

And with this, I exit, walking away from the crowd as I move to go back to my quarters. But when I get to the door, I pause, suddenly a little uncertain of what to think of what is undoubtedly about to go down. Yeah... things aren't going so well with that, but I've said my peace with the ground team. And with that... everyone on the Normandy knows.

The entire ship knows my secret...

I close my eyes, feeling them water as I realize the full gravity of the situation. Shit... I told too many people... So what now? What happens next?

I feel a tap at my shoulder, and then I look behind me to see Rael'Zorah. I can't read his expression from behind the facemask, though, so I simply turn. "Rael'Zorah?" I ask, looking at the admiral.

"I know... but..." he says. "What was my fate within this game?"

I let out a loud exhale, holding my arms just above my elbows. "You were supposed to be dead when we found you on the Alarei," I say. "I... I couldn't do that to Tali, though. It hurts her too much to find out you're dead and then to find out that you left her with the legacy you did..." I close my eyes. "That's why she was so pissed off. I didn't tell her that she was being tried for treason. I should've tried..."

"Did she know about your secret before then?" he asks.

I bite my lower lip. "Tali was the first person from this galaxy I ever told about my past," I say. "She's known since the days before the original Normandy was destroyed. And she's also known why I kick myself over it for just as long."

"I see..." says Rael. "I... will have to think about this further. But... you have not lost any favor with me. You saved my life, and you have made my daughter happy. Unless there is something else I can think of, I could not ask for anything else."

I offer him a weak smile, even as I see Thane stride towards the elevator. "Thank you, Rael," I say. "Think about what you will, and... well... we'll talk then."

"Hopefully we shall," says the admiral, his voice cheerful. "Keelah se'lai."

And with this, he nods, walking away from me. Okay... so I still have the trust of at least one non-crew person. So there we go.

Man, I'm gonna be dealing with the fall-out of this for a while. I don't know why, but there it is.

I press the door panel of my quarters, stepping inside and stuff. I need to be alone for a while. I have a lot to think about.

* * *

It's quite some time later before we've reached the Citadel that EDI comes up again. By then, Tali has updated me on what's going on with Shepard and stuff. Apparently, she had been softened a bit from all the talking she had gotten, and was busy thinking about it. She was on the fence, and since I assume Thane went up there to talk to her...

And now, the verdict is here. Because EDI came up and told me that Shepard has decided what to do with me. So... she's asked for my presence in the Captain's quarters.

I'm taking it as a good sign that I have to go up there instead of her coming down here.

The elevator ride up to the captain's quarters is tense. I feel goosebumps crawling all over my skin. I just can't shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Or she's going to give me the boot. Or something...

I shake my head. Come on, Art, hold it together. She just wants to talk to you in the captain's quarters. I just... Hope for the best, and it'll all turn out all right. Maybe she'll want to gauge my opinion before we return Mangdalar to the Citadel. I just hope to all things holy that... Oh, damn it. This isn't making this any easier!

I bite my lower lip, closing my eyes. Okay, keep it together, Art. Keep it together. It won't do you any good if you freak out now... You can do this, Art. You can totally do this.

I take a deep breath, and before I know what else is up, the door of the elevator opens. A short way in front of me is the door to the captain's quarters. The panel is green, meaning the door's open. Tali told me she had kept the panel red since she had come back to the Normandy. Hm... This must mean she wants to see my face when I talk...

I walk over to the panel slowly, the elevator doors closing behind me. I feel my heart racing in anticipation as I get close to the little panel. God... What's Shepard going to say? Is she going to kick me off the ship? Or is she going to talk to me first? I... This is kind of scaring me, honestly. I just... Keep it together.

Finally, my hand touches the panel, and the door shifts slightly. The panel disappears, and before long the door opens-

-holy shit!

Yeah, this is the captain's quarters, all right, but... Jesus, this place is a fucking mess! I see some model ships lying scattered around the floor, various pieces having been broken off as I look around. Jesus Christ... I step inside, my eyes wide as I glance around Jesus... There's her personal terminal... it's all dented and stuff... And then there's a datapad lying on the ground somewhere, next to a picture frame. That must have been Kaidan's picture... and it's laying face-up, with a huge crack in the center. Jesus... Thane mentioned that she wasn't feeling so good, but damn! I enter the room further.

And there, sitting on the dishevelled bed is Shepard. Her eyes are swollen, with the cappillaries all showing and stuff. She looks like she's definitely seen better days, and for a second I can see the slight cybernetic scarring. She looks up at me, and her expression is somewhere between sorrow and anger.

The two of us maintain our distance, neither one of us willing to break the ice now. I bite my lower lip, shaking my head as I look to her. Damn it... This is going to be a tough conversation. Shepard simply sits there, and I find my eyes meeting hers. Damn it... this silence is getting awkward. I'm breaking the ice here.

"I..." I say. "I know that there isn't a whole lot I can say to make this better... So... you first."

She shakes her head, her gaze averting away from me. I can understand. "Do you know what it's like... do you understand what it's like when you find out one of your most trusted crew was lying to you the entire time?" she asks. She lets the question hang. "Especially in a mission like this?"

She shifts her posture on the bed, shaking her head bitterly. "I woke up from the dead, being ordered around by Miranda as the place was under attack," she says. "And then Jacob told me that Cerberus were the ones who resurrected me... but I bet you knew that."

"I did, yeah," I comment with a shrug. "Wilson betrayed you, I know that, too."

She shakes her head then. "I..." she says. "I don't like anything about this mission. The Illusive Man has run us into a trap, he's held information back, and he's monitoring everything we're saying. But... the worst part is that I can't help but think he's just letting me do whatever, only to pull the leash back if I don't do anything. I have the feeling he's going to stab me in the back sooner or later. So I need people I can trust. Like Garrus, or Tali, or... you." She shakes her head.

"So can you imagine what it's like when I find out that you, one of my most trusted crew members here, have been lying to me the whole time?" The commander lets out a heavy sigh.

I nod, closing my eyes. "I won't pretend I know what you're feeling," I say. "But... there wasn't much I can do." I open my eyes again, looking at Shepard. "And I did try to change events. I was the biggest reason why Kaidan is still alive now, you know. It was supposed to be between him and Ash on Virmire, not between me and Ash. I made sure he survived. And I tried to make sure Ash survive by disobeying your orders... I don't remember why I gave in. It's just... you know."

Shepard nods. "Knowing what I know about you now, I guess your insubordination makes so much more sense..." she says. "But you didn't try to change anything else..."

I bite my lower lip. "That's not entirely true," I reply. "Rael'Zorah was supposed to be dead when we boarded the Alarei. When I got forwarded that message, though, I knew I had to save him. So I sent him a warning without actually tipping him off." I glance back at the door before shrugging. "The results speak for themselves. And let's not forget Tali got pissed at me..."

"I can see that," she says. "I didn't understand her anger... until now."

I nod. "She was the first person in this galaxy I ever told about myself," I say. "But tell me, Shepard: how am I supposed to tell the one person who means more to me than anybody else in the galaxy that she's being tried for treason? I couldn't find any words to tell her about that. And that was just the possibility of her losing a home." I close my eyes, furrowing my eyebrows as I do. "How was I supposed to tell you that I knew you were going to die? There's no amount of spending time with people in an alternate dimension that can teach you how to tell someone when they're going to die..."

My shoulders droop slightly. "I lied about my origins because I had no other option," I say. "You know what people would've done if I told them something so crazy they wouldn't believe me. But not being able to say anything to anyone about what I knew? That tore me apart." I lean against the wall where the model ships would have been if they weren't strewn all over the captain's quarters. "It wasn't easy lying, and I absolutely _hated _that I knew things were going to happen and that I wasn't telling anybody about it. I had to hold in so much pain, Shepard."

"It's only natural that it gets released in a rant..." she says, looking at me with a slight nod. We're silent for a little bit. "Thinking back... I think Kaidan was right in his own little way." I blink, pushing myself lightly off the wall. "The night before Ilos, he told me he knew you weren't all you said you were. There was something about you, he said... He told me he didn't care, though. That he knew you always had our best interests in mind... Knowing what I do now, I guess I can see why you tried to defy my orders on Virmire. You wanted Ash to live, and only backed down when I threatened you... And you went out of your way to help Tali." She chuckles darkly. "God, I never thought I'd think about him positively right now. I guess you knew about Horizon, too... And yet you still let Kaidan and I fall in love."

"You needed whatever happiness you can get," I reply, shaking my head. "I figured Kaidan would be good to you. And to be honest? A small part of me hoped that he wouldn't dump you on Horizon like I saw him do." I let out a frustrated sigh. "I guess I was as wrong on that count as you. It was actually _worse _here than it was in the game... But I only wanted the best for you... I only wanted the best for everyone. And sometimes, I didn't even intend the best for everyone and it came out that way anyway."

"Even letting me die?" asks Shepard, her voice slightly hard.

I shrug. "I have no idea what would've happened if I had given you a hint to help you live," I comment. "That's the problem. And if you had lived? Who knows? The Council might not have helped you." I shake my head. "And if they're not helping you, we wouldn't be able to stop the Collectors. I don't know, Shepard... It's just... It's all really complicated. If they had lived...? Who knows? You might not be able to save the galaxy..." I shake my head, placing a hand on my forehead. "God, that sounds so dirty, now that I think about it... Here I am saying Cerberus is the only good force in the galaxy. And yet we both know what they did. To Kahoku, to Toombs..."

Shepard shakes her head. "It's sad when a terrorist organization is doing more to save the galaxy than the people that are supposed to be protecting it," she comments.

"I know..." I say, shaking my head. "But still... God, I hate using that justification. It makes lying to you seem like a good idea. But really, how many lies are there that can justify the fact that I'm betraying your trust? I just... I can't justify that I'm lying to you with the whole 'it's for the good of the galaxy' spiel. I just can't." I screw my eyes shut. Come on, Art, keep it together. I take a deep breath, opening my eyes again as my teeth graze my top lip. "I feel terrible about hiding the truth from you. And that's why I try to... well... I try to look out for you in any other way I can."

"Then I guess there's no doubt about your motives," she says. "Thane... He and I spoke before I asked EDI to call you to my quarters. He told me to give you a chance... I guess... I'm glad I did." She looks up at me. "Just tell me one thing. Your friendships: how do you feel about them?"

Oh dear... I look at her. I've... "I... I haven't given much thought to that, honestly," I say, offering a shrug. "The crazy thing is that I never thought I'd ever befriend anyone here... Back home, everyone here was just a collection of pixels." I close my eyes again, crossing my arms. "But there's something different about everyone when I talk with them in person. There's no dialogue wheel to stop me from asking them things I would never be able to ask. And... It's just more fulfilling. It just feels more... more real." I open my eyes. "It was surreal at first. But... I've grown used to it. I've never lied about how I feel about anyone here." I walk closer to Shepard. "I'm proud to call everyone on this ship my friend. I'm proud to call the people that know about my my closest friends. And I'm proud to call Tali... I'm proud to say she's the girl I love. And I... the attachments just feel so real to me, as much as they do to you. I have no reason to lie about that. Because when it comes down to it, you're all real people. And... I just can't describe it, Shepard. I don't think there are words to describe it..."

"You don't need to," replies the Commander with a solemn nod. "I'm glad Thane told me to give you a chance..." She nods. "I'd be lying if I said I'm still not hurt that you didn't tell me sooner... But hearing how much it hurt you from yourself..." The commander closes her eyes. "I understand." She pauses, still sitting on the bed as she still sits on the bed. "I'm... I'm sorry I doubted you. Your loyalty was put in question where it didn't need to be. You're dedicated to helping your friends, no matter what."

"I wouldn't have gone after Mangdalar for any reason," I comment. "I fight for my friends, you know."

She nods, opening her eyes. "Indeed you do," she says. "I don't totally trust you yet... but Kaidan was right with his opinion on it. You're still looking out for us in your own, strange little way."

I nod. Well... I guess I'm still with the mission, then. That's a relief. I guess. It's mitigated slightly by the fact that it took a lot of people a lot of time to get to this point... but here we are. "Thank you, Shepard," I say, pushing slightly off the wall. "But for what it's worth... I'm sorry. I should've told you the truth about myself earlier."

The commander raises her hand. "I understand," she says. "I just... I have a question about the game."

"What about?" I ask, raising one of my eyebrows.

"I..." she glances to the side, and then I can sense a defeated look from behind her red hair. "Did they ever show me... Well... like this?"

Hm? Why is she asking like this? I mean, she's here with all her model ships broken, her eyes puffy...

...and the residue of tears on her cheeks. Which I only now just noticed.

...

Oh.

I shake my head. "You were the player character," I reply. "They never showed you being insecure. You were kind of like a messiah, you know? Whether you were a dark messiah or not. But there was nothing like this." My feet shuffle across the floor, careful to treat the discarded ship models with care. "And the player tended to determine how you think." I slowly make my way to the bed that Shepard is sitting on. "Why do you ask?"

Jocelyn lets out a short exhale, and then sniffles softly. "No, I..." she says. "It's nothing."

Nothing? "I know you, Shepard," I say, frowning as I cross my arms. "You wouldn't ask me if it was nothing. Remember, I have the best intentions for everyone."

She nods, looking a little more grim by the second as she cries a silent tear. "I've been thinking about everything that's happened to me since I've been resurrected..." she says. "I never asked to be brought back from the dead, Art. And not like this..." She shakes her head softly. I bite my lower lip before carefully treading the remaining distance. I take my seat next to her as she continues. "I feel like almost everyone abandoned me. Liara abandoned my cause after... whatever it was that happened between her and the Shadow Broker. The Alliance abandoned me when I died. The Council abandoned me when I talked about the Reapers. Anderson abandoned me when I was dead and he couldn't do anything. And Kaidan... Kaidan, the man I thought I loved... he abandoned me too, just like the rest." She sniffles slightly. "And now I'm in a terrorist organization, almost against my will. And I have the fate of humanity on my shoulders. And if I fail, nobody is going to acknowledge it. And then everyone's just going to go around while the Reapers are invading..."

Wha...? This... This is a side I've never seen of her. Ever. I mean... Damn. I don't know what to think about all this. Commander Shepard... She's supposed to be strong. Not like this... Damn it. I've never seen Shepard like this...

"It's just..." she says. "With everyone abandoning me... it's a huge burden. And sometimes... I get the feeling that I'm trying to save a galaxy that doesn't _want _to be saved."

I nod, draping an arm over Shepard's shoulder. "You haven't been abandoned yet," I say. "You still have Tali, Garrus, and I. We still believe in you, and what you're fighting for. You still also have Joker and Chakwas: no amount of Alliance blind-siding could change that. And Wrex is still going to fight for our cause when called, even if he's not actually here. And you have others now. You've got Thane now, too. We'll all be here for you, Shepard. If we all get out of this alive, we all will."

The commander simply nods. "Thanks," she says with a nod and a small smile. "Here's hoping we can all get out of this together."

I offer her a small smile. "We _will_ get out of this," I say. "You're Commander Jocelyn Shepard. You've done the impossible once already. You can do it again."

"I don't know..." she offers. "But still... I guess it's nice to hear that. Just don't tell the crew or I really will kick you off the ship."

I let out a soft chuckle, my mood improving. Yeah... I got this. "Wouldn't dream of it, commander. Although now the entire ship knows about me."

"Hm..." she says. "It's been a bit tough on you, I take it."

"You've got no idea," I say. "I think I need a break."

"After the krogan party?" asks Shepard with a chuckle.

"Yeah," I say. "I think I just need to have a good time to get stuff out of my head."

"All right then," says Shepard. "Madison tells me she has to go to the Citadel anyway."

Hm? I glance right at the commander, a little confused. "Why?" I ask.

"Well... something came up for her," replies Shepard. "Some serial killer is beginning to make headlines on Westerlund News."

"Oh, you mean the outlet with that extremely punchable Khalisa al-Jilani bitch?" I ask, giving her a crooked smirk.

My commanding officer lets out a short laugh at this. "That's the one," she says. "They've been covering reports of a recent serial killer on the Citadel. But the MO is very similar to something she had to deal with in the past."

I blink, looking right at her. What...? "You mean... The Origami Killer is on the Citadel?"

"Or a copycat," says Shepard with a shrug. "I don't know with Madison. But boys have been found dead outside of the tunnels. Some think it's duct rats, but Khalisa al-Jilani's making a story out of how all the bodies they've recovered were found drowned instead of chopped up or disappeared."

"I see..." I comment, biting my lower lip. "Damn. That's not a good sign if the Origami Killer's back in action."

"No it isn't," she says. "But... I think you could do with a little bit of shore leave while I'm helping her with that. So I'll let you and whoever you want take it up."

I nod, glancing at her. "You sure this is not just some excuse to abandon me to the elements?" I ask.

"Right now?" asks Shepard. "I wouldn't dream of it, Serviceman. After telling you about my insecurities like that, I think it's fair to say you're here to stay."

All right! This is great news! I look at her, smiling. "Glad to hear it, Jocelyn."

And with this, we sit at Shepard's bed for most of the time heading over to the Citadel. We mostly manage to have some rather small conversations about various things. Mostly about shit that got on our nerves, and also mostly about things we found annoyed, but for a time, we were unified. And we managed to find our friendly relationship again. She laughed, I laughed, and even if there was a bittersweet feeling to the whole thing, it's still nice to know I've got a friend in Shepard.

Our friendship wasn't totally unsalvageable. There's a good thing in that.

I guess this means I'm loyal now. Or something. If I wasn't loyal already, I am now. Shepard got my loyalty.

And this means that when it comes time to kick Collective ass, I've got her back.


	35. Chapter 34

_A/N: And now, things are good between Art and Shepard. Will things change from this point forward?_

_You better believe they will. And especially with certain DLC missions that will be coming up soon. You know the ones._

_Crazy times will be had._

_But now... we have something to attend to on the Citadel. You all know Madison, right? Well... I figure since she's here, we'd have a little something here that would work as a tribute to her game of origin. After all, it is one of the best games on the PS3 (even if your mileage may vary greatly with it), and it's an incredible example of how damn effective interactive storytelling can be. So... her loyalty mission will be a retread of/tribute to Heavy Rain._

_Just as a warning, though: this chapter will have **MASSIVE **spoilers for Heavy Rain. You have been warned beforehand, and if you have not played it yet be aware that there will be several plot points (including a shocking swerve) that will come into play here._

_Before I start, though, I want to take this time to tell you to avoid a really, really bad fic. Do NOT read _The Patriots _by ArmedSammy123. Why? I'll tell you: it's got a political message that's so over-the-top in how heavy handed it is that it would make Michael Bay weep in anguish! And it wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't a god damn Tea Party zealot, either. And he's so falsely personable it makes me kinda sick (and makes me want to go have discussions with DarkDanny, who at least harbors some intelligence). Seriously, I've never had so many problems with a fanfic as I have had with _The Patriots_. And it's not even that it's a political message for the Tea Party; it's that the political message in question is so god-damn obvious it's painful. I can't even explain the seething rage I feel when I look at that fic, and then at the person who wrote it. _

_So don't read it. Trust me, I'm doing all of you a favor by saying that._

_Okay... with that out of the way, let's get to the chapter._

* * *

Chapter 34: Heavy Rain In Space

The rest of the way to the Citadel is rather quiet, thank Cthulhu. Or someone. Either way, it means that I'm still on the ship after a hard day's rescuing Mangdalar and spilling my secret.

Now that the whole crew knows, though... I don't know what's gonna happen now. Now that Miranda knows about the Reaper IFF, there's no doubt in my mind she's going to try to be proactive about saving the crew as best as possible. Kind of a shame I forgot to tell her about the geth we'll be finding on that derelict Reaper... Oh, well. I guess I can always let her know before the mission.

For now, though... I need a break from all this emotionally crazy stuff.

Which is being provided curtesy of Mangdalar and Shepard. Shepard, who's letting it happen since Madison needs to take care of business here anyway, and Mangdalar because it'll be a joyous reunion with Yelena.

And I think about how Yelena will be there to greet Mangdalar as I adjust the collar on my casual dress from aboad the Normandy. Mangdalar, Tali, and Madison are all here at the moment, waiting on other people. Mangdalar is busy adjusting one of the bandages under the spare outfit Garrus was able to spare for the turian. He sure looks a lot better than he did when he got on the Normandy. My impostor really did a number on him, I think. But he'll be all right. After all, it was only a small amount of rope burns and he was safe, and on a turian rope burns aren't that bad given their hide. But still, he does have a few cuts on his arms.

Hopefully, Mangdalar and Yelena won't get down with the celebratory sex just yet.

And with this, I look back out the airlock, seeing Thane join us as he nods. Hm... He's probably going to go see Kolyat. He's got Bailey to worry about, after all, so... yeah... And soon after, Madison, Garrus, Kasumi, and Shepard are all joining us at the airlock. I nod to the thief, and then we all go straight into the airlock as a collective unit.

Speaking of which, it gets hella tight with this many people in it. I wonder how Shepard's gonna work with it, considering that she always takes five people with her on the ground team at any given moment. Well, here at least. Not in the game. But still... I think I prefer the size upgrade here. That always works to my advantage in some form or another. Especially where former Blue Suns founders are concerned. At least I'm still on the ship...

So the decontamination cycle goes through its thing, and I'm left crushed in here somehow. I'm just glad I'm in my casual uniform at the moment. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. And things would completely suck. Because armor wasn't meant to be worn while you're getting crushed in an airlock. And that ain't no lie.

Finally, the decontamination cycle ends, and then we're all coming out of the airlock. I let out a rather soft sigh as I suddenly feel burdens lifted off, and I look to the others as they file out of the cramped airlock. I look over to the group, watching as Tali rubs her suit slightly. Shepard looks to all of us, all in her combat armor and stuff. She looks to us, nodding as we all exit the airlock.

And as we thin out...

"Mangdalar!"

We look towards the source of the voice, but before we can there's a light blue asari rushing towards us, adorned in an orange dress. Mangdalar doesn't get to say anything before she roughly grabs him in a hug, and before we know it she's sobbing into the turian's chest. Yep... that's Yelena all right. And she's looking all right herself. The turian for his part holds Yelena close to him, closing his own eyes as we all look at the asari. They hold their hug for a few seconds before they part, the asari's tears still flowing from her eyes.

"I thought you were going to die," she says, her voice shaking slightly. "I was so afraid..."

"So was I, Yelena," replies Mangdalar. "So was I... I'm just thankful Art came in time. I don't know what they would've done to us had he not come in when he did..."

Yelena nods, biting her lower lip. "If only I hadn't been so gullible!" she says. "This wouldn't have happened..."

I shake my head, coming forward. "Nobody here could've predicted it," I say. "And who knows what would've happened?"

Mangdalar's girlfriend simply nods. "Thank you for getting us out of that," she says. "I don't know how to thank you for that..."

I shrug. "Don't, then," I say, looking at her. "Just seeing you here, in one piece is all I really need. And also, you can say hi to some of my friends here."

She looks behind me, suddenly seeing the mass of people behind us. Her eyes seem to bulge as she looks at all of us, but she holds her composure in, approaching them as Mangdalar and I step out of the way. She glances to Tali, giving the quarian a soft smile and an imperceptible nod. She looks over to the rest of them, and her eyes settle squarely on the commander.

"I take it you're Commander Shepard," says Yelena. "Art has talked quite a lot about you and the crew of the Normandy while he has known us."

"That I am," Shepard comments. "It's good to see you're safe."

"I'm glad to be safe," replies the asari. "Thank you for everything you've done, for Art and for myself."

Shepard nods, gesturing to the rest of the crew that have come with us. That... takes a bit, I think. And that will take care of itself. Yelena is rather warm to everyone, and before long, we end up getting a move towards the C-Sec checkpoint.

* * *

It's after we get out of the C-Sec checkpoint that Shepard, Madison, Garrus, and Thane all split towards Bailey's office at C-Sec. Thane is undoubtedly off to visit Kolyat where Bailey helped him out. And Garrus and Madison are obviously going to investigate the Origami Killer by themselves with Shepard's help.

So they'll be left to do that. Here's hoping they catch this new Origami Killer.

And this leaves Tali, Kasumi, and I to go gallivanting around on the Citadel.

Wherein we've moved along to do stuff. And now... we're in the Zakera ward, running around the areas as we're all striking up conversations. Strictly about ourselves, of course. It's gone all over the place, from Kasumi talking about how she likes certain asari artists to various things referring to our joint score for _Last Days of the Earth_. That always seems to come up whenever Kasumi meets someone who knows me or Mangdalar. It's kinda funny like that in its own strange little way. But... there we have it.

So now... we're hanging around the Dark Star Lounge, off to do other things. Some of us have drinks in hand... we're just gonna hang around here before we do other stuff...

"So... you and Tali are officially together now?"

This comes from Yelena, and almost immediately I can feel Tali wanting to shrink back. Yeah, Tali was always a rather timid one, wasn't she? I look to Yelena and nod simply. "Well, yeah," I comment. "Looks like Mangdalar was right on the money, yeah?"

"That he is," she says as she glances to the turian in question, who's in a conversation with Kasumi about something. "He's got good intuition."

"I think he does," I comment, glancing at Tali as we both watch Yelena. "We wouldn't have gotten as far as we did without his reasonably good eye on what commissions to take and what not to take."

"Indeed," says Yelena. "But... It must be difficult, not being able to kiss. With the suit." She pauses, a hand coming up behind her neck. "Not to sound racist or anything..."

Tali shakes her head. "Don't worry, I'm not offended," she says.

I shrug, looking at the asari in question. "We manage," I comment. "Honestly, the physical component isn't something you really need, you know what I mean? We do well enough without having to touch each other, you know?"

Yelena simply nods at this. "Yes, I can see that," she says. "That would make a good romance vid, I think. Now if only they could actually make it good."

Tali and I share a chuckle at this, looking over at the asari as I shake my head. "And you lost your optimistic attitude about the damn things, I see," I comment.

"I finally got sense beaten into me by you and Mangdalar," she says. "Just after you left... you know that _Vaenia_ vid that came out? Mangdalar and I watched it after you left. And I absolutely hated it. The thing was so cheesy that I couldn't take it seriously."

I shrug. "Yeah, I could sort of tell it wasn't going to be good from the trailer," I comment. "And now... here we are..."

"Looks like some things change a little too easily..." says Tali.

"You're telling me," says Yelena, shaking her head as she gestures to us with a bemused smile on her face. Her eyes dance around the crowd, and then she indicates something with her head. "By the way, there's been some human at the bar that's been looking back at you two for the entire conversation. It's been disturbing, to be honest."

Hm...? Great, are they more Reds here to finish what the others started? I glance over to the direction in question. I swear, if it's another one of those fucking Tenth Street Reds, I'm gonna-

... Black hair, Alliance casual dress... And the hair is done in that highly distinguishable way. Nobody else could have that hairdo and have it be as distinctive as him... I'll bet he's got that voice, too...

...

Shit.

"Oh, God, it's Kaidan..."

"Kaidan?" asks Yelena.

"Uh... The Commander's ex-boyfriend," I mention, turning to the asari. "You didn't hear this from me, but they got involved when they were hunting Saren. Shepard vanishes off the grid for two years, he encounters her at a human colony, and he dumps her right on the spot. It was brutal."

Yelena frowns. "It doesn't sound like the whole story," she adds.

I roll my eyes. "That's because I'd be here all day if I told you the whole story," I reply. "And I was there when he dumped her. Son of a bitch needs to have a few words spoken to him."

"Well... I think Mangdalar might ask to leave soon..." says the harpist, taking a look back at her turian lover. "You should go talk to him. I'll stay here with Mangdalar. If we're not here, look for us at the entrance."

"Got it," I say with a nod. Okay... I close my eyes, taking a deep breath. This is gonna be absolutely crazy. I glance back at Tali. God... I hope she's got something good for me... Yeah, her eyes are telling me to be careful. The subtle look of her eyes slightly closed is telling me quite a bit...

I nod, and then I stand up. Okay... It's time to confront Kaidan A-lame-ko about what he did on Horizon...

I walk right up to the bar, taking the empty seat next to the staff commander, and I nod as I look at him. I glance at him, but he knows that I'm sitting next to him. And now... Hm, his expression is kind of wierd. It's somewhere between angry and confused at my presence here... Well, Kaidan, you should be fucking scared, that's what you should be at the moment. That you're not is something of a miracle.

After about half a minute, I turn my attention to him.

"Staff Commander Kaidan Alenko," I say, turning to him. "It's been a while."

"Don't remind me," says the staff commander. "The last thing I want to think about is what happened on Horizon."

Hm... Well, sir, you've just made life harder for yourself. "Well, that's the _only _thing I feel like bringing up in your presence at the moment, so you're out of luck," I shoot back, giving him a frown as I turn to him. "What the hell were you thinking, not letting Shepard explain herself like that? That was very unlike you, Kaidan."

"Then maybe you didn't know me that well," replies the staff commander. "Just like I still don't know you that well."

"Touché," I reply, crossing my arms. "But still, you just dumped Shepard like that..."

"You think I dumped her?" asks Kaidan.

I blink, giving a shrug. "Well, you don't leave much room for interpretation when you up and ignore what the girl you love is trying to tell you," I say. "Haven't you heard that communication is the lover's strongest tool, Kaidan?"

"I know, I know," he says. "I just... I can't stop thinking about what happened on that place." He looks at me, and... Wow, damn, he's kind of sad-looking at the moment. I don't know why, but there it is. "I regret everything I said there. I know I should've listened. She wouldn't do anything with Cerberus if she didn't have a good reason to."

I frown, shifting in my seat. "Then you should've given her the chance to explain herself, you son of a bitch," I reply. "And you know what makes it even worse? You're the _only _person from the original ground team that didn't give her the benefit of the doubt. Tali and Garrus are both on her team right now, as am I. Wrex listened to her when we got on Tuchanka, and even if he can't help us, we still have his trust. And Liara... While she might have turned into a bitch, she still trusts Shepard with the basic shit. Hell, Joker and Chakwas are both crew on the new Normandy. And you... You, who cared so much about her when we were on the original Normandy... You were the one who refused to listen to her." I shake my head in disgust. "You _better_ fucking regret what you said, Kaidan. Because it tore her apart."

Kaidan nods. "And it's tearing me apart, too," he says. "I... Anderson told me just now that he knew Shepard had been brought back to life... And what she was doing, and how Cerberus was the only one doing anything..." The former LT shakes his head. "I've been an idiot, Art. I just... I want to reconnect with Shepard. Maybe get back to what we once had..."

Hm... Well, something tells me I'm gonna take great pleasure in this. "Well, you're a bit late to jump on the bandwagon for that," I comment. "Shepard took your motion on Horizon as an 'I'm dumping you' moment. As far as she knows, you and her are no longer together."

"For a time, I thought so too..." says Kaidan. "And I-"

"I wasn't finished," I interrupt. The staff commander looks at me with a slightly bewildered expression, and then a smirk comes to my face as I lean back. "Hey, you interrupted Shepard twice on Horizon. I get one more interruption on you, just so you know. Anyway... she probably won't give a rat's ass about what you think. Face it, Kaidan. You were the one she counted on most to keep her sane, and you just up and dumped her. So... you can ask the new guy what he thinks of you."

"W... what?" asks Kaidan. "She's..."

"Yep. She's taken by someone else now," I say, crossing my arms. I shake my head. "Shame, really. You should've listened to Shepard. But... you know how it is..."

"Something tells me you like this new man more..." says Kaidan, eyeing his drink as he lets out a breath.

"Yeah," I say. "I like him more because he understands what you left better than you probably ever could've. He's sensitive... religious, in a certain sense... He's also got more than one reason to appreciate Shepard. He's dying, Kaidan. And that means other things."

"He's dying?" he asks. "So... that means I only have to wait, right?"

...

Did... Did he...?

I frown, glaring at him as my mouth hangs ajar. "You did not just say that."

Kaidan blinks, my glare only intensifying. It's only then that he realizes what he's said, and then he covers his mouth. I shake my head, closing my mouth as I close my eyes. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, Kaidan," I continue. "You really need to start thinking before you speak here. Jesus, first you abandon her, and then you say something ridiculously insensitive about her new boyfriend behind her back. I can't fucking believe you, Kaidan. Whatever happened to the old you?"

"Art, it just-"

"I don't care if it slipped. That you said it says you were thinking it..." I say. "I could've gone the rest of my life without having heard you say what you just did. I could've gone without knowing you were thinking that."

"Art, won't you let me explain myself?" asks Kaidan.

Oh, typical mofo behavior. I shake my head getting up off of my seat. "Oh, and now that _you're _the one who's being interrupted, you're asking _me _to let _you _explain _yourself_," I say, getting uncomfortably close to his face. "Shove it, Kaidan. You didn't give Shepard a chance to explain herself. Give me one good reason I should let you explain yourself now after that."

The lieutenant looks at me, his eyes wide as he shakes his head. "Art... I thought we were friends," he says. "Listen to me because I'm your friend."

...

No. Just no. You could've used a completely different argument, Kaidan.

Too bad I don't have a gun... that would be great to go all Jules Winnfield on his ass. But not now. I've got other things in mind.

Before I can even think about it, my hand curls into a fist. It promptly flies into Kaidan's face, and a harsh crack sounds as suddenly, he's sent falling back. He catches himself on another chair, the free hand rushing up to his face as his nose starts to bleed. He glances up at me in shock, and I shake my head. Some of the bar patrons turn to look as I cross my arms, looking right at him.

"Not good enough," I say, crossing my arms. "For your information, I stopped considering you a friend when you denied Shepard the right to speak for herself back on Horizon. What comes around, goes around, Kaidan. Think about what I just told you."

With this, I walk away, shaking my head. I glance back to where Kaidan is sitting there with a look of absolute shock on his face. He's nursing his well-deserved bloody nose as I walk back to my friends, who have gathered at the entrance. Okay... fuck Kaidan Alenko. Shepard needed him there, and he wasn't there at all. So fuck him.

I walk back over to the group I was with, Tali breaking away from the group as I walk towards it. She nods as I come forward, and her hand slips into mine casually.

"Art...?" she asks. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I reply with a nod. "I can't say the same for Kaidan, though."

"That punch does not look healty for him," comments Yelena.

"Art, are you sure you should have handled that the way you did?" asks Tali as I come closer. "You didn't give him a chance to speak, and you interrupted him twice. It's not like you."

"Well, Kaidan didn't give Shepard a chance to speak, and he also interrupted her twice," I say, rubbing my hands together. "I say it's time someone gave him a taste of his own medicine, you know?"

"But why be so violent about it?" asks Mangdalar.

I shake my head. "Because he pissed me off," I reply. "You know what I hate? I hate it when people are trying to tell you something and you won't listen. That's why I was so pissed at Kaidan. He should've let Shepard explain herself to him, end of story. And if I have to get violent to hammer that into his head, then so be it."

Tali shakes her head. "I don't like that you did that, though," she says. "You should have been the better man and let him explain."

But I can't. Because I wanted him to get a taste of his own medicine. Or whatever. "I should've," I say. "But I didn't want to let him explain. I wanted him to know what it was like to be in Shepard's shoes when he dumped her."

The quarian looks a little dismayed at this, but before she can say anything I hear a click from Mangdalar's mouth. "Remind me never to get on your bad side," adds Mangdalar with a wry motion of his mandible.

"Mangdalar, you're already really far from my bad side," I reply with a hand wave. "But anyhow... I think we were off somewhere?"

"I think we were," replies Kasumi cheerfully. "Come on. Let's go!"

With this, the group of us walk out of the Dark Star lounge. I mean, seriously, what the hell was up with Kaidan? Jeez... To say something so damn thoughtless, and then thinking he can explain himself when he barred Shepard from doing the same? If he won't let her explain, people shouldn't let him explain himself either. End of story. But that's neither here nor there. For now... I still have relaxation to have.

So we walk along, and-

I suddenly hear a soft splash as I step down.

... What?

I suddenly glance down, hearing a series of soft splashes as I continue walking.

... The Citadel... flooding? What the hell?

I glance up, then, stopping where I stand without even noticing that Tali's not leading me anymore. And the people on the Citadel are just milling about... Like they don't even see it...

And then, they all just stop, standing right in place after one particular step.

... Oh, no... Don't tell me...

Before I can wonder on much else, I suddenly see a gigantic wave of water approach me from one end of the floor. I look up in shock... Jesus, that thing is huge!

I let out a strangled cry, rushing away from the coming tide as quickly as I can. But... it doesn't help with all the citizens in the way. And so, I feel the water hit me, and I black out as I realize that something crazy just happened.

* * *

_Oh, crap, I am in one of those things again!_

_I find myself suspended in the same submerged house I've been suspended in the last few times something like this happened. It's all watery around me, somehow I can breathe... And yet... It's a little more vibrant this time, and the house seems to allow more details to be known to me. Like... those were seriously the colors of the house's walls? And... and all the cracks lead to nothing!_

_But seriously, what the hell, man? This is only supposed to happen in my dreams! Never in the real world! What the fuck is happening here? And why is the house so much easier to look at now...?_

_I can't dwell on it now, I guess... I better just go around this house again to see what I can see..._

_And so, I begin swimming around the house. Okay... There's gotta be one of those floating bodies... Hm... I started in an upstairs area? Huh. I never would have known._

_I swim over to where I see the stairs, swimming through them. Yeah, this is the typical path I take. Huh. I never noticed that I was swimming down a flight of stairs! That's... definitely something I never thought I'd ever do, even back home in Florida. I guess. I need to follow the corridors, same as I always would._

_As I swim through the corridors, I take note of the furniture that's moving. It's all the same, moving up and down, kind of like an anamatronic in Disney World or something like that. This... is a little crazy. What the hell caused this? I wish Orange would fucking speak up about the god-damn thing when I ask her about it! Jeez!_

_I swim through the same pre-ordained paths as before, rounding the corner in the strange apartment hallway. But as soon as I come out of the hallway into the room with the submerged coats..._

_Holy crap... is that... a turian boy?_

_I swim over to the boy, his body floating in the water as I swim over there... Jesus... what's going on with him? And why's he here so much earlier than he should be?_

_I approach the boy, and gently turn him around._

_And there... I see the boy in the water, looking right at me with eyes painted with fear. I jolt slightly as his body moves almost lifelessly, but the soul in his eyes is tangible as I watch him. Okay... dark red, with a black tattoo on his face. Huh, who knew turians got their faces painted at such a young age? It's wearing off realtively fast, though..._

_But why's he here, and not at the end...?_

_Jesus... I'm asking myself way too many questions here..._

_"Daddy?" he asks. "Where are you? It's so cold... Help me!"_

_I blink, taking in a breath as I watch the kid through the strange water. My heart wells with pity for him, and I shake my head._

_"Don't worry, kid, help is on the way."_

_He can't actually hear me; I can tell as he continues going on. I... should leave him alone for now. There's something bigger waiting for me at the end of this hallway, I can tell... And it's not gonna be pretty._

_I nod to the turian boy, who doesn't regard my presence at all._

_Right... Let's keep moving. I continue swimming forward and through the rest of the submerged house. I slowly swim through the wierd crane-shaped room... up another flight of stairs that I didn't even realize was there... past the blooming orchids... (And damn, they're _red_ orchids! I never would've thought red was a standard orchid color!) past the grave... and by the wierd acid trip portal._

_Okay... I'm here, in the futuristic room. At the end, is a body of a boy, floating there like it's already dead. I take a breath, beholding it as I watch the things whirr around. Hm... there's something... different about this boy. He's human, obviously... but his clothing is a little strange. Maybe he was a duct rat? I don't know... Why would he use a duct rat, anyway? If this is all supposed to be symbolic, it seems weird to have all the children look exactly like the victim's Bailey's found over the course of their investigation into this new origami killer. Maybe it was practice for his method? No, it can't be... the duct rats never had family... but if this is just a copycat..._

_I need to see this body. Maybe it'll provide an insight into what the hell's going on here._

_I swim up to it, feeling my heart pounding against my ribcage with a vengeance as I swim twoards the child. I blink at least once, and while I get there very quickly the journey to the kid seems to take forever. I... I don't know why I feel this sense of foreboding... I guess I'll find out why when I get there..._

_When I'm floating in front of the child, I look at the back of his head. It's a shade of hair that's kind of brownish... And it's familiar... Where have I seen that color of hair before?_

_I... I don't know..._

_Slowly, my hand comes to his shoulder, and I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Here goes nothing._

_I turn the body around in the water, and open my-_

_Holy shit!_

_It's... Oh my god! No... This can't be..._

_In front of me, I see a human boy. His eyes are so familiar, and only now do I realize he's in a white jacket and green pants. Oh my God... Oh my fucking God..._

_I stare into his eyes in disbelief, but the child moves his arms rather quickly. And then he opens his mouth as if to speak._

_"He's not dead, dad. I know he isn't."_

_Oh my God! Oh my fucking God! This... No!_

_It's Shawn Mars! It's Shawn fucking Mars! This-! Oh my God! Oh my God!_

_I let out a scream as I quickly swim back. I hear the boom of the dream collapsing all around me, but I can't be bothered to care as suddenly everything we're in seems to freefall, with the furniture going wild all over the room. I feel a sharp knock on my head-_

* * *

-and then I promptly take a gasp of air as my eyes widen instantaneously, leaning forward as my mouth hangs agape at what I've just seen.

"Art, are you all right?"

I quickly turn my head to look at Mangdalar. What...? I blink further, and then see we're in a bed somewhere. Oh dear... we're in Mangdalar's residence! Well, we were headed here anyway... but...

"How long was I out?" I ask him quickly.

"Three hours," he says.

Shit... think, Art, think... what the hell was Shawn Mars doing in there? What could he have been doing in that...

... Unless... They never explained what Ethan went through when he blacked out, right...? What if... what if it was _that_? No, Art, don't be ridiculous, _Heavy Rain _doesn't have a paranormal element. A sci-fi element, maybe, but never a paranormal element.

But... Shawn Mars was in there... and he's not dead yet... Meaning the Origami Killer is still about...

... I don't know what's going on. But the fact that Shawn was still breathing... that meant that the kid had to have been saved. Which means that either Ethan made it to the warehouse, or Jayden and Ethan got to the warehouse...

But wait... if the alien kids are here... does that mean...?

Shit! That means Scott is here somewhere! Wait...

That guy I bumped into on my date with Tali. He was fat... and his voice...

Oh my God! I remember where I heard his voice now! That was Sam Douglas' voice! And Sam Douglas voiced and provided the motion capture for Scott Shelby, who was also fat and the Origami Killer! Shit! That means... That means that either Ethan killed Scott at the warehouse, or it was Norman who did it. Either way, this means that somehow, Scott Shelby wound up on the Citadel!

Shit, this confirms Madison as a chosen one. And Sturge isn't the only one of these 'confirmers', as Orange so eloquently put it. Which means... Yes, I know who to watch for in the future. And damn it, Orange was _right _when she mentioned I might have to defeat a confirmer. Shit...

If he's here, and that turian boy was floating in the water... And if those salarian and batarian children were floating in the water where Shawn was at the end of the latest sequence...

_Crap!_

It's happening all over again! And that turian kid is gonna be his next victim when sixty-nine hours pass! Shit! I've gotta do something!

I burst out from wherever the hell I was resting on, and I shake my head as I rush towards the door. I see the turian stand up.

"Art?" he asks, a great deal of concern in his voice.

"Don't mind me," I shout. "Something crazy is about to go down. And if we don't move fast, there's a kid who's gonna die!"

I don't even give Mangdalar time to respond to this before I exit his room in the apartment. I then rush out, brushing past everyone as I leave my residence. Crap... Gotta get to the Zakera ward! Now!

I've gotta help Madison!

* * *

I barely get any time to deal with Tali and Kasumi before suddenly Tali ends up tagging along with me on the ride back to the Zakera ward. Come on, why can't rapid transportation be more rapid than this? Even Tali is beginning to get nervous. Kasumi volunteered to stay behind with Mangdalar and Yelena for whatever reason, and that leaves Tali and I to go find Shepard, Madison, and Garrus so we can all get stuff done.

Yeah... Rapid transport is pretty slow... but it finally gets us to the Zakera ward. And soon after, Tali and I are rushing past the rather large crowd of people to attempt to get up to Bailey's office. Oh, come on, Shepard, be there, please, be there...

We rush right up the stairs, thundering past some of the markets as we run past a whole bunch of bystanders... Okay... Come on... Yes, Bailey's office is that way, where the docking bay is... Okay, yeah... hold on...

And we find ourselves at the office now. Bailey's behind his console... Yes! Shepard, Madison, and Garrus are all here! Yes! This is a good sign for all of us!

I look at them wildly, even as Garrus turns to us and notices Tali and I standing there. Ever so slowly, I get the attentions of Shepard, Bailey, and Madison. When they all have our attention, Bailey is the first to speak.

"Can I help you with something?" he asks.

"Not really," I say, looking to Madison. "This is related to the Origami Killer." I then walk right up to the Journalist. "I just realized something. When we were on the Citadel when Shepard was taking care of Thane's problem... I bumped into someone. He was large... And I thought I recognized him. And thinking about it now... I just realized. We're not dealing with a copycat of the Origami Killer. We're dealing with _the _Origami Killer."

At this, Madison takes a step back, leaning towards Bailey as her eyes widen. "W... what?" she asks. "How... How is that even possible?" She shakes her head, biting her lip. "No, don't answer that. That means that this whole case just got a whole lot worse."

"Frankly, I don't see how this case could get any worse," replies Bailey. "We already have three kids that're dead on our hands, and we have a fourth one who could die very soon. Westerlund News isn't helping, either."

Oh, yeah. That bitch. "I can imagine..." This is looking more like _Heavy Rain _with each passing moment. First, it's Scott Shelby who's the Origami Killer, then it's taking a bunch of young boys... and now it's complete with the annoying press. At least Bailey is no Captain Perry, and at least Harkin isn't actually alive. That's a good thing, since Harkin's the closest thing to Carter Blake I can find around here. Though I doubt Harkin would be as... harsh to suspects as Carter Blake. Ugh, the things that man did to suspects... Especially if Ethan got arrested after lopping off his finger... And Perry would just _let _it happen. That's ridiculous. Though... Khalisa al-Jilani is much worse than any of the press in _Heavy Rain_: they at least stuck to being the paparazzi instead of being extremely punchable.

"No matter what, this complicates things," says Madison. "Do you know what happened to the last three fathers?"

"Oh, the last three?" asks Bailey. "They all disappeared during the course of the investigation. Our investigation kept on making them suspects, but the psych profiles we had gathered didn't add up. I don't see how they relate to the case, though..."

The journalist shakes her head. "The fathers have _everything _to do with the case," she reiterates. "If this is the original Origami Killer we're talking about, the main focus should be on the fathers, not the sons."

"Why?" asks Shepard.

"The Origami Killer kills the boys, yes," says Madison. "But on Earth, they stayed in the same place. Technically, the Origami Killer didn't kill them. The elements did."

"I don't see how that makes much sense..." replies Bailey. "Except... Now that I think about it, the fact that all of our victims were drowned to death, I think I can see where you're coming from." He frowns, glancing back up at Madison. "Now this case is getting interesting. What did he do to those children?"

"He would trap them in a ditch as it slowly filled with water over the course of seventy-two hours," says Madison, eliciting shocked gasps from most of the people in the room. "And they were locked in there with no way to get out from their end."

"That's sick," says Shepard, the frown forming on her face absolute. "Who would do such a thing to a child?"

"Not to a child, but to the father," she says. "I'm not really sure how, but somehow the Origami Killer would give a bunch of trials to the fathers. He tested the fathers' resolve to save their son by giving them bits and pieces of the address where their son would be whenever they completed the trials. And they had to do all five before they could find the son. And the killer uses whatever he can find in this. Decayed buildings, sky car routes... He had to go all over the place..."

Bailey blinks. "That plan should've fallen apart by now," says the C-Sec captain. "They could go to us if they have enough of the address pieced together. Then we can go and find the child. Or records could have shown up of ownership."

I shake my head. "Most fathers in their desperation probably wouldn't think of that," I say, biting my lower lip.

Madison shakes her head. "Besides, these aren't your average trials," she says. "From what the father I had some interaction with told me, one of the trials took place in an abandoned power plant. And besides, no father should be asked to chop one of their own fingers off to save their son."

At this, the C-Sec captain leans forward, his expression registering some small amount of surprise. Judging by how quickly he leaned forward, though, he's shocked. I shake my head. If only you knew, Bailey. The trials also require said father to commit premeditated first-degree murder to get a piece of the address. And that's in addition to the mayhem he's already caused with the driving bit that came way earlier.

"This is worse than I thought," says Bailey.

"We still have tracking on the current father, right?" asks Shepard.

"One of our C-Sec officers decided to keep covert watch," says Bailey. "Not my orders, but she felt it could help get the job done. Knowing what I do now, I think I should've ordered her to do it." Bailey types at her console. "She hasn't officially reported back yet, but she is keeping a tracker on her person that we can use to find her in case she finds something out. And she has stayed in one place for longer than a few minutes, so I can only assume she's still keeping track of the father's movements. You can find her if you want. I won't send in the cavalry until you find out where the kid is, but this new information might not be good."

"Give us the tracking code," says the Commander. "We'll help this man no matter what it takes."

"Knowing your track record, you'd be up for it," says Bailey, typing away at the terminal. A few seconds later, and a satisfying ping sounds from Shepard's omnitool. Shepard looks at it, and then she takes a look at it. "The father's name is Eltarn Maios. And he's currently with agent Yultar Balker."

Right... Eltarn Maios... Hm, that sounds a lot like Ethan Mars, the more I think about it. "All right," says Shepard. "Anything else?"

"Be careful with Eltarn," says Bailey. "From how he looked at some of my workers, I have a feeling he won't trust humans. If you find him, you'll have to convince him you're there to help."

We all nod. "Got it," says Madison. "Let's hope we can save his son in time..."

With this, we all promptly leave the office, Shepard looking at Madison and I as Garrus and Tali move on ahead. "Art?" asks Shepard. "I thought you were with Mangdalar."

"I was," I comment. "But then... I don't know. I must have passed out in the middle of the street or something, because I had this really wierd... vision, I would call it." I gesture as I continue on. "I was in this... this house. It was completely submerged under water, and the corridors seemed endless. Somewhere around the middle of one of the corridors, I ran into this turian boy. Probably the current kid who's in danger. But I swam past him... And then, when I got to the end of the house, there was this floating boy..." I turn to Madison. "It was Shawn Mars."

The journalist instantly freezes, as does Garrus, who looks back at me. "Shawn Mars?" asks Shepard. "Who was that?"

"That was the son of Ethan Mars," says the turian vigilante, looking right at Shepard as he turns to us. "He was the last victim of the Origami Killer where Madison came from... And the son of the man who was Madison's last boyfriend..."

"That's pretty much it," says the female vigilante, shaking her head. "Damn it... This is getting more complicated. And we don't have very much time to save the kid."

"Then we save the kid," says Shepard. "Right now, we're pinpointing him somewhere within the Tayseri Ward. Art, Madison... From what it sounds like, you've both had experience with the Origami Killer. How does he work?"

I nod, biting my lower lip. Madison was the first to speak though. "From what I remember, Scott Shelby was a retired cop," she states. "He would know how most police forces work."

"C-Sec would be radically different from what he's used to, though," points out Garrus.

"Only in technology, not in tendencies," says Madison. "Knowing him... He'd probably stick entirely to a ward that doesn't have much law enforcement in it. It would also work for him since those places are also typically places he could very easily cover his tracks. The police force back in our home city definitely didn't help with that, though. I know that he worked from an abandoned building for one of his trials..."

"That helps," says Shepard, before turning to me. "Art. You said Madison was also in your predicament, right?"

"Yeah," I say. "And I played the game that portrayed her events."

Shepard nods at this. "Okay, that helps," she says. "Do you have anything to add that might be helpful?"

I nod. "From what I remember, most of the trials took place in abandoned buildings as Madison mentioned," I continue. "But... in at least one case he had to get something from someone else. And then one of the trials asked him to kill someone..." I shake my head. "Granted, said person to be killed was a drug dealer, but he also had two daughters. You could either chose to spare him, or you could kill him. Either way..." I shake my head. "He'd purchase as little real estate as possible. It's not easy getting more real estate than an apartment to live in if you're a private investigator. Even more so when you don't actually make any money and you're addled by suddenly being thrust a little under two hundred years into the future. I take it you didn't find any genetic markers at the scene?"

"No," says Madison. "It was just like it was back home."

I shrug. "At least we know what he looks like," I comment with a shrug. "But we won't know for sure until we find Eltarn. If my memory is correct, and if he's done everything as I remember Ethan to have done it, he should have some kind of box that will have five origami figures that tell him where each of his trials are. It should also have a handgun. If this were Earth, it would also have a cell phone and a battery, but that might have been swapped out for an omni-tool here, I don't really know."

"Well, we have a place to start," comments Shepard. "That's better than nothing."

"That it is," says Madison, taking in a deep breath. "Come on. We need to save the kid."

And with this, the five of us quickly follow Shepard as she reads off the location of this Eltarn guy to us.

* * *

We're in a more ruined part of the Tayseri ward before we know it. Well... more specifically, we're at the transit station. Because this is where the tracking marker moved to while we were on Rapid Transit over there. Feels wierd investigating crime in this here part of the Tayseri ward, as you wouldn't think that the artistic center of the Citadel would be a place where crime would run rampant. But... then again, the rebuilding after Sovereign is still going on, so there's that. Makes it an ideal place to hide children.

But where would there be a building that has a slowly rising body of water within the Tayseri ward? At least in the game it's justified by the fact that the ditch filled up very slowly with rain water. And that he kept it to autumn, since that was the rainiest time of the year. How the hell would Scott recreate John Sheppard's death with any degree of fidelity in a place where there is no rain at all?

... Unless it involved running water somehow. I remember from that scene that poor John Sheppard got trapped in the ditch... but the water was more rushing by him than filling up. So theoretically, they could go with a water pipeline that goes in from the Presidium and somehow got exposed to the damage... Maybe we could look at the damage report.

But there's no way to be sure unless we can find Eltarn, so I think we should get to that.

Shepard brings up her omni-tool, but before I do I catch sight of a female turian off in the distance in C-Sec armor. Hm... Yeah, seeing female turians is damn wierd. I've never gotten over the fact that they don't seem to have any fringe to speak of. And if it is, it's a super-short fringe that barely covers the back of their head. But... I guess Bioware was too ashamed to reveal that in the extended universe or something. Possibly even mid-game, but, well, here I am, and I'm seeing female turians.

Fun times are had with that.

We all catch sight of her, and without really saying much, we make our way to her. As we do, the C-Sec officer we're walking to notices our approach, and then turns to us. I think I see her expression shift slightly, but she regards us with a cool head as she looks at us. Eventually, we approach, looking at her.

"Yultar Balker?" asks Shepard.

"Yes," replies the officer. "What do you need?"

"I was directed to you by Bailey," says the commander. "Two of my assosciates have had past experience with the Origami Killer."

The C-Sec officer blinks. "I see," she says. "Looks like help came. We've been trying to deal with him for a while. But he's damn illusive. We can't find anything at the scene of the crime that would pinpoint his identity."

"He mostly uses outdated methods on his crime scenes," comments Madison. "It's crude, but it still works. I know he was a retired cop, too, so he would know how a law enforcement agency works."

"So that's why he works so well within the crime scenes," says the officer. "Eltarn had to come here. The killer left him something in one of the transit lockers that they keep here. The locker and its combination was in a letter he got sent." She shifts to the side. "And I mean an actual letter made out of paper. We've been checking the few paper stores on the Citadel. They've taken inventory, though, and they haven't reported anyone suspicious coming in to purchase their products. But they have reported a couple of break-ins and theft to C-Sec." She glances right at us as she takes a step to the side. "To be honest, we were suspecting some kind of link between the paper theft and the Origami killer since there was nothing on that scene either. And now we have this to confirm it with. I guess it would make sense since there was apparently some origami paper amongst the missing pieces of paper."

The journalist nods. "That sounds like the Origami killer, all right," says Madison. "What did Eltarn say he was going to do after he got whatever is waiting for him in that locker?"

"He was going to rent out a room at a motel," he says. "The letter mentioned he would have to go all over the Citadel to save his son. We figured it might be a good idea to get a home base. You have any idea what we might expect?"

"Trials," replies Madison. "And from my experience, they are all _very _capable of killing him."

It's then that Yultar suddenly hears something behind her, and then we all look back. Right in front of us is a male turian. He's dressed in a wierdly appropriate approximation of Ethan's clothing from _Heavy Rain_. Leather jacket equivalent, jeans equivalent... it mostly matches. Why am I getting flashbacks to Pascal Langdale playing with his sons in the prologue? And especially that one mildly out of place sword-fight that served as a tutorial for the QTE's...? But hey, it works for us, so... He glances at all of us, his gaze hardening slightly when he looks at us. Yep... he's a dark-red turian with black face paint.

Yep, that's the one.

"Yultar?" asks the man.

But before the female turian can reply, Madison takes a step forward. "Eltarn Maios?" she asks.

The male turian frowns at this, but he regards her anyway. "What do you want, human?" he says, a bit of acid in his voice.

Oh, boy... Madison steps forward, and if she's phased by the way Eltarn addressed her, she doesn't show it. "My name is Madison Paige," she says. "I spoke with Captain Bailey at C-Sec on the Zakera ward. He said we could find you here."

Eltarn gives us a frown before shaking his head. "And why the hell should I listen to what you have to say?" he asks. "I'm convinced this man is a human. He's doing it to spite turians."

I frown. Wait, what? "I think you'll find there's more to it than that," I comment. "Trust me."

"Not the way I see it," says the father. "The first victim was a turian. And the salarian and batarian kids? They were distracting from the real thing." God, am I the only one who thinks he's sounding a little like the Council towards the Reapers? "He has to be bitter about the First Contact War. So am I, but... you're killing children to get your way?" He then holds up what looks like an antiquated shoebox. "This box will have his final insult. I know it."

Madison shakes her head, holding her left elbow with her hand as she blinks. "It's not," she says. "Trust me on this."

"You don't seem to trust humans very much," notices Shepard.

"Who told you?" asks Eltarn. "My parents were both prisoners of war in the First Contact War. I was only seven when they ended up dead. I may be bitter about this, but I'm not killing any human's children over this! This makes me sick."

"On that, we can agree," adds Madison. "But you don't know what he's really after. You really don't."

"And you're certain that this is his motive," says Shepard.

"Absolutely," says Eltarn. "There isn't a whole lot that will change my mind on that."

The jounalist stands there, looking right at him. After a few seconds, she closes her eyes, taking a step forward. Oh, dear, I sense a big risk being taken here... "Then you don't know the whole story," says Madison. "I asked Captain Bailey to help on this case. I ask, because I've had previous experience with the Origami killer. And I can tell you that you don't know the entire story."

"How the hell do you have previous experience with a killer who wasn't infamous until recently?" asks Eltarn.

"He used to operate on Earth," says Madison, crossing her arms. "He had nine known victims that were human before he ever set foot on the Citadel. And it was not practice for turians, I will tell you that. All of the victims had fathers... and from what I know, all the fathers had to undergo trials. In there you'll find stuff that will lead you to your son."

"And how are you sure about this?" asks the male turian.

Madison indicates the shoebox. "Why don't you open that and find out?" she asks.

He glances at the box, a scowl forming as his mandibles flare out. He shakes his head, looking up at us.

"Not here," he says. "And not in front of you. I don't trust you yet. It's a human who's done this. You've pretty much confirmed it yourself. And I don't trust you. For all I know, you could be lying to me."

It's then when Shepard walks towards the turian father. "Think about it," she says. "Would Madison here have any reason to lie to you about this?"

"Maybe," he says. "What if she's trying to be a fraud?"

"I can vouch that Madison would never lie about something like this." Oh, dear, Shepard. Need I mention the massive lie of omission Madison practiced on Ethan in-game? Yeah, that was pretty big. At least her intentions were good, though, and at least she really did come to care for Ethan in the end. Not like Scott lying to Carter about stuff his 'investigation' is turning up. "She wants to help you, and she's gone out of her way to find you to do so. At least let her help."

The turian looks right at Madison with a slight frown on his face. After a little bit, his mandibles click together in disgust, and then he nods. "Fine," he says. "You can help. And your friends can too. But I don't trust you just yet."

"That's better than nothing," says the former investigative journalist. "Come on... We should find somewhere private to open that box."

"I booked at a motel that's not far from here," replies Eltarn. "Come on."

And with this, the male turian leads the way. Madison and the C-Sec officer come up behind shortly after, and then the rest of us follow. I shake my head as I fall into step with Tali, who looks at us with a muted expression.

"I don't think this will be easy," she says. "I mean..."

I shake my head. "It didn't have to be easy," I comment. "But we have to help him, xenophobic or not. The Origami killer is into some sick shit, you know."

And with this, the topic is dropped as we follow Eltarn to wherever he booked us for.

* * *

A short while later, all of us were crammed in the rather small motel room he had gotten in the Tayseri Ward. Yep... this place is falling apart. Kind of like the motel Ethan stays at in _Heavy Rain_... and now I'm imagining police officers engaging in a parkour sequence with Ethan. Though thankfully, at least this motel doesn't follow the European system of numbering floors. I swear, that got damn confusing when he said floor 201 when it should be floor 301 in America. David Cage, you are one of my idols, and you are damn awesome in every way, but god _damn_ it you need to do your research on American building protocols/customs the next time you set your game in America. At least the Citadel follows the American system: that makes everything very convenient for me.

Wow. I've been getting a lot of _Heavy Rain_-related nostalgia all of a sudden. Should I get the painkiller that helps to kill the pain, Madison?

Oh, no... We haven't gone through the abandoned power plant yet. Nevermind.

Okay...

So now we're all gathered around the bed. Madison is standing close to where Eltarn is kneeling, the box in hand as the scowl seems to permanently affix itself on his face. Yultar is sitting in a chair a short distance behind him, blocking access to the bathroom. Shepard is on the other side of the kneeling turian, with Garrus firmly positioned close to Madison. He's got a comforting talon resting on Madison's shoulder, which seems to calm her down. As for me, Tali and I are sitting on the edge of the bed that is closer to Garrus, so I look on as he looks at the box.

Eltarn blinks, his talons resting firmly on the top of the box. "I'm not going to like what I find, am I?" he asks.

"Probably not," says Madison. "But... you have to open it anyway. We don't have much time."

With this, the father nods, his eyes settling on the box. He sets his sights on it for a little longer, taking a few more seconds as his talons began to twitch slightly in anticipation. It's then that I notice that he's battling within himself.

Trust me, I know the feeling. The first time I opened that box, I didn't like that I didn't know what was waiting for me, either. But... you have to do it eventually.

And finally, he takes a sharp inhale. The talons tighten around the box, and then the top comes off. He looks inside, and his eyes widen at this as he looks at it. I lean forward slightly to get a better look...

Yeah, it's as I remember. There's an omni-tool and a memory OSD in there, but it's probably substituting for the cell phone and battery that was in the game. I see an old-fashioned handgun in there as well (seriously, what the hell is a magnum doing in there?), and in the box too are five origami figures. Yeah... There's the bear, butterfly, lizard, shark, and rat figures... And they're all numbered as well. Just like I remember.

I blink, taking in a breath as Eltarn takes out the handgun. His eyes widen in shock as he looks at the thing. His breath becomes noticeably shorter as he looks at the weapon in shock, his finger staying as far away from the trigger as he can leave it. He blinks, and without warning throws it in shock. He turns the box over quite unintentionally as he does this, and a few of the origami figures spill out of the box when it does.

"S... spirits!" he says, falling back so that he lands on his butt in the surprise. "W... what in the world is the meaning of that?"

I look at one of the origami figures, gingerly picking up the bear. Yeah... this would be the first one logically... I frown, looking for the crease... Jeez, I've never had to unfold origami figures like this! I shake my head, but then finally find it. The whole thing unfolds itself after that, it seems, and before long I see a little something written on the piece of paper... Yeah...

"Here," I say, handing the unfolded origami figure to him. "It looks like some kind of code to something. And also, an address. Though why it's in the Kithoi wards, I have no idea."

The turian sits forward again, taking the unfolded figure from my hand as he looks at it. He shakes his head, clacking his mandibles together.

"This doesn't add up," he says. "This address goes to a rental hovercar dealer in the Kithoi ward." Yep, it's the bear trial all over again, but with hovercars... "My friend works there, I know the place. But... why is it giving me one of the codes to his cars?"

It's then that Madison picks up the omni-tool and memory OSD. "Maybe this will have answers," she says.

Eltarn looks at the omni-tool with a confused glance. Finally, he takes both from Madison, glancing at the omni-tool for a brief moment. It's then that he fixes it to his wrist uncertainly, looking right at the omni-tool as the interface powers up. There's nothing there, as from what I can tell of the interface, it's clean. Hm... A blank omni-tool... Now that's strange... But we have the small little disc that goes into the omni-tool...

The turian then looks at the disc, his eyes widening as his breathing quickens. We can tell he's very nervous now, but that's something we can't think about. Come on... just insert the disc already! He takes a deep breath in to try to stem his rapid breathing, and he takes a final look at the disc. Finally, with trembling talons he inserts the disc into the requisite port on the omni-tool, letting out a breath I'm sure he didn't know he was holding.

Very soon after, a video window pops up, jumping above the holographic projection. He blinks in surprise, watching as the thing loads. We all lean in closer, Yultar even doing the same as we all wonder. Oh, dear... I think we know what goes next...

And sure enough, as soon as the video finishes loading, it cuts to a little turian boy. He's up to his waist in water coming out of a pipe that's flowing directly in front of him. He's trapped in some kind of large cage... hm, it looks a little rusty. Like it was found or something. Yeah... kind of like the grate over the ditch. But I suddenly notice something... reflect off the spaces in the cage. Hm... This means it's full of glass. And if the water fills up to a certain point... he'll drown. The boy is sobbing as his small talons scratch at the ground in front of him, but I don't see any tears as the boy seems to cry in the water. Jeez... That cage thing fills with water... and if it fills all the way, he drowns... And he can't get out, as there are five padlocks...

Hey, wait, there was only one padlock in the game! And a pole! Hm... Something doesn't seem right about this...

"_Papa! Help me!_" The boy's little voice, however, rises over the rush of the water as he continuously sobs and moves his hands against the edges of his little cage. The sight alone is enough to make Eltarn rear his head back in shock. And indeed... his voice almost stabs me in the heart. "_It's so cold! Where are you?_"

"Sawrik..." mutters the father soon after seeing this, his eyes beginning to water as he watches this.

And I can't help but nearly start crying on the spot. Seeing the video as opposed to watching it within a game... Damn it... This is so sad... I suddenly find myself blinking, and before long I feel Tali's hand rest on mine in a comforting gesture. The tear then flows down the turian father's face, and I can see Garrus squeeze Madison's shoulder in comfort as we all watch the boy suffering.

And as soon as we see this, it cuts away to something else. We all pause in our collective... ehm... mourning, I guess, and then we all watch as text comes up on the screen.

"_How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love?_"

The only indication we get that this has registered is that the turian blinks in shock, looking right at the thing. His stare turns defiant, and I can see rage tempered by sadness as he looks at the text. But before he can say anything, the text changes, and something else occurs.

"_Five origami figures. Each figure leads to a trial. Each trial reveals letters and a key. The letters reveal an address._"

It's unspoken that the clock is ticking, and then the video ends abruptly, causing the video projection to close, and the omni-tool to power down as the father slowly lets down his arm.

Dead silence fills the apartment after this, with the father sitting on the floor. He can't seem to figure out whether to be angry or to be sad that his child is being kept alive by some sicko, only to be drowned in about... sixty-seven hours now? I don't know. We all sit there, digesting the silence as we all look to the father. I take in a slow, deep breath, looking to him expectantly. Come on, _say _something, damn it!

Finally, he turns to Madison, his eyes betraying a more or less neutral expression. "Why does he do it?"

I blink, right as Madison turns to me. I nod... Yeah, I'm one of the few people who knows the Origami Killer's backstory... I look at him, shaking my head. "The Origami killer... I've heard quite a bit about him," I begin softly. "I hear that as a little boy, he grew up with a sibling. But his father was drunk, so he didn't care much. One day, his brother got trapped in a ditch that was slowly filling with water. But his father... he was too drunk. And he didn't want to help. So the brother died..." I shake my head, closing my eyes. "Ever since, he's been testing fathers by trapping their children. He's hoping to find the one father who will be willing to go to any lengths to save his son."

The turian nods at this. "I was wrong about his motive, then..." he says. "But this doesn't excuse what he's done. I... What kind of... of _monster_ would do something like this to... to an eight year old boy? What kind of monster would do this to Sawrik? I..." He pauses, his mandibles clicking against his mouth.

The female vigilante nods, crossing her arms. "I tried to help the last father whose son was taken by the Origami killer on Earth," says Madison. "I don't know if it helped or not, but I nearly died trying to stop the Origami killer. Hell, he thinks I'm dead right now." She kneels down next to Eltarn, her expression hardening. "I have no intention of letting him get away again. And I will help you save your son, no matter what it takes."

Eltarn nods at this. "I guess I have no choice but to take your word for it," he says. "I don't like your kind... but you sound like you're telling the truth. I'll take your word for it."

"Excellent." Madison looks at the Origami figures as we all crowd around. "I helped a father whose son had been taken by the Origami killer. If I remember correctly, he was very beaten up whenever he returned to the motel from what I assume were his trials. One time he even returned while he was half-unconscious."

I shrug. Crap... how do I not tell about the trials and still give him a hint what to expect? Uh... No, I'll just let Madison handle that. "Sounds pretty bad," says Yultar. "What's in the other trials?"

"Who knows?" I ask. "But from what I've heard, it supposedly takes all the fathers one hour to get from the final trial to the place where the kid is being kept..."

"None of us has that much time," says Shepard, crossing her arms. "We all have things to do..."

"Hm... Maybe it's possible to do more than one trial at the same time?" asks Garrus as he looks at the origami figures on the bed.

We all look to the former C-Sec agent. Hm... that's actually not a bad idea. "Yes... I can see how that would work," says Yultar, picking up another origami figure from the bed. "We split up and do as many of the trials as we can simultaneously, and then we uncover the location." She indicates Eltarn's new omni-tool. "And judging from what I saw on the lock of that cage in the video, we're talking about physical locksmith keys, so it's not locked to the omni-tool. All that it depends on, then, are what we find there..."

"What about the address?" asks Eltarn. "Won't we need to find the address?"

"Knowing technology, it'll probably be contained on seperate OSD's," suggests Tali. "If we each download the OSD to our omni-tools and then put the address together somewhere else, we may be able to find it."

"Or we could run a cross-check on the location after we get enough of the address," supplies Yultar. "So all we need to do is piece them together after doing all of the trials, and we'll find him in no time."

Madison bites her lower lip as she looks at Eltarn. "I don't know," says the journalist. "I got some explanation of the trials and how they worked in my previous experience. And apparently, in one of them he had to do something in front of a camera. I say we split up, and if it looks like a trial has to be done by a specific person, we'll wait for Eltarn to do whatever trial he's doing."

"And we can drive Eltarn all around town," I add. "And if he needs patching up, we leave someone with him with a nice supply of medigel on hand."

"Sounds like a plan," says Yultar as she opens up the butterfly origami figure. "The next question is... what awaits us at each of the trials?"

I bend down and pick up the origami figure of the shark as Madison and Eltarn both pick up the lizard and the bear, respectively. We all unfold our figures, and then we all read the addresses. Hm... Yeah, I got the shark. And if memory serves me correctly, Eltarn absolutely _must _appear at the lizard and the rat. And he has to look like he's been through all of the trials for the video cameras at the rat if we want to avoid alerting Scott that C-Sec is onto him, meaning that depending on whether or not Scott was able to find however many shards of glass it took to fill that one narrow passageway towards the beginning of the butterfly he needs to do that too. So...

A plan begins being hatched all around us, and then we begin to lay the pieces where they are do.

All right. Let's do this.

* * *

Okay... so Yultar is taking care of our drug dealer friend, Shepard is going to try not to crash a skycar, Garrus and Madison are both heading to wherever someone has to chop of their fingers... and I'm with Eltarn, getting to an abandoned building on the Citadel. Seriously... It's on the Tayseri ward, though, so it's really not too far a walk. I think I heard about this, actually: it was a pretty important building to the turians. It was some big residential place, and in fact I remember Mangdalar and Yelena mentioning they were looking into it as a place to live on the Citadel before Sovereign got his ass kicked by us. It got hit by a huge chunk of that Reaper, though, so now it's a bit of a husk. The keepers haven't been repairing it for some reason, but there will be the occasional one that keeps the building from completely falling over. But... the destruction also uncovered a major red sand cache that didn't take the damage all that well. Yultar mentioned this, so she went through the trouble of giving Eltarn and I stuff to breath in.

Thinking about it now, I should've come in armor. But then... I guess I wasn't expecting to solve the mystery of where the fuck Scott Shelby dropped the kid off this time while on leave. I hope Yelena and Mangdalar aren't too blind-sided by it. Ah, well. At least Kasumi stayed behind... I think. I wonder what they're doing now...

I bite my lower lip as Eltarn and I find ourselves standing in front of the building. There's a strange red aura kind of thing around the building... I shake my head, watching as Eltarn fixes the breathing apparatus on his face. I shake my head, biting my lower lip.

Jesus Christ... I fix the apparatus on my face, looking to Eltarn through the glass as he nods. "You all right?" I ask him.

"Nervous..." says the father as he looks at the building. "What's going to await us in here?"

I shrug. "Who knows?" I ask. "But all that red sand... It can't be good for our health..."

"I don't doubt it," he says. "Come on. We have to see what this is."

I nod, and then the two of us walk towards the abandoned building. Hm... In the game, we were led to the first objective by spraypainted butterflies that led to the room that led into that tight vent with the glass on it. So... I suddenly notice the relevant butterfly painted onto a door. Hm... looks busted I point at it, and Eltarn nods as the two of us walk towards it. I see that it doesn't have a panel, meaning that it's busted.

"Hm..." I say, crossing my arms. "It's the same shape as the origami figure in question... So this is where we have to go."

"Looks like we're going to have to pry the door open," says Eltarn.

I nod, glancing around. Hm... if only I still had that pipe I had with me back when all this started. That would've been nice to have, now that I think about it.

And right as I think about it, I see something carefully laid from where we are at the door. It looks like... I frown, moving closer towards it as I nod. I bend down... Yep, there's the old matchbox. And a crowbar to match, too. Hm... The crowbar wasn't there, but then again we didn't have to pry a door open. I pick up the matchbox and crowbar, and then turn back to Eltarn. I toss him the matchbox, and he catches it with an unsteady hand as I approach with the crowbar.

"I don't know about you, but I don't like where this is heading," I say. "You have a matchbox and stuff, so... it looks like you'll have to light matches or something..."

"I don't like anything about this," says Eltarn as I look at the door. Okay... there's a good spot to put in a crowbar and pry this son of a bitch open. "Do you have any idea what's in there?"

I bite my lower lip... Hm... Ah, the hell with it. I stick the crowbar into the door, turning to him. "According to Madison, her second encounter she had with the last father... She literally found him unconscious in the motel room he was staying at. And he had all sorts of cuts all over his arms. I think it was after the second trial, so... I'm not expecting anything good to come of this..."

"Hopefully... we'll save my son," he says.

Yeah... "I hope so too," I say.

With this, I give a harsh yank of the door, pulling it open and revealing a small passageway that's caved in by rubble. Hm... That's... odd.

I frown, leaning down as I shake my head. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff..." I say. "You'd think the keepers would've cleared that rubble by now."

"Looks to cramped for a keeper to work through," comments Eltarn. "I don't know... should I go in there...?"

"Probably," I say, glancing around. "You think there's something dangerous in there?"

"I don't doubt it," says the turian. "But if the other father had cuts on his arms... I may be able to survive this on my own. This killer underestimates turian hide."

No kidding. Considering Scott Shelby was from a time and place where ARI gives Norman Jayden blackouts and nosebleeds from overuse due to not having the edges roughed out? "Ain't that the truth?" I ask. "But there may be more... I'll wait for you here until you're done. If you see anything worth noting, give me a page on my omni-tool. Unless there's something in there that blocks communications, I'll see what I can do to answer stuff."

The turian father nods, kneeling down and looking through the passage. He takes a last look at the matchbox, taking a deep breath as he fumbles with it. He frowns as he tries to open the thing, shaking his head in frustration. Oh, he probably doesn't know how to use a matchbox.

I kneel down next to him, offering my hand. "Here, let me show you how to do that," I say.

He glances at me, blinking as he finally manages to open the box... and very nearly sends all the matches flying. Yeah, that wouldn't be a smart move. We had infinite matches in the game, but I doubt real life is that merciful. Besides... where did Scott manage to get the matches in the first place? Hm... Probably something from the paper companies. But why would paper companies burn paper?

But then he looks at the matches, taking one of them and looking at the match. "This thing is supposed to light on fire?" he asks.

I nod, taking a match out of the box before he can protest. He gives me a glare, but I pay it no heed. "You're supposed to strike it on the side of the box," I say. I bring the little bulby tip to the flinty part of the matchbox... Okay... I quickly draw the match across, and then hold it up as it starts burning. "Like that."

Eltarn nods, and taking the match in his hand, he strikes it. The little flame dances as I wave my own match out, and then he holds it up to the passageway. Okay... it goes off in a turn this time. Hm... if there's glass down there, the curve might do a good job of concealing it. Hm... I can see why he would go with that. Eltarn looks at it briefly, and then shakes the match so that the flame goes out. He closes the matchbox, holding it in his talon as he looks in.

"I guess this is the part where I go in," he says.

I nod. "Yeah," I say. "Whatever happens, don't stop pushing forward. Your son's life is depending on it."

"I know," he says, taking a breath. He's nervous, I can tell. I can't say I blame him; things were always tense as far as Ethan's bits of Heavy Rain were concerned... Especially leading right up to the trials. I just know something is gonna happen, you know? Let's hope that we can survive this all right.

Finally, he nods, and then goes down into a position that he's crawling kind of like Ethan. I watch him enter the passageway, and before long his feet disappear past the door frame. Okay... and he's off.

Okay, so if I remember correctly, this trial had the passage with glass. It's still intact here, for... some reason. Good thing about that, if I want to be perfectly honest. But... there's just no way I can do stuff like that...

But then... there was the condenser maze at the end. Given that this was a residential building... Damn, I've got no idea what they're gonna use... Hm, maybe he'll pull a _Saw VI _on us and use a steam maze? ... No, too convoluted. Besides, that maze required the person crawling through it to have a helper. So... Well, the red sand itself might be that. Navigate a maze while under constant red sand exposure. Though that might've been too easy for the batarian father, seeing as how batarians are usually immune to red sand. But to most other species, it might not work quite like that.

I suddenly hear a muffled shout from the passage in front of me, and I jump up.

Well... looks like he found the glass. This trial just got a whole lot heavier...

* * *

Okay... it took him about an hour to do the trial... and he got out alive, which is always a good thing. But damn, does he look beat up. It's not as bad as it could've been if he were any other species... but jeez. I see a few burns on his body, and he definitely has some cuts on his hide. And they were definitely bad enough that I needed to apply medigel.

And the worst part is, we haven't even gotten to the _really _bad stuff. Now we're making our way to the lizard, and... man... when he finds out what he has to do there, he's gonna _flip_. Seriously, that trial was hands down the best part of _Heavy Rain _for too many reasons. Not the least of which proves why the game is so damn effective to me anyhow. Seriously... having to lop off your own finger is damn crazy.

Either way, Shepard finished her deal with the Bear, so... we have two keys now. And I got paged by Madison, Garrus, and Tali while Eltarn was busy getting his arms cut up that he would have to go to the Lizard and Rat. Yultar is still dealing with the shark, I take it... it can't be easy, as she said she was going to do her best to avoid having to kill the poor drug dealer. I'd have to agree with her, as would the _I'm Not A Killer_ trophy from the game. So we'll see what happens with...

Hey, wait a minute! How the hell is she supposed to get a physical key from him? I...

Unless... unless he surgically implanted the key inside the drug dealer a la the opening trap of _Saw II_. But... that would require Shelby to have actual physiological evidence. And I don't think he has that...

But... what if he got help this time around? I imagine he'd need the help, what with suddenly being trust into a world where omni-tools are all over the place. And I doubt Scott played the games, so that would make the transition even harder. Sturge and Madison got off lucky because the one had Jenny to help him out and the other had Garrus, and I got even luckier since I actually played the games...

So if anyone else gets thrown in here, I wonder how they're going to take it. If they don't lose their minds first.

I finish rubbing the medigel on his arms as we sit in the rented sky car, heading to the place in the Kithoi ward where the Lizard is supposed to be taking place.

Eltarn nods, looking at me as we sit in the sky-car. "You okay now?" I ask him.

"Yeah..." he says. "That was a tough trial... I can't help but wonder what some of the other fathers thought of all this. Especially navigating that maze of strung-up and frayed wires in the middle of the building. There was... a lot of red sand there. I wonder what the fathers on Earth did..."

I shrug, looking out the window as the sights of the Citadel go past us. "I imagine it would've involved things like this," I say. "You could probably ask Madison about it."

"This case looks personal for her," he notes. "I mean... she's the biggest reason you're all helping me with these trials, right?"

"Yeah," I reply. "The case was pretty personal for her. She almost died while doing it, she was involved with the last father on Earth who was involved with the killer... She's hoping this time she'll actually bring him to justice. And if she saves your son while she's at it, that'll be even better for her."

Eltarn nods at this. "It's... wierd, honestly," he mentions. "I never thought I'd be being helped by humans..." Oh, crap, this again? "I still don't know what to make of this. Here you are, and you're helping me out. You even rubbed medigel on my wounds... And yet your kind wasn't merciful to my family during the First Contact War..."

"Not everyone that is human is a barbarian," I supply. "We all have our good people and our bad people, you know?"

"I guess I ran into the good people, then," he says. "Hopefully, this next trial will turn out well..."

At this, the car turns towards the Kithoi ward, and then we see it speeding towards the building in question. I shake my head. "Somehow, I get the feeling that things are only going to get worse from here."

At least with this version of the trials, we won't have to deal with being chased by the police in addition to hurting ourselves in various shocking ways. That's a small comfort, at least. Unless Yultar blabs to Bailey, but I doubt she'll do that.

So yeah.

Here goes with the lizard...

* * *

Wow... we're sort of blazing through these trials. Yultar paged me while Eltarn was busy doing the lizard that she managed to get guy behind the fourth key and data for whatever this address is to cooperate with us. She's just waiting for the word now to fake his death and hten arrest the poor man. Well... at least nobody will be dying. We have to keep his suspicions allayed for as long as possible.

So now... I'm with Madison and Garrus. Eltarn is inside, and I can hear the gasp of shock. Yep...

"Looks like he's noticed why there are all sorts of sharp objects in the room," I observe quietly, standing at the door frame.

"You know... it makes me wonder," says Garrus. "Why can't we just scan the room? We'd find the key easier..."

I shake my head. "Because we have to allay the killer's suspicions, that's why," I say. "If the fact that we're all clearing the trials out of order isn't saying anything, then the fact that he's doing them all fast will. And we need Scott there when we show up, otherwise this will all have been for nothing."

"He may catch on when we get there early, though," says Garrus.

I shrug. "He has to stay _somewhere _to monitor his trials, right?" I ask. I mean, there was the secret room that Madison had found... and even if he spent half the game "investigating" his own crime with Lauren Winter, he had to respond to the text message that proved that Ethan had done the shark properly somewhere, right?

Oh, yeah, Lauren Winter. That's another reason I want to see this son of a bitch brought to justice. He totally deserves it for manipulating Lauren the way he did. I mean, there was Lauren looking for answers to who killed her son... and then it ended up being the guy she was helping. The poor woman didn't take it so well, I'm sure. Although... I remember in that one ending that she does go straight to Scott to kill his manipulative ass.

Shame. Scott was one of the more likeable characters, and then he had to go and throw it all away by being the origami killer, thus guaranteeing that we would _hate _him for being a complete monster.

"Then what about the first two trials?" asks Garrus.

I shrug. "There were no video cameras, last I checked," I comment. "And let's not forget for a second that this guy doesn't quite have that much tech savvy. Comes from being in the past, you know?"

"Fair enough," says the turian outside of the door as I hear stuff being plunked onto a metallic table. "I hope you're right on this count. Because if you're not..."

"I know," I say.

And with this, we drop the conversation. Damn it... my heart is racing in anticipation of what's coming next. Undoubtedly, there is the preparation... the anticipation...

A scream suddenly issues from the room, causing me to jump back from the door in shock as Madison and Garrus both recoil. Fuck! There it goes! I hear Eltarn let out another scream as a sick sawing noise suddenly makes itself known. Oh... Oh god... He used the saw, didn't he? Yes... he's using the saw! Oh, God... Why couldn't he have gone for the hatchet? Or whatever the futuristic equivalent of a hatchet is? That would've been faster! Damn it...

Eventually, the screaming stops, forming a slight wimper. Damn it... he's not cauterizing the wound... What the fuck? I stand there, shaking my head.

A minute or two later, the door opens, and Eltarn stumbles out, clutching his left hand where one of his fingers is noticeable missing. I rush forward, but Madison's already rushed forward. And now she's dressing the wounded finger... or wounded was-finger, I guess, and Eltarn groans in pain as she applies medigel to the wound. Damn... I don't know how it works with a turian's hand... so...

"This had better be worth it..." he whimpers. "I... Why would a human think of that?"

I blink at this, looking right at the turian father in surprise. Oh, dear, more with the human diatribe. I blink. "I... I really don't think he realized how alien hand structures worked when he conceived most of these trials."

"No kidding," says Eltarn. "I can't help but think he's trying to make us lose valuable fingers..."

"Not the case," says Madison. "Eltarn, we've been over this already..."

The turian nods. "I know, I know," he says. "But... I-" He lets out a sharp hiss of pain as Madison wrapped the bandage around where his finger used to be, closing his eyes as his mandibles widened a distance I didn't think mandibles could widen. He shakes his head again as the journalist works on his wound. "Watch the wound, will you?" he asks.

"I'm doing my best, Eltarn," she replies. "You have to remember I patched up one of the fathers that did this previously. And I had to do it without any access to medigel."

The father blinks at this. "You didn't have access to medigel the first time you encoutered the killer?" asks the father.

"No," she says. "I'm just glad I have it now. It'll make this whole process a lot easier." she looks to Eltarn's missing finger. "I'm sorry it had to come to losing your finger, for what that apology's worth..."

"You couldn't have seen it coming," says Eltarn. But I could've, so that makes it _totally _okay! God, I hate my precognition sometimes... "I just... I don't know what to think about being helped by humans. Here I am, a man who's hated humans all his life. And before he knows it, he's working with them trying to save his son... And it's a hell of a gamble I'm taking, but... so far you're pulling through..."

Madison nods at this. "I guess it's just as much as if you had done the trials with only Yultar, hm?" she asks.

"I think so," says Eltarn. "I just hope that my son will be there at the end of it all."

"I'm sure he will be," I mention as Madison finishes dressing the wound. "Okay... We just have to hope Yultar can fake this guy's death fast, because we're all supposed to convene over where Tali is at, so..."

Okay... I go over to my omni-tool, hoping to page Yultar about the fact that it's time for her and that drug dealer guy to fake their deaths. So... Hopefully, she can pull that thing together fast. So we'll see what happens with that. Shepard's already where Tali is at, so we just need Yultar there and we can fill in the address from there.

* * *

All right. Shepard drove in the opposite direction in a skycar way, Eltarn crawled through a corridor of glass and chopped off his finger, and Yultar helped the drug dealer fake his death before arresting him. When all is said and done, we've moved to the final location. Kind of a shame I can't cloak, though. That would be good if I could cloak, actually.

So here we are, and as I suspected there are a ton of cameras looking on the little poison vials that he has to drink. We're out of range of the cameras, though. Tali made sure of it with some expert manipulations of the omni-tool.

And right now, Eltarn is looking at the poison. Apparently, the key was just waiting there on that table. Well... I suppose you can't hide everything, now... He did hide the OSD with the final letters of the address, though. And he won't give the location on Eltarn's omni-tool until he takes the poison. But since he's here... well... Yultar is busy checking the database, from the compiled address we've gotten so far...

And even with only a few letters, Yultar is good about making things seen here. She's scanned the databases, and she's currently narrowed it down to three locations. And so far, only one of them is in the Tayseri Ward. And yes... we can tell what Ward it is. Silly Shelby put the W A in 'ward' too quickly, so... from there it's just a matter of counting the spaces.

I look at Yultar's omnitool as she gestures at it again, Shepard and Madison both watching as Garrus and Tali keep an eye on Eltarn and the cameras. "Okay... so we know it's in the Tayseri Ward," I say just below a whisper. "Anything about where this location is?"

The female C-Sec officer nods. "It's known as a former residential building in the Tayseri Ward," she replies. "The problem is, it was in one of the parts of the Tayseri Ward that was hit heaviest by the debris from the geth ship, so it's nothing but a bunch of rubble now."

From the geth ship. Yeah, and I don't have an alternate version of myself in 2185 either. Stupid Council... "I see..." says Shepard. "Do you think anyone would've had the time to clear all the rubble?"

"Probably the keepers," replies the turian C-Sec officer. "They had to do some digging to catalogue the dead from the Tayseri Ward when the incident first happened. Since then, I don't know. But it's possible that he could have dug into the basement somehow and found a way to open up a hole into the water reserves there."

I frown. "But that means that he had help," I mention. "That's the only way he could do that. From what I last heard, he used a ditch found in some old abandoned warehouse on Earth that just so happened to have an open roof to let rain water in. But he'd need help to drill into the ground of the Citadel like that."

"Also, he'd probably need the help to escape C-Sec for this long," adds Yultar with a frown. "I don't know who his helper is, but either the person helping him is well-versed with C-Sec... or he is C-Sec. I don't know which one is more disturbing."

"Probably that he is in C-Sec, assuming that option is the right one," replies Shepard. "He's committing murder, and someone at C-Sec might be letting him get away with it."

"Trust me, it worries me just as much as it worries you," says Yultar. "We'll have to take Shelby alive. Find out who's been helping him."

It's then that Madison looks to Yultar. "And make sure he can't get out," says the journalist. "I'm going with whoever goes down there when we find Eltarn's son. I have unfinished business with the Origami Killer..."

Yultar looks at the human female, her expression showing quite a bit of surprise. Before she can reply, though, I feel Tali tap me on the shoulder. I look in the direction she's looking at, and sure enough I see Eltarn walking right towards us with a defeated expression on his face. Quickly, the rest of us back away from the hallway, Shepard opening the doorway behind us as Eltarn walks down a narrow corridor. We all look to him as we exit the room, and as soon as he's out the door closes quietly behind him. He shakes his head.

"I was asked to take poison," he says. "I couldn't do it. I don't have the last OSD. I'm sorry."

We all look at him. "Well, you're in luck," says Madison. "Yultar pinpointed it to a location in the Tayseri Ward. We should get over there soon."

"Yeah, we should," says Eltarn. "I've had enough of chasing my son."

"All right," says the female C-Sec officer. "I need to contact Bailey. If we're going to get the Origami Killer while we still know where he is, we'll need a lot of backup." She doesn't even wait for us to say anything after this, instead opening up a comm channel on her omni-tool right before our very eyes. "Bailey? Yes, this is Yultar. We've found where the Origami Killer might be, and we've found the location of the kid." Something is said to her. "Yes, I need backup at this location in the Tayseri Ward. And I get the feeling that if we're going to trap him, we'll need quite a bit of help."

There is more that is said on Bailey's end of things, and then Yultar lists off where she is, where we are, and all that wonderful jazz. Okay...

After making the call, Yultar looks to us. "All right," she says. "C-Sec is dispatching back-up to that location now. We better get there soon."

"No kidding," says Shepard. "Come on, everyone. Let's go."

"You don't need to tell us twice," says Madison.

With this, we all leave the building. All right. With this, we'll finally confront Scott Shelby and put an end to his child-killing antics once and for all. And hopefully this time, if he dies he'll actually stay dead instead of gravitating to yet another universe.

Because God knows that if that happens again, nobody can help the pour souls there...

* * *

"Well... here we are..."

Yep, here we are indeed. The building in question is pretty far into the area of the Tayseri Ward that should be barred for public access, given how much C-Sec presence their is. But Bailey's backup is here as requested, and their sirens are silent for some strange reason. I see Yultar wave over to Bailey, and then the group of us walk straight towards the C-Sec captain. He nods at us with a grim expression on his face.

"Good, you showed up," says the captain.

"Yeah, we're here," says Madison. "What's the scoop?"

"We found a passageway into the place," says Bailey. "Unless he managed to clear the debris with whatever help he's got, that's the only way out of that place. You guys got a game plan?"

"We go in with Eltarn, incapacitate the killer, and call in the back-up," says Shepard. "Hope your men are fast."

The Captain nods. "My men are the best C-Sec has got at the moment," he replies. "They should be in as soon as you come back here and send the word for back-up. I guess you're taking your crew with you?"

Madison nods. "This is personal," says the journalist. "I will do whatever I have to to help bring this man to justice."

"Glad to hear it," says Bailey. "Take Eltarn and your crew and go in there. Yultar, stay here."

The turian C-Sec officer in question raises an inquisitive eye ridge. "Captain?" she asks.

"I dunno what their history is, but I get the feeling this is something our helper here needs to do," says Bailey.

Yultar nods her agreement. "I figured as much," she nods. "Madison looked like she needed to settle it with this killer. I'll stay here, then." She glances at us, giving us an acknowledging talon. "Shepard, if you need back-up, call me on the channel we used to coordinate how we cleared the trials. And remember, we want this guy taken in alive, even if he starts shooting at you."

"Got it," says Shepard. "If worse comes to worse, I'll send Eltarn up to you, and hopefully he'll have the kid with him. Eltarn, Madison, Art, let's go."

Hey, wait, I'm coming along? Hm... Well, I guess it does make sense. All right. I'll come along, Shepard.

With this, the four of us move along, Tali and Garrus both staying behind. I give a final look at Tali, and raise my thumbs up. Yeah, she looks pretty damn worried that things are going to go to hell pretty quickly. But I got this. I know what Shelby's weaknesses are, so... We shall see what happens. After the gesture I give her, she nods, but I can tell her eyes are shining in some form of concern even from this distance.

I turn back to where we're headed just as a stray C-Sec officer points us towards the requisite entrance, and we walk up to it. Hm... This corridor looks half collapsed. Well, half-collapsed was never really a bad thing unless your name was Isaac Clarke. We look at a few stray power cables as they fizzle about, and then we all look at each other.

And with a nod of determination, the four of us step down into the narrow place, letting the darkness engulf us as we enter the place where we're going to find Eltarn's son, and Scott Shelby.

* * *

Eltarn, Madison, Shepard, and I all walk down the passage. Okay... Bailey is up there, so if worse comes to worse we've got the C-Sec back-up. So... we move further down in the corridor, nearly slipping up on some pieces of debris. Okay... it shouldn't be far now. I've got my sniper rifle up and ready in case shit goes wrong, and Shepard and Madison both have pistols drawn. Eltarn has all five keys with us, so... yeah.

Eventually, we see a light towards the end of the debris as the tunnel funnels in on itself. The entrance narrows a little bit with the flow of the debris (seriously, how the hell have the keepers not cleaned up this crap?), and it gets to a point where as we scroll down, Shepard, Madison and I are leaning against the wall. Gotta make sure Scott Shelby isn't here. And if he is, we've gotta make sure that he doesn't see us. We've gotta have Scott believe he's alone.

Well, if the fact that we've done these trials really fast hasn't tipped him off yet, that is. I imagine it would've tipped him off. But then, he was capable of losing a gas station receipt if you did that one action sequence with Norman Jayden right. Though I still think it's fucking random that he would use a katana hanging on the wall. Though that death scene was uncomfortable to watch. Being stabbed in the groin tends to render scenes difficult to watch, after all.

But we get close enough, and faintly I can hear the sound of running water. Slowly, I peer over the edge of the wall...

And there's the turian boy. The water's a little higher than it was, and now I can see that it's raised beyond the little hole in the ground... And the boy looks like he's spent all his tears and is waiting for the end. Eltarn immediately seems to forget we're there, and then he rushes forward, keys jangling in his talon.

"Sawrik!" he shouts, bolting towards where the boy is currently trapped. The boy's eyes shoot open as he hears this, and before long Eltarn is at the little cage.

"Papa!" he shouts desperately. "Help me!"

"Hang in there, Sawrik! I'll get you out of there soon!" says the older turian as he lays four of the keys to the side. His eyes glance along the thing that is trapping his son, and then he brings the keys over to the five padlocks that are keeping him trapped there. Hm... Those padlocks look like they're made of stronger metal than usual... Like they can't be shot out. Hm... He's not using titanium locks, is he?

Hm... I shouldn't think about it, as the father is already working at another padlock. He yanks the first one off, and before long he's at work on the second padlock. He goes around unlocking all of the padlocks quickly, his hands slipping up due to nerves and due to the fact that it's not exactly easy to manipulate a lock when you're still trying to get used to the fact that one of your fingers got chopped off barely a few hours ago. He's clearly still trying to get used to not having a finger there, but... he works the locks anyway, and manages to have some rate of success with getting them off quickly. But his movements are frantic, and his son is watching his every move. I just know it.

I glance up, hoping to see a trace of Scott. But, he hasn't shown up yet... Hm, he was a bit wierd about that. If someone else showed up when Ethan got to the warehouse, he moved to shoot Ethan first. If Ethan showed up alone, though, Scott came out and offered Ethan to shoot him. At least in this case, though, the police barricade is here for the right person. That's always a plus.

But that's thinking a bit far ahead. My gaze returns to Eltarn as he throws another padlock to the side.

Soon enough, though, Eltarn works the final padlock, and before long he finds a place where he can lift the cover. Slowly, he does so, and after a few seconds the lid comes off. I can scarcely believe it as the father drags his son out of the water. The father and son embrace warmly as the young turian is finally out of the water, and Eltarn cries a tear or two as he holds his son there.

"Papa..." says the turian boy. "You're here..."

"Don't worry Sawrik, you're safe now," says Eltarn. "You're safe..."

The boy nodded, relief flooding through his face. "I knew you'd come for me," he says.

The father nods his agreement. "Well, I'm here, Sawrik," he says. "I'm, and you'll be all right."

Good thing we didn't actually have him take the poison. That would've sucked, I think... especially since he took a third option in that room. But, here we are, and everyone is alive and well...

Sawrik and Eltarn hold their embrace for a few minutes, and I can't help but smile. Well... there goes half our mission objective, taken care of for us already. And it looks like the father/son reunion is a very happy one. That is always a plus.

So... now the next part is waiting for Scott Shelby to show his fat ass out here and let us bring him to justice.

And sure enough, we all hear footsteps echo in the small space, and the fat man known as Scott Shelby makes himself known. Yeah... He's like I remember him. Sam Douglas' face with the really round eyes and the short hair... and he's fat. Doesn't mean he can't kick our ass, though, as the many quick time segments in _Heavy Rain _so wonderfully proved. And of course... he's in a futuristic version of his trenchcoat and suit. Well... at least his fashion sense is keeping up with the times. He'd look really out of place in that old trenchcoat. He approaches Eltarn, and then the turian looks up at the fat human.

I quietly bring up my sniper rifle. Good thing I took it out as we entered. The thing assembling itself as I pulled it out probably would've given us away. And I'm not quite ready to go in that direction yet, so... there we are.

I see Eltarn frown, clicking his mandibles against his teeth. "You..." he says, the rage coming off in his voice. "You're the man who kidnapped my son..."

"I've watched you for a while, you know," says Scott, looking at the father. "You were one of the first I followed when I first came to this place. Your devotion to your family seemed... genuine. But I had to test it."

"Why?" asks the father. "Why kill the other three children?" Okay, good, don't mention the Earth victims... "Why do all this?"

"All my life..." begins the man. "All I wanted was to find a father who would go to any lengths to save their son... I've finally found him, after spending so much time searching for him... And yet... something seems so very wrong about this..."

Oh _shit_, he caught on!

Eltarn simply looks at Scott defiantly as he holds Sawrik close to his body. "The trials were meant to be finished slowly," says Scott. "But you got here almost too quickly. You shouldn't have found this place for another few hours." He shakes his head, and then we all see Scott seem to get more furious. "I finally find a father who is willing to risk everything for his son... and he cheated!"

The turian father frowns as he continues holding his son who is now a little frightened. "Does it matter?" asks Eltarn. "You did test my devotion to my son. But not in the way you expected." With this, he stands up, still holding Eltarn. "I had help from an outside source, but you want to know something? I used hate humans. I used to think their entire race were made of nothing but barbarians. You showed me where I was wrong. The humans that helped me here took time out of whatever they were doing to help me find my son when none of them had to. They may even have changed my opinion about humanity. But either way, I did not expect I would work with humans to find this place. I didn't know whether I should trust them, either, and I placed my faith in them. Maybe even blindly! The fact that I worked with a species I used to hate should tell you that I went to great lengths to save Sawrik. And when that's true, you complain because I didn't risk everything on _your _terms?"

"My terms are the only terms worth paying attention to!" shouts Scott, closing his eyes. "You broke my rules! You were supposed to follow my rules!"

"It doesn't mean I didn't take a lot of gambles in finding my son!" retorts the turian. "There was just as much risk involved in how I did it, you know. I could have been right about my original opinion on humanity, and they could've been out to screw me over."

"Well, I don't think your friends will help you now, will they?" asks Scott. As soon as he says this, I see him draw a magnum from his person, pointing at it. Yeah... the old-fashioned gun... "You broke my rules, Eltarn Maios. I hope whatever gods you believe in will judge you for-!"

And before he can shoot and before I can aim my sniper rifle, I see Madison brush right past me, sprinting right through the opening. Wha- Madison, wait up! I don't get any opportunities to hold her back before she's through the door.

Oh, shit, this isn't good! I never got Madison without Norman at the warehouse, but from what I've heard... it's more of a chase than a fight! But... there's nothing I can do about it now and then a few seconds later she catapults straight into Scott. This knocks the gun right out of his hand, sending it sprawling away from him as they both collapse to the floor. Madison is the first to get up from the action, standing up in a ready stance.

As soon as she does this, Madison turns straight towards Eltarn. "Get out of here, Eltarn!" she shouts. "I'll handle this!"

The father doesn't hesitate, holding Sawrik close to him as Shepard turns on her radio for Bailey to come in. Before I can fully process what's going on, though, I see Scott whack Madison across the cheekbone, sending her sprawling to the side as Eltarn very rapidly crosses the room. And right as soon as he gets into the entrance of where we are, I see Madison and Scott both stand up, Shepard still phoning Bailey for backup.

Shit... I've gotta do something!

I rush forward right as Scott goes straight for his handgun. A few seconds later, I'm only vaguely aware of his startled expression as I leap in the air. Okay... gotta make this work! I leap forward, hoping to make a tackle out of it. I can vaguely hear Madison shout something, but I don't quite catch it as suddenly I collide into Scott, the two of us falling in a heap on the floor just as he's about to grab the handgun. Oh, no!

Quickly, I clamber as far as I can over him with his hand swatting out, and in a single motion I swat the handgun away from him. I then feel a hand connect with my jaw, and I feel something crack as I feel myself phase. But it doesn't get me completely off of him. HOwever, when he swats his hand out, my asari martial arts training comes in, and then I grap his hand, flinging it to the ground with as much force as I can.

The effect is immediately obvious. The action surprises him, and as his hand touches the ground he lets out a groan of pain. Yep, not being flexible is a bitch, ain't it Scott? Comes with being a fatass, it seems. I land a punch to his jaw once, but don't go back in for the action. After all, you never repeat the same action twice in a row. Ever. Unless you've got something big planned. So instead, I grab one of Scott's arms, extending it all the way and yanking as hard as I can.

I get results instantly. He howls in pain as his shoulder gets disconnected, and then I take this as the time to bring his arm behind his back. But before I can do much, I feel a foot kick at my back. Seriously, Scott? You're trying that? I turn to look back to see if I can catch the foot when I see a foot sail straight for my face.

I swat it away as hard as I can, even watching as Madison advances towards Scott. It's then that suddenly the arm under me shifts, and before I know what's happened he's wrenched free of the hold I've got him in. I barely manage to dodge a backhand to my face, but as he rolls over he catches my leg under his body. Ow, ow!

But it doesn't last long, as he then stands up and rushes towards the gun. But Madison is already there, and it looks like she's grabbed a pole. She brings it around once, and I hear a loud metallic slap as the pole impacts against Scott's head. He turns to the side, Madison raising the pole again to knock him out when Scott thinks quickly. With the arm that hasn't been dislocated, he knocks the rod to the side so it clatters against the floor, extending his foot out in a kick.

Seeing this, the journalist very quickly lets go of the metal pipe, and then I look to where the handgun is. I move the remaining distance to grab it...

...and it's then that I promptly realize I don't know how the hell I'm supposed to remove the ammo from older weapons. Fuck! They didn't cover this in basic!

Wait... Should I even...

No, I should just throw it in the river. That way they'll think Scott's insane. Yeah... it's the only way to keep our secret from getting out too early. Because Scott might tell them that he knows Madison from 2011. I can't let that happen. I'll just let them think he's insane. Yeah, that's what I'll do...

I rush over to where the water is. Oh, God, I hope this goes down deep enough. Without much more thought, I drop the magnum into the water, the thing falling in with a splash. In an instant, the thing disappears, and it probably won't show up for a while. Okay... I hope nobody finds the damn thing. Because that would suck. Especially if some kid shot their eye out. Though with that gun, I doubt that it'll be just their eye that gets shot out in that case...

Okay... I glance back to Scott, seeing that Madison has him pinned by his dislocated arm. Okay, I better help her. I rush over, just as Shelby tries to knee Madison in the side. I jump on him, stunning him for a brief second with the force of my landing as I then grab his free hand, my other hand grabbing his leg.

It's then that Shepard comes out, holding a gun out as she advances with about four C-Sec officers. All of them have their weapons drawn, and they come forward as a scowl forms on Madison's face..

The fat man looks at Madison, his expression rife with disbelief. "You're supposed to be dead!" he exclaims.

Madison smirks at this. "I got better," she replies. "And here I am, helping another father."

"Just like you tried to help that man you were fucking!" replies the old man.

"Don't change the subject," Madison snaps. " Wasn't one set of children enough? You had to kill more?"

"Fuck you," spits Scott as the C-Sec officers show up. "All I wanted was one father to show he would go to any lengths to find his son! Just one!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have searched, then," says Madison. "All the justification in the galaxy won't make what you did right. And this time, I don't intend on letting you get away with it."

I frown. "And in the end, maybe you are worthless," I say. "I guess you deserve nothing less for being a killer of children." I shake my head. "In a way, you're _just_ like your father."

With this, the C-Sec officers put Scott in those futuristic handcuffs. Before he can reply, Yultar bends down to Scott Shelby, and begins reading him that little Miranda Rights thing of the future. I glance over to Madison as Scott stays quiet, and before long, the C-Sec officers walk off with Scott Shelby. He shouts something back at me in his rage, but I don't care what he says anymore. Let him believe what he says. I don't care.

As Yultar and the other C-Sec officers exit, Shepard stays standing there, looking at the rest of us. We remain there for a while, none of us saying anything for a while. We just arrested the Origami Killer. And now he's really going to be brought to justice for all he did... After all these years, he's finally going to be brought to justice...

Finally, Shepard turns to Madison as we both sit there. "Are you all right?" she asks.

"Yes," replies the journalist. "I... I can't believe we did it. We got him."

I nod. "And now he really _can't _kill any more children," I mention.

"Yeah," says Madison, nodding as she bites her lower lip. "He was the first one I tried to take down. Ironic how he's currently the last criminal I've taken down, right?" She chuckles darkly, turning her attention to the Commander then. "Thank you, Shepard," she says. "I don't think I could've found him without the help of everyone here."

"You're part of my crew, Madison," says Shepard. "I'm glad we settled this."

"So am I," replies the other woman in the room. "Come on. We should get out of here. We still have things to discuss back at the C-Sec office on the Zakera Ward."

"You don't have to tell me twice," says Shepard. "Come on."

I stand up shortly after this, watching as Shepard walks over to Madison. The Commander holds her hand out to the journalist, and it's a hand she's all too happy to take. So we all walk back to the little hole that led into this room.

And it's then that I notice that Madison's gait seems a little freer than it was before.


	36. Chapter 35

_A/N: All right... so now we've gotten the spoiler-tastic recap of Heavy Rain in place. So with that said and done, Madison is now loyal. And we still have a lot to cover before MV2 can finally end. So what will that cover?_

_Well... I'll go ahead and set stuff up for later, that's what. So stay tuned and I'll provide some set-up exposition._

* * *

Chapter 35: Developments

Okay... so now we're back in front of Bailey's console with Madison, Shepard, and myself there. The C-Sec captain is busy typing away at his terminal, nodding his head in various forms of approval as he sifts through the paperwork.

"Well, that should take care of that with the Origami Killer," he mentions. "Who would have thought a fat man would have been able to steal children in plain sight like that?"

"I bet he just asked them nicely," says Shepard jokingly.

Madison shook her head. "He still had police vestments when he was on Earth," she says. "I doubt that would've worked today, but..." Hm, that _is _a good question. How _did _Scott manage to steal Sawrik away, anyhow? He doesn't have the police uniform, so...

"It probably had something to do with that mole Yultar hypothesized about," says Bailey. "We'll interrogate him soon, see if he's willing to talk about who his mole is. Personally, I'm just glad we found the killer. And even if he does escape, we can find him all over again. There aren't that many buildings that were in as bad a shape as that building. As of now, I think it's safe to say you've saved a lot of lives, Shepard."

"I didn't save the children," says Shepard. "I couldn't have done this without Madison's knowledge of how the Origami Killer works." Or mine, but you kind of have to omit my knowledge of the Origami Killer or else that will get suspicious fast for everyone not in the know...

"Well, you'll be relieved to know that Eltarn's hand should be all right given some treatement," says the captain. "And Sawrik will live."

"I feel pretty bad for him, though," I mention, shaking my head. "I mean seriously... the crap the poor kid went through was really, really bad."

"You and me both," he mentions. "As for Scott Shelby... We'll be keeping him in C-Sec custody for a long while, barring us not finding his mole in time. But we'll be fast, and we'll find the mole quickly. And if he escapes, he'll have his efforts blindsided at every possible juncture now."

"That's good," says Madison. "Thank you for all you've done, Bailey. You've done me a big favor, as well as for Eltarn."

"It's all in a day's work," replies Bailey. "Now... I've got other business to take care of. You should go seek out Sawrik and Eltarn and say hi. They should both still be in the clinic."

Madison nods. "I'll be sure to do that then," she says. "Thank you again for all you've done."

And with this, she gives Bailey a nod. The journalist hurriedly walks over to where the clinic is, disappearing behind a door or two after a little bit. We follow her with our eyes, and then watch as she begins talking with Eltarn and Sawrik. I smile as I watch this, crossing my arms.

"Looks like they'll get along well," mentions Bailey as he turns back to Shepard. "Thanks a lot, Shepard. You've made my job easier once again."

"Anytime, Bailey," she says. "I should go."

"I'll see you around, Shepard," he says. "And if you need anything, I'll be right here."

With this, Bailey turns back to the terminal. With this, Shepard and I both exit the office on the Zakera Ward, looking back out as we exit through customs, letting out a rather large sigh of relief. I nod, looking over to Shepard with a calm expression on my face.

"Well... that takes care of all that," I say as we're screened out of customs.

"That it does," she says. "You think Madison will be all right?"

I nod. "She'll be good," I reply. "She's nothing if not resilient. And with the original Origami Killer out of the way, we've got it covered." I glance back. "And now he's been brought to justice."

"Why not just kill him?" asks Shepard.

I roll my eyes, crossing my arms as I smirk. "Apparently, the first time it happened it didn't stop him," is my simple reply. "I guess it's better this way." I turn to her. "Still, he kinda deserves it. Especially for what he did to the person he tried to 'help'."

Shepard raises her eyebrow. "Oh, boy," she says. "I don't think this ends well..."

I shake my head. "That it does not," I say. "He picked up an unofficial partner while he was killing who was trying to find answers to who the killer was. Her name was Lauren Winter. Her son was one of Scott's victims back on Earth." I shake my head. "The things Scott did to her mind... they were fucking cruel. I want the guy dead, trust me. But it's probably better now that he's been brought in alive."

"Can't say I disagree with you there," says Shepard. "You think Yelena and Mangdalar will be here soon?"

"With Kasumi, hopefully," I say. With this, I stretch my arm a little. Man, my arm is sore right now. "We did take a damn long time. I'll bet Kasumi got quite a bit of artistic enlightenment."

"From here... I guess it's just a matter of waiting," she says. "And then comes the beratement."

"Hey, Mangdalar's life got saved by my timely intervention, even if he did hear things he didn't want to know," I mention. "Yelena won't be too bad about it." I glance to the side, chewing briefly on my lower lip. "I hope."

And with this, we end up waiting for the aforementioned turian and his asari partner. Yeah... I hope she's not to bad about it. I did just up and leave them there. Though Tali went back over there to tell them that I was finished now.

Shame we're leaving at the moment, though. Shepard says she's had enough of this thing. We still need to get Jack and Jacob's loyalty missions out of the way, after all, and we have a derelict Reaper we've gotta go through. And that's not counting the final mission or bumping into Legion. Man, dealing with Legion's thing is gonna be rough. Especially with Tali in the picture. Though... I just realized something, too. How's Rael going to deal with Legion? He doesn't know I know about him, and yet Tali does... I need to tell him soon. And this time, I actually need to make a physical reminder in the form of Tali slapping my hand every time I see him before we get to the derelict Reaper.

I nearly lost more hiding my secret from the rest of the crew...

But I shouldn't dwell on that. Because there goes Tali, Kasumi, and my two music friends on the Citadel from Rapid Transport. Yelena is a little cross, it looks like, but Mangdalar looks like he's taking it with a grain of salt. And as I keep an eye on their expressions, they come forward, and somewhere in front of the C-Sec checkpoint we meet.

Yelena shakes her head. "Seriously, Art?" she asks. "You just ditched us like that?"

I nod. "I know, Yelena," I say. "Let me just explain that really wierd stuff happened. I... don't think you'd understand the whole story unless Mangdalar told you..."

"He did," she replies. Okay... so now Yelena knows as well. "You have some serious explaining to do, about what he told me and about what just happened."

"That I do," I concur. "Let me start from the beginning..."

And with this... I explain myself in great detail to the asari.

* * *

Okay... now that we're all standing in the airlock of the Normandy... things went pretty well, I think. Though Yelena definitely didn't take my explanation all too well. But then, she's being told that I basically put Mangdalar and herself in danger through no fault of my own. But she is fairly understanding. After all, what asari in her maiden stage isn't that way? So she more or less understands, even if she's miffed. And so, they went back to the Citadel, and the rest of us got to return to the Normandy.

So now... Madison is happy, Shepard is happy, Garrus is happy, Kasumi looks pleased, Tali looks pleased too, and I feel happy. So we're all a bunch of merry people. As the doors of the airlock open, then, I feel quite good about everything.

Man, everything is so good. We've brought a killer to justice, I've freed myself even further to Yelena, and we've gotten Madison's loyalty.

What could possibly break this reverie?

"Mr. *********, the Illusive Man wishes to speak with you in the comm room."

...

Damn it, EDI! You just had to kill it, didn't you?

I let out an annoyed groan at this. Damn it, you just ruined my day! And it's been a long one too! I just wanna go to sleep! "Can it wait a bit?" I ask. "I'm in the middle of falling asleep here."

"Or calibrations," replies Garrus.

Oh, God damn it! "The link is already open, Mr. *********," replies EDI. "He does not tolerate having to wait, you understand."

Well, damn it. There's no dodging this bullet, is there? Oh, well... I might as well get this conversation over with. I look over to Tali, biting my lower lip. "You planning on staying at my room tonight?"

"If you'd like," says Tali. "I... uh... I can sleep in the pods tonight... Not that... well..." She stops speaking, and I can tell that she's a little flustered.

"Yeah... I'd like you there," I say, placing a hand carefully on her arm. "I'll join you in a few minutes." Well... "Concealed Cerberus agents possibly trying to steal me before I can go back for my secrets not withstanding, of course."

"I detect no persons in the Comm Room, Serviceman," pipes up EDI.

... "That is a joke, EDI." I pat Tali's arm comfortingly. "I better go talk to him then. Soon as I get down there, I'm plopping into bed."

And with this, I walk towards the comm room, going right through the tech lab. I see I caught Mordin in one of his incredibly rare sleep cycles, where he's just standing off to the side away from all that data. I swear to God, that guy doesn't sleep at all. Suffice it to say, he's wierd when he sleeps. Well, at least he doesn't snore. That would be annoying if he snored just as loudly as Wrex did back on the original Normandy.

But... that's not important.

What's important is the comm room. Which I am now in.

I look into the room, blinking in surprise. Okay... there's the little orange circle around the ground where the table's been lowered. Yeah, I just walk into that, and then my image gets broadcast several light years away to wherever the Illusive Man is. Yeah... Doing that now.

As I enter the circle, though, I feel a little odd. Here I am on this end of the comm array, and all I see for the Illusive Man is a hologram of him sitting at his desk. And it's all orangey and stuff. I can't tell what his expression is, even as he brings a lit cigarette to his mouth. It's just so unreadable like that. Especially when it's all orange and stuff. And it looks wierd too... I can't see the detail of his artificial eyes, or of that black suit that I have to admit looks rather cool on him. Or the greyish-brown hair. It's just... this doesn't feel the same as watching the camera cut straight to TIM.

I glance around as I enter the orange circle, my gaze seeming clueless. I bite my lower lip, crossing my arms as I close my eyes, imagining myself in that place... Hm...

"Is there a reason you have your eyes closed?"

Ah, hello Martin Sheen. "Eh, I'm just trying to imagine the cutaway shot right now," I mention. "What with you sitting in that huge room of yours with that view of whatever star you're in front of as the light reflects off the shiny black floor tiles. Also, your eyes shine blue, always with artificial light. It's just so much easier to imagine that than to talk to a hologram for a few minutes. Especially when you're more used to it." I smirk at this. "By the way, nice view of that star. I'm sure a lot of people would kill to get a view of a star that's so close and personal. Makes me wonder why you don't burn to death from it, but there you have it."

I feel not so much as see the blink that comes afterwards. "Then it seems Miranda's report was correct," says the Illusive Man. "You do know more than you let on initially. This is... a very intriguing development." I open my eyes, looking right at the hologram to see he's stood up. "You knew things about the future Saren would have killed to find out. I would say you did the galaxy a very large favor by keeping such information secret. I cannot even begin to imagine what Saren would have done if he had known about the existence of your knowledge."

Pfft, he almost did find out. It was kind of a shame he found out after he died. Well, that Sovereign found out. I don't think the Reaper fleet caught on, though, so it's not worth mentioning. After all, I don't think even Sovereign can communicate many thousands of light years away...

I shake my head. "It doesn't always feel like that, Illusive Man," I reply with a shake of my head. "I don't like justifying it with 'it's for the good of the galaxy', since keeping some events secret kinda sucks in its own wierd ways. And besides, that knowledge works against you too." I point at his hologram as I frown slightly. "I know what you're planning on asking Shepard to do when we get to the Collector base. About the fact that you want to keep it for study."

"I have been considering that option, yes," he says. "That base could have useful technology that could help us in the fight against the Reapers. We may not know what technology is there, though."

I blink, taking a step forward. "You forget that I know what's waiting for us there," I comment. "Trust me, all the technology in that base is sure as hell not worth the amount of human lives lost there. It's not worth keeping at all."

"Think of the advancements we could make, though," says TIM. "The technology on that base may save many human lives."

What about turian or quarian lives, then? "It's using Reaper technology to fight against the Reapers," I mention. "I mean... we're still going along the path they want us to."

"And what are you suggesting?" asks the Illusive Man.

"I don't know," I say, throwing my hands up. "But I don't think that base is the answer to all our problems. Many tens of thousands of people are being turned into genetic paste over there as we speak. It's working to humanity's detriment, trust me. All the stuff we could find at that base isn't worth keeping it." Well, with the possible exception of... No, I shouldn't mention the prophecy. Not even TIM should know about that unless it plays into things later. "Also, I'm not trusting you to leave us alone if Shepard blows up the base as she originally plans to."

"Think for a second," says the Illusive Man as he gestures with his hands. "I spent billions of credits to bring Shepard back from the dead. As the leader of Cerberus, I have quite a bit of pull, but even Shepard was a big investment. I would not be likely to waste resources to get back such an investment when I know that she and I will still be working for the same goal."

I shake my head, holding my finger up. "I'll hold it to you, then," I say. "But until we get out of the Collector Base, let me just tell you that I'll hold you at arm's length. You know things are bad for your trust when even your own _voice actor _wouldn't trust you if given the option to work under you."

"Fair enough," says the Illusive Man. "In the meantime, though, there is a larger issue: this issue of what you have hidden from everyone. About the fact that you are from an alternate dimension." He nods. "The report mentions that you have no knowledge of how it occurred."

"That's right," I reply with a nod. "And I'm pretty damn sure it wasn't science, either. To be honest, I have no idea in the world what it could've been. I just remember sitting playing something to give me hallucinations, and when I black out I wake up in some alley on the Citadel. Whatever happened in that time... I have no god-damn idea..."

"I see," he says. The leader of Cerberus takes a long drag of his cigarette, perhaps disappointed. Hm... I guess he wanted further results. "This could have put us with a technological advancement. But... seeing as how even you are unsure of how it happened..." He gives me a look. "The report mentions that two other people on the ship had this happen to them too."

I nod. Hm... Better not mention Scott Shelby. "Yeah, and they don't know either," I say. "Let's just say that nobody knows how it happens, and I really, _really _doubt you can control it."

"Then that settles that," he says, returning to his seat. "I trust you have sorted out any personal quarrels that may have arisen?"

I... Have I? I take in a deep breath, exhaling as I look at TIM. "I don't think so, sir," I reply. "There were the people that knew before I let it all fly, so they're okay, and Miranda and Shepard are both fine with it... but everyone else... I don't know."

"Then perhaps you should make your peace with the ground team," he suggests. "You had your reasons, but I doubt that hiding such a thing for so long would be so accepted by everyone around you."

I chuckle darkly at this. "Trust me, when it's come down to it, I think people have been taking it a lot better than I think they really should," I say. "Hell, Shepard had the most extreme reaction to me blabbing about it that I had ever gotten."

"Nevertheless, it may help you bring your own peace of mind," replies the leader of Cerberus. "At any rate, you have your reasons. I will assure you that this information is safe with me."

I blink. "I'm still not trusting you," I reply.

"Would I have a reason to expose your knowledge of such events?" he asks. "The results of releasing such information would be very bad for the fate of the galaxy if it fell into the wrong hands. It would do very little to aid the cause of humanity, as well, especially amongst the Council. Your distrust of me seems to be supported by your experience, but you must remember that I am not as short-sighted as you might think."

"Then I'll hold you to it," I say. "Though for reference, my precognitive powers are beginning to fail me."

"Logically, then, I would have even less to gain from such exposure," he comments. "I would say your distrust of me makes you seem more than a litte paranoid in my presence."

"Better paranoid than dead, as my campus safety back at school used to tell me," I reply with a shrug. "But I'll hold you to it for now. Just know that if I hear about my secret from someone who shouldn't know and said person is not the Shadow Broker, you're the first person I'll be pointing my finger at."

"That is the best I can ask for." He takes yet another long drag of his cigarette, looking at me. "This is all I wished to speak to you about. Be safe."

I give him a simple nod, and then the holographic interface all around me gets cut off. I stand on the table as I watch it all get stowed away. Yeah... and that is that. I bite my lower lip, taking a breath as I turn to the-

Whoah!

"Uh... Hi Mordin."

The salarian doctor is just standing there, looking at me in his newer labcoat with a calm expression on his face. He regards me, and then nods.

"Ah, Serviceman," he says. "Had heard conversation from outside of briefing room. Assume it went well."

I shake my head. "You sure got over the fact that I hid the fact that I knew everything ahead of time quick," I mention. "I take it your nephew who's doing really well in school is doing fine?"

Mordin blinks. "Ah. Suspected you knew about that," replies the doctor. "Good to see I was correct." I step away from the table just as it starts to rise up, and then Mordin gives me a nod. "Salarian thought process faster than that of humans. Also, less emotional. I can see you had your reasons to hide secret. Still curious about certain things, but from what I heard you are as clueless as I on questions I want answered. Not good for either of us. Just," -and here he sniffed- "a few questions. Could we have saved Maelon? What would ultimate fate of krogan be without genophage cure?"

I blink. Well, that's a random question to ask after the fact. I bite my lower lip before nodding quickly. "Yeah, we could've," I mentioned. "Tela wasn't even supposed to be there. If she hadn't shot Maelon, we could've let him run off." I shrug. "And to be honest? I don't know what the outcome of curing the genophage would've been. I'm afraid the game hadn't quite gotten to the point where the plot was ready to address it, so I have no way of knowing if it's for the better or not." I shake my head. "Actually, at the point we're at in the game, I'm reaching the end of my precognitive abilities. That technically means I won't know what's going to happen next for much longer. So... once we get out of the Collector base, we'll be shit out of luck for me being able to tell you what's gonna happen next."

"I see," says the scientist as he nods. "Very well. Was just curious. Either way, I am still grappling with genophage cure. Still a good idea?"

"I'm sure it is," I mention with a hand gesture. "But... it seems you didn't want to say just that to me."

"Ah, no," he says. "Had other things I needed to mention. About the seeker poison." He looks at me with a smile. "Have new piece of equipment for you. May come in handy in future battles."

Oh? I blink, looking at Mordin with a smirk as I cross my arms. "Hm, this should be fun," I mention. "Lead the way, doctor."

And with this, Mordin steps out of the comm room. I'm following behind rather quickly as the two of us walk towards the tech lab.

* * *

"So, Doctor, what do you want to talk about?"

We're both in the tech lab, and he's away from his console. He's proudly standing in front of a small little module that he's developed. Hm... I swear that looks like the thing that would be used for toggling various kinds of ammo. I frown, looking at the little thing as I glance back at Mordin. I raise my eyebrow, looking to him as I cross my arms.

"Examined seeker poison," he says. "Of variety that almost killed you."

Oh, yeah... "Because a reminder of that time I almost died is _exactly _what I need with half the ship having lost my trust," I comment with a shake of my head.

"Not the point," reiterates the salarian.

"I know," I say, taking a sharp inhalation. "It's just... What did you do with the poison?"

"Found practical application," he says. "Should suit your needs. Poison in large amounts can kill. However, further testing proves that in small amounts, toxin is more liable to dizzy an opponent. When used in small doses, good for paralysis of the kind found in other people stung by seeker poison." I frown at this. "Seeker you were stung by unusual. Injects too much toxin into the blood stream. Could have killed you. But in small doses..."

I blink, looking at the little contraption. "So basically, you're saying you've developed statis rounds?" I ask.

"'Stasis' implies biotic activity," replies Mordin. "Misleading term. Would prefer to dub them 'poison rounds'."

Heh, poison rounds. "What's next, Short Round?" I ask. "Because God knows I'm not going to exactly put up with guys taking still-beating hearts out of other guys for some unholy ritual of stuff."

The silence after this is palpable, and then Mordin turns to me slowly. He's got the biggest look of confusion on his face as he just stops and looks at me. Okay... Apparently, he didn't get the reference. Yeah... I need to make my references more relatable.

I wave my hand. "Never mind," I say. "_Temple of Doom _reference. Old human movie. You need to watch it sometime, along with _Raiders of the Lost Ark _and _The Last Crusade_."

The doctor simply blinks, looking back at the thing. "As I was saying," he says, perpetuating it with a very light cough like what he gave at the end of that really awkward singing of the Gilbert and Sullivan aria. "Prefer to dub them poison rounds. One shot has small enough dose to disorient target. Disorientation takes a little, however. Pepper them with bullets, and stasis can take effect on target. Should note that with increased dose the target's health will begin to decline." Hm, so it's kinda like the poison status effct from the _Fire Emblem _series, only with extra stand-still properties as well. Huh.

"Well, that looks like it could come in handy," I mention, taking the thing gingerly. "I take it it has to actually enter the bloodstream, though. Nothing on shields?"

"Yes, must enter bloodstream." The doctor looks on as I eye the little toggle thing. "Inefficient otherwise."

Hm... "Sounds like fun," I say. "And plus, I get to give the Collectors a small taste of their own medicine." I smirk at this, looking right at the doctor. "I'm gonna love this new ammo."

"Figured you would," says Mordin. "Keep in mind that ammo only works if cartridge is supplied with poison. If you run out, come see me here. Should be able to have more Collector toxins produced here. Should also have enough toggles for all weapons. Most of them have been left at your quarters."

I nod. "Excellent," I say, looking at him. "But why not give it to Jacob?"

"Relationship with armory officer... strained, from looks of things," he mentions. "Shouldn't be too difficult to do yourself."

I sigh. Yeah, Jacob and I aren't on the best footing right now. "Yeah, you've got a point," I mention. "I'll see what I can do. Thanks, Mordin."

"No trouble," says the salarian scientist. "You've had a long day."

"Oh, yeah," I comment, nodding as I find myself chewing on my lower lip yet again. "I'm gonna jump into bed and sleep for a bit. I'll see you around, doctor."

Mordin says nothing as I walk out of the tech lab. Okay... so now I apparently have a new loyalty power. Or something. As if I had any other powers by now, but I'm taking my victories where I can get them.

Because really, at the end of the day, I think I'm doing splendidly for myself. And going off even with everyone knowing who I am. I guess life is still going to be a bit rough.

* * *

When I get to my room, I find Tali still awake in my bed. I blink at her, giving her a soft smile as I set the poison stuff down on the desk close to where the terminal is. Yeah... there are other things like it there, so there's everything I need. I watch Tali as I get near the bed, watching the way her suit shimmers in the dull blueish light of the drive core. Hm... her suit actually looks kinda beautiful in this lighting. I need to get this lighting more often. Because it's spellbinding in so many ways.

I climb into bed next to her, her body moving slightly as I move in under the covers. "Hey, Tali," I say as I move into bed.

"I take it your talk with the Illusive Man went well?" she asks.

I shrug, my head settling on the pillow. "As well as it can when you know about the kind of stunts he's going to pull on you at the game's final mission, _querida_," I reply. "I still don't think it's a good idea for him to know that. Even if he went to quite a few lengths to tell me that he has nothing to gain from releasing the information." I scoff. "I'll bet he'll change his tune depending on what happens when we get to the Collector base. I'm half expecting he'll blackmail me with some of that information."

"I see," says Tali. "Do you know what exactly he's planning?"

"Well... it's really easy to explain," I mention. "But... I want to tell the whole Brotherhood."

I can feel the quarian's hand tighten around mine. "You know... with the whole ship knowing about your secret, I would hardly call it what we've been calling it."

I blink. "Damn it, you're right..." I say, frowning in distaste. "Shit... now that the secret is out, I don't really have much else to fall back on..." I shake my head. "But I still consider you guys to be close. Maybe it'll be for the people I trust most on this ship that are allowed to come."

"That could work," says the machinist. "But... you'd think everyone would want to get in on the action..."

"Then they'll just have to earn my trust," I mention. "If I don't trust them enough, they don't get to listen to us talk about our secrets. Let me tell you that Kaidan probably won't be getting himself into one of _those _meetings in the near future."

"About that." The girl I've been falling for turns to me slightly, her voice a little icier than usual. "I... I still don't think you made a good call with him there."

Oh, seriously Tali? "Hey, he kind of asked for it," I reply, frowning slightly. "I wanted him to know what it was like to be unable to explain yourself to someone hard-headed. You treat people the way you want to be treated, you know?"

Tali shakes her head. "Your definition of reciprocity is very strange," she states. "You should have been the better man. But you sunk to his level. I would even say you went _below _his level."

_Below _his level? Tali, I haven't mistreated you by not staying by your side when you need me... Okay, maybe I kind of did, but even then I wasn't outright telling you I wouldn't have anything to do with you. Hell, I even tried ot help you, and _succeeded_, which Kaidan didn't even try. So yeah.

I close my eyes, letting out a soft sigh. Okay... here we go. "Things like that aren't about being the better man, Tali," I mention. Yeah... that should work. "I was trying to prove a point to him. That he should've listened to Shepard, instead of coldly brushing her off. I figured, what better way to prove a point to him than to give him a taste of his own medicine?"

The reply comes almost instantaneously.

"You're bullshitting me."

W-what? I... Oh, why is she...? Oh, Jesus, she's sounding just like my mom! "W-what?" I ask. "T... Tali, you know I..." Wait, I can't say I'd never lie to her. A lie of omission is still a lie. "Uh... You know I'd be honest with you about how you feel."

"Or how you think you feel." She shifts against me, looking at me. "When you had finished speaking with Kaidan... you had looked almost angry. I just... I don't think you were trying to prove a point to him. I think that's just an excuse."

W... She thinks that's an excuse? I... Damn it! The little-!

...

No, Art, calm down. Now you really _are _sinking to Kaidan's level. Tali's far from being a little bitch. She's the most caring, kind person in the whole world. And you are an idiot to make yourself call her a little bitch, even in your mind.

She's right, anyhow. And besides, it's not like she asked me for a reason behind it; she's actually trying to help me sort out my emotions. Much unlike daddy dearest who constantly brushed off any attempts to explain my reasoning behind certain things by telling them what I was thinking with the same little 'I don't want to hear excuses' bullshit, she actually does have a point here.

Yeah... I shouldn't get pissy over that.

I close my eyes, trying to get the image of my father out of my mind as I bite my lower lip. "Maybe you're right," I say. "I just..." I shake my head. "It felt good to get revenge on the guy who did wrong to someone I know for once. I felt so coy about it, you know... Here's the guy who wronged someone, but he's not the one who gets the last laugh, you know?"

Tali shakes her head. "You can be really twisted sometimes," she says. I can just see her biting her lower lip.

"Comes with the baggage, I guess," I say. "You've got no idea how many people I've wanted to hit over the head with something."

"You're a little more vengeful than I thought, then," she replies. "Art... Have you ever learned how to reign in your anger?"

I shake my head. "Never really did, I guess," I say. "I get really pissed off at people if they don't let other people explain themselves. And if I have to be a hypocrite when I make that clear to the other person... well, I'm fine with it really. Because usually I'm too pissed off to care. And in a way, I don't _want _to care."

She looks right at me, turning and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Don't let it get to you..." Her tone is almost pleading. "I don't like seeing you the way you were with Kaidan."

I chuckle. "Trust me, Tali, I try," I reply. "I keep on trying to check my anger. Even if a lot of times it's just starting to burst through the seams..."

Her hand strokes my cheek gingerly, and I can feel some measure of happiness in here eyes. "Good to know," she says. "I'll hold you to that, though. And if you do break it again, I won't hesitate to point it out on the spot."

The crooked smile I give her says enough. But... not for me. I've gotta say something to make that official.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, _querida_."

She shakes her head. "Now I know what you felt like when everyone was calling you my _hesh'alan_," she states.

"Indeed," I say. "But... I guess if you find out on your own, the sweeter it gets."

I can feel her smile in return, and then I turn on my back. "I'll hold you to that too," she states. Her helmet rests squarely beneath my right armpit, and my right arm comes around her. She snuggles up to me then, and I smile as I lay there, looking up at the ceiling. Hm... Well, I have a loyalty power...

Wait. Didn't we get an alternate outfit too?

... Yes... yes we did. Miranda got that black jumpsuit (which I've gotta say looks a lot better on her than that white piece of crap. Why she's not wearing it here is beyond me), Mordin got a color upgrade, Grunt got completely different colors... hell, even Jack covered some of her skin up.

"Say, Tali," I say.

I get a gentle grunt in reply. I glance down at the quarian as she snuggles a little closer. Well... I'll take that as a requisite 'yes?'...

"I'm wondering... Do you know where we can find any paint around here on the Normandy?"

* * *

So when we woke up the next morning, we ended up scouring the Normandy for any extra paint that there might be lying around. And... eventually, we found some paint. So then Tali and I brought it right to the armor, working painstakingly all morning to paint something new on the armor. Neither of us are painters, and we've gotten paint all over myself and on pieces of Tali's veil, but we were just laughing about getting paint on ourselves the whole time.

And... Okay, just draw the brush carefully there... and we're done!

Tali and I step back to see the full set of armor as it lays on the ground. Still standard-issue stuff, but god damn it if it doesn't look absolutely badass now. We've painted the entire armor black. Midnight black, I should probably mention. So it's all dark and stuff. But the orange is still there, though it is a little more prominent. Now instead of the one floral pattern over my heart, it's four little vine things that stretch out from my shoulders and over both sides of my chest. And now the floral pattern has thorns on it. Probably a little silly, but hey.

I smile at Tali, looking right at her. She shakes her head, her eyes gleaming as if she's just had the time of her life.

"Your definition of badass is definitely different from mine," she states.

My smile turns into a smirk as I cross my arms. "It wouldn't be anywhere near as fun if they were the same, trust me," I reply.

The quarian lets out a chuckle at this as we look at the newly painted armor. Yep... I think I'm gonna like this. I may not strike fear into the hearts of every man, woman, and child that dare get in our way, but... it would be pretty damn close, I think.

"Well... either way it looks nice," she says. "I can't wait for this thing to dry."

"Yeah, neither can I," I say, uncrossing my arms. "It's gonna be pretty awesome when people see my new paint scheme on my armor." I turn to Tali. "By the way, Tali... You mind telling people to gather in Kasumi's quarters?"

She frowns at this. "We haven't had a brotherhood meeting in quite a while," she says. "And I don't think we can call it what we've been calling it any longer."

"Then we'll just term it 'the Brotherhood'," I comment. "It's all we can do, right?

"Yeah, it is," says Tali. "All right then. You have people you want to talk to beforehand?"

I nod, looking right at her. "I need to talk with Jack," I say. "When the crew found out... I brought up a really personal memory of hers. Probably a really bad move on my part, but I wasn't exactly given much of a choice given where we are in the game. So... I just want to clear that up with her."

"You should," says Tali. "She hasn't been the most friendly person down in the engineering deck as of late. Come back when you're finished with your business with her."

I nod, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I will," I reply with a slight smile. "I'll see you soon."

And with this, we both exit our quarters, leaving the newly repainted set of armor laying there to dry.

* * *

Okay... I'm in engineering right about now... Okay... Jack's little hideyhole is over this way. Either entrance is acceptable, so... I blink, biting my lower lip as I enter the door that would take me to the drive core. But... Man, looking down at those stairs has never intimidated me more... I... I don't know if I want to say anything. But... I did use a very personal memory for Jack. And I really shouldn't have done that.

No. I need to talk to her about it. And now's the best time to get to that.

So I descend the staircase, feeling my heart thumping in my chest as I do so. This isn't gonna go well, I know it. But... it has to be done.

I eventually descend the staircase the whole way, seeing Jack sitting there silently. Al isn't there. Hm... I didn't say I wanted to see her, but she looks like she wants to be left alone. The datapad she usually writes poetry on is sitting next to her on the cot, and she looks like she's been thinking a little too much. I can't say I blame her, after all. I did reveal a very personal memory, which, thinking back on it now probably wasn't the smartest idea in the world.

As I step closer to her, she looks up, giving me a look that I for the life of me can't actually read. I step forward, taking in a deep breath as I look to her. I pause right at the entryway, not daring to go closer. She simply looks at me quietly, and I bite my lower lip. Damn it... how the hell do I start this? I... It's just tough to find something to say.

What can I say, after all? I can sense her eyes water, looking right at me.

"You want to fuckin' say somethin'?" asks Jack brusquely. "Then fuckin' say it!"

I blink. Well, that takes care of that, I guess. But it doesn't make me feel any less guilty.

With a sigh, I lean against the bulkhead, looking right at the biotic. "I just..." I say. "You know how Murtock was. A guy. Used you for sex, biotics, that whole thing."

"You didn't say a goddamn thing up there," she says. "I guess I should thank you for not saying that in public. That's too fuckin' personal."

"I know, Jack," I say, closing my eyes. "And I'm sorry for that. I really shouldn't have brought it up." My head shakes, and I push off the bulkhead while opening my eyes. "I really shouldn't have brought him up, of all people. Especially since..." I bite my lower lip. Damn it... I shouldn't say this. But... "Especially since he loved and he was sorry things didn't work out. And no amount of saying 'I had to' can really make it better."

"Make that two of us, you fucking prick," she says, her voice raising in volume slightly. "You fucked with me just like you've fucked with all the rest, you son of a bitch! I should kill you where I stand!"

I glance at her sadly as she stands up, walking right towards me. I look right at her, biting my lower lip as I glance to the side. "Then have at me," I say dejectedly, not moving from where I am as she glows biotically blue. "I know there's nothing I can say that can make having lied to near on everyone I've known here a good thing. I don't deserve any less..."

I leave the sentence hanging in the air, but out of the corner of my eye I can see the biotic aura die from Jack. She simply stands there, looking at me with a bewildered expression. Hm... I got her confused.

"Okay, what the fuck, Art?" she asks. "Nobody that's fucked with me has said anything like that. So what the fuck makes this different?"

I look right at her as I push off of the bulkhead. "Because I can't excuse the fact that I made a conscious choice to lie," I say. "I had my reasons... but I had to consciously say to myself 'okay, now I'm going to lie to everyone'. That was my choice." I look right at her, feeling my eyes water slightly. "And it sucks, Jack. Because then it fucks with everyone I ever become friends with. And the worst part is that even my reasons never seem like they're enough."

She stares at me, shaking her head. "You expect me to feel sorry for your ass?" she asks.

"No," I say candidly. "I don't expect you to conform to what I want you to feel. The only thing I came down here for is to apologize for nearly putting you on the spot. Even if there's nothing I can really say that will make it better, I just... I needed to get that off my chest with you." I look right at her. "So I'm sorry. For everything."

She stands there with a shocked expression on her face, not moving a single muscle. I simply avert my gaze to the ground. Yeah, I fucked up. I'm ready to admit that, Jack. So I'm sorry.

And then the biotic shakes her head, beginning to pace around like she would've when she found out the Normandy was a Cerberus ship. "I just..." she says. "What the fuck, Art? This shit... I don't know..." Finally, she makes her way back to the cot, and she sits there shaking her head. "I need to think about this shit. Leave me alone."

She needs to think about it? I...

Well... that's an improvement. But it doesn't mean it's still solved.

She gives me a glare to my back as I leave, ascending the staircase. Al wasn't there, so... I imagine he was off somewhere. She may think she'll just want some time alone. But... I can't disturb her for a while. So yeah.

I reach the top of the stairs, and glance at the door for engineering briefly. No... I shouldn't disturb the engineers. Not like this, anyhow.

I then end up walking over to the elevators. Yeah, they'll be expecting me up in Kasumi's quarters right about now. I guess I better go there and-

Whoah!

I find myself face to face with Jenny McKansa as I look at her. She's just as surprised as I am to find that we've bumped into each other like this. She blinks briefly, neither of us daring to move.

Okay... Yeah, this is kinda awkward. Especially after having just spoken with Jack. Yeah...

She looks at me once, and instantly I can see some kind of insecurity in her eyes. "I... uh... I gotta go calibrate the Hammerhead, mate," she says a little too quickly. "I'll see ya around."

And before I know it, she's walked right past me, leaving me standing there as she enters the drive core.

Wait... But the way to the cargo bay is in totally the opposite direction! So why's she heading...?

Unless she's trying to avoid me. But why would she be trying to avoid me? Unless there's something I didn't realize about her when I revealed my secret to the crew and ground team, but... Hm... This rings kind of strange to me. I don't know why, but it does.

But I shouldn't go talk to her now. I'll... I'll go see if I can chase her down later.

Besides, I've still got a Brotherhood meeting I need to get to.

* * *

When I show up at Kasumi's quarters, she's handing out drinks to Garrus and Madison. Okay, so they're here, as is Tali, who's busy working with a port. Yeah, drinks for quarians are always a little crazy. I guess we all need some alcohol in our systems after what happened. Okay... who else...? Okay, so there's Sturge and-

Wait, what? Why's she...?

"Dr. Chakwas?" I ask.

The aforementioned doctor looks over in surprise, crossing her leg where she's sitting on the couch next to Sturge. "Oh, Art," she says warmly, standing up. "We were wondering when you would arrive."

"You weren't expecting me to show up with a black eye and several broken bones, were you?" I ask.

"Oh, no, don't be silly," she says. "I'm sure you know that Sturge... well, he mentioned your past. Your real past." Her expression turns a little sour at this.

... Oh. "No," I say. "He didn't mention it to me at all."

"I kinda had to after you told everyone else," says the old science teacher as he stands up. "You put a few of us in a very uncomfortable position with that revelation." He shakes his head. "You should hear some of the crew talk about you now. It's actually kind of... unsavory."

Oh dear... I blink, looking right at the old man as I let out a soft sigh. "I figured as much," I say. "I'm pretty sure I've lost Jenny's friendship, and I'm pretty sure I'm on the track to losing Jack's friendship as well. Everyone else... I imagine I've lost their friendship."

"I wouldn't say that," replies the medical doctor. "You still have those of us in here who know and are still willing to listen. I'll bet that there are a few people on the crew who still feel that way. I just wish you could've told me sooner." Her expression is pretty serious. "I've had many people tell me things about themselves I've never told anyone. Doctor-patient confidentiality, you know?"

I shake my head. "It's not that simple, Dr. Chakwas," I reply sadly. "Knowing everything that I know isn't a very easy thing to swallow. Especially from someone else's point of view. You go along one day and suddenly you find out someone you thought you knew well was completely different. You know? Even if you tell them the truth straight away..."

"I don't know how I would've reacted either," replies the doctor. "But I would've wanted to know the truth."

"I guess..." I say, letting out a soft sigh. "But you know how it is. I guess you've come to terms with it."

"Not immediately, of course," comments Sturge. "She had to get used to it a little bit. Took her a little, too."

"But... here I am," she says, holding her arms out. "I guess that I've known that you wouldn't do anything unless it was for our good sort of helped put things in perspective."

I nod, crossing my arms. "I guess," I comment. "It doesn't make me feel terribly comfortable that I was hiding what I was, but you know how it is."

"Indeed," says the doctor. "I'm surprised by how many people here knew before you told the whole crew."

"And remember, some of us knew since we first bumped into him," mentions Sturge. "Hell, I was in the same place he was before I ended up on Horizon."

"Indeed," says Chakwas, nodding her approval. "So... who else is coming here?"

I shrug. "Well... we're waiting on Thane," I mention. "And after that, we may-"

The door opens again with a whoosh. Whoah, that was unexpected, but then Thane wasn't in the room, so yeah. I blink, pausing mid-sentence as our gazes all turn towards the door. Okay, so there's Thane, and he's walking with a rather cheerful gait. And...

And Shepard is next to him?

"Art," she says, looking right at me with a rather calm expression on her face. "I believe Thane may have mentioned the existence of something like this after he returned from visiting his son..."

I blink, looking at the commander as I cross my arms. "So he did," I say, sparing a glance and a brief nod at the drell as Shepard stood there. "I take it you're here for a reason?"

"Well..." she says. "Your most trusted friends are here, right? I think I better join in if that's the case."

Yeah, because I do trust her with a lot, truth be told. And I did kind of suggest to Thane that maybe she'd like to get in on what's going on in the secret society of secrets now that she's in on the biggest secret of the whole group. Especially since it could help strategically speaking.

I nod, giving her a smile. "Figured you would see it my way, Joc," I reply cheerfully. "Welcome to the Brotherhood."

"Of Secret Keepers?" asks Joc. "It's a really silly name."

"Honestly?" asks Tali as we all walk further into Kasumi's quarters. Shepard and Thane take a place on the couch close to Garrus and Madison. "With what happened recently, we might not keep the 'secret keepers' in the name anymore."

"We must just call it 'The Brotherhood' from now on," I say, crossing my arms. "I always wanted to make an X-Men reference like that."

Sturge shakes his head, frowning in distaste. "I'm not even going to ask."

I shrug. "I was a nineties kid," I mention. "Who in the nineties _didn't _grow up with some exposure to the X-Men cartoon?"

"The really poor ones," replies the science teacher.

Ooh. Yeah... "Point taken," I say, visibly cringing. "Yeah..."

Near on everyone else in the room blinks at this, before Kasumi shakes her head. "Never mind," she says. "We should get this thing started."

That we should. I look to Shepard then. "Then let's get started," I say with a smile. "I've gotta get you and Chakwas in on most of the stuff that's been happening as of late. Hell, I could probably tell you the future."

"Actually, that's one reason I'm here," says Joc as the door closes behind her. "I got a new mission from the Illusive Man. I'm wondering if you know anything about what goes down on a planet Aite?"

Hm? Aite? Hm... Unless she means Aeia... No, she knows about Jacob's loyalty mission already. So she wouldn't confuse it. Besides... she's usually really good about that sort of thing... So... No, there was no Aite in the Mass Effect universe... But why's that important?

I shake my head. "The name doesn't ring a bell," I mention. "The closest thing I can think of is Aeia, but I imagine you're talking about a different place."

"I am," replies the Commander.

Yep, that complicates things... Damn it, there goes my precognition failing me again!

I nod. "This is a little confusing, then," I finish. "Because I don't _ever _remember a mention being made to it." I look at her then. "Why?"

"We're heading there soon," says the commander. "The Illusive Man himself contacted me that a VI at a research station on that planet has just gone rogue."

"And we're the only ones who can deal with it," I finish for her. At her nod, I bite my lower lip, shaking my head. "Why am I not surprised that he's leaving us to clean up his mess?"

"Maybe because we are the best ones to do it," points out Madison. "I mean, I don't even know everything we can do, and I've already seen this crew do very crazy things. And survive."

"When she puts it like that, Madison does have a point," adds Dr. Chakwas. "This crew has survived many things that by all rights we shouldn't have. And yet, here we are."

I nod, shrugging. "True, I guess," I reply. "But... I don't know anything about this mission you're mentioning." I bite my lower lip. "And to be honest, my precognition is going to be dying off pretty soon. So I don't think I'll be able to help you with predicting the future much longer."

The commander nods, a slight grimace taking form on her face. "Shame I had to find out about it so late, then," replies the commander.

"I know," I comment, glancing to the side. "But I can't tell you anything about it. You're heading there now, you said?"

"Yeah," she replies. "I'll be taking you, Tali, Kasumi, and Thane on the ground team." I nod. Hm... If we're dealing with a VI, we've got a good crew. Two tech specialists, and everything is great. Yeah, that would work.

I nod. "I see," I say. "I'd like to see what's down there, anyway. If it's something I don't know about... I don't like to wait for the curiosity to kill me."

Besides, it's a simple mission to take down a rogue VI. I imagine it'll be like that one mission in the first game where we had to go to the moon to disable that one rogue VI. Then it'll just be shooting a bunch of generators, right? And that's god-damn easy. Simple things are done like that.

"Figured you'd say that," says Shepard. "It'll be great."

"Yeah," I mention with a smile. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"


	37. April Fool's Day Chapter

_A/N: Oh, Art, haven't you heard the definition of tempting fate? Because he did a serious bout of tempting it there. And it shall be like no other. Remember how the mission ends?_

_Well... it's gonna bite him in the ass. Hard._

_But in the meantime... we've got other things to do. So before we hit Overlord... Well..._

_I have another thing in mind. So... hold on to your seats._

_I recently had a commission by the incredibly awesome GoneBatty of DeviantArt. So you can find it here:_

* * *

Chapter 36: Shostakovich: Symphony no. 9

It's been a while since I've slept as well as I did. I felt myself come to consciousness, but I refused to open my eyes or acknowledge anything my senses were telling me. I just wanted to milk my bliss for all it was worth. I cannot even remember how long it has been since I first arrived into this world. Years ago, I was a rather callow person at home thinking my problems back then were so huge. Now, here I am in the world of a video game I love, fighting to save everything and everyone I hold dear.

I never imagined before I got here that I would be in this very world, fighting along the people that I respected on screen. In all this time, I've gotten to see the world in a new light and see the characters as very real people... well, not all of them are human, but yeah.

Wait a second, I'm laying in a comfortable bed. This doesn't quite gel in my head. What's this in my arms?

I cracked open my eyes slowly, unwillingly taking in the light of the surroundings around me. My eyes quickly adjusted to the light in my room. I looked around, wondering if I was still in some kind of dream. This wasn't what I fell asleep to. Is this real life? Am I still dreaming or have I been teleported somewhere else again?

Oh, fuck me. Now, for this thing in my arms. It's like... did someone go to sleep with me last night? What the fuck is going on?

I let out a quick yelp of surprise. This turned out to be an _incredibly_ bad move as the person... thing... suit in my arms began to stir. I quickly jumped out of bed and looked around. Where the fuck am I?

I looked at the figure in front of me that was in my bed. It stirred slightly before it set its sights upon me. At least, I think it did. I couldn't tell with the visor there.

"Mmm, good morning, Art," she said in a cheerful tone. Well, it was a she... or at least had a female voice. What?

Next thing I know, I'm fainting from just the shock of everything going on. Last thing I remember was bashing the back of my head against the wall as I fell unconscious. Oh, this will hurt when I wake up.

I woke up to find myself again in a bed. At least I'm comfortable right now. Um, okay, let's see what's around me. Apparently, this has to be a hospital of some sorts. There seems to be beds and medical equipment around me. There was a lady sitting by the equipment next to my bed. I can only assume she is the doctor here considering she was expertly fiddling with the equipment here.

Damn, she's good. Like, I remember bashing my head against the wall behind me but I figured that would hurt for a few days. I tentatively reached behind my head to touch where I hit the wall and felt it was completely healed.

"Wow, this is impressive..." I said to myself. Hey, what happened to my voice? I sound like Mickey Mouse!

"Oh, you're awake," the doctor lady said to me. Yeah, she's definitely the doctor.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked.

"Well, Art, when you fainted in your room earlier, you hit your head pretty hard. I haven't finished a scan, but I am firmly of the opinion that you have temporary partial amnesia," she explained to me.

"That sorta... is that biologically correct?" I asked.

"I am a doctor, Art," she replied to me.

"I don't have amnesia at all—wait, why are you calling me Art?" I asked her.

"That is... your name," she said cautiously. My name is Art? What have I missed? I remember everything perfectly well. I fell asleep in a tent after a whole day of activity and I wake up in some spaceship to find something in my arms. If I have amnesia, how far back did I lose?

The door to the room opened and a rather intriguing lady walked in. She had to be the commander of this ship. I mean, she just had this immensely awesome aura about her. Like, you looked at her and you couldn't help but respect her.

"Art, you're awake," the new person said to me.

"I... am," I replied with some hesitation. Was I a guest aboard this ship or was I one of the crew members? If I was a crew member, was I high ranking or was I one of the lower ranks?

"Commander, preliminary analysis indicates that he potentially has a form of amnesia that only affected a part of memory and only temporarily. In a few days, he should slowly recollect what he had forgotten," the doctor said to me. The commander gave the doctor a rather odd look before looking at me.

"So, um, you're the commander? It's an honor to be in your presence... uh, ma'am? Miss? Uh... er," I cut myself off as I saw the commander cringe at the mention of being called "Miss".

"Miss?" the commander asked tentatively.

"Well, I mean, you kinda look like a woman. I mean, you DO look like a woman, but like, a badass, totally awesome woman with amazing shit and... uh, ma'am, are you okay?" I asked as she cringed again.

"I'm... Commander Shepard and this ship is the Normandy," she said to me, trying to remind me what I had forgotten. Oh, okay, what canon is this? Is this some kind of sub-section of Star Wars? Maybe I'm stuck in one of those "extended universe" Star Wars novels my friend used to talk about back home.

"Okay, uh, Commander? My name is Art?" I asked her carefully.

"Well, you're ****** ********* and you're a serviceman aboard this ship. You were trained in firearms by our... former gunnery chief, Ashley Williams. You helped us save the universe from the threat of the Reapers and are on another mission to save the universe again," the commander explained.

"Ashley Williams... Ash," I mused to myself. No way in hell—just, no...

"Yes, she preferred to be referred to as Ash," Shepard said with a slight smile.

"I think part of his memory is coming back," the doctor said.

"Thank goodness," Shepard said. Well, I'll refer to her as her name in my head since using "the commander" seems incredibly cumbersome.

"May I go explore the ship?" I asked. I almost asked "Can I?" but proper grammar. This is a foreign universe to me. Proper grammar and efficient communication is essential and vital.

"You may after the doctor gives you a more thorough analysis and she releases you," Shepard said to me before she left the room.

"Okay, hold still. This won't hurt," the doctor said to me. I smiled slightly to her. I hope she wasn't lying; I'm tired of doctors telling me nothing was going to hurt and in actuality it hurt like a bitch! I mean, you never know what might happen. It could be—

"Done," she said.

"Oh, wow, that didn't hurt at all! You're amazing," I said to her with a huge smile.

"It was a simple matter of compiling information of an analysis of your brain waves. It was done by managing to use ultrasonic frequencies of this-"

"I'm a musician, not a doctor," I interrupted while holding my head and massaging my temples.

"Oh, well, I'll put it plainly, then. I need to examine your brain waves to assess the extent of the damage. You are free to go, though," the doctor said.

"Thank you very much," I said to her. With that, I left the room. Hey, I just realized I'm not wearing my glasses! Score! Although, what's with this long hair I have? I think next chance I get, I'm chopping it off until it's short enough to spike.

So... this is the ship Ash is from. Okay, so let's see. This ship couldn't be too hard to navigate. Could it?

Okay...

... okay...

... uh, no, that's a bathroom.

How about here? This dark area kinda looks like a hidey hole. Maybe it's best I don't go there... I might get into trouble.

... I'm lost. Where's the kitchen at? Like, food stuff? Is it this way? I opened the door to a room and immediately knew I was lost.

"Art? You okay?"

I turned to the person speaking to me. It was the commander.

"Uh, sorta. I'm lost," I said sheepishly.

"Oh, well, um, I can give you a tour of the ship. Don't you want to talk to Tali first, though?" Shepard asked.

"T-Tali?" I asked carefully. "Is this Tali a friend of ours?"

Shepard looked at me for a second before facepalming. I'm going to guess this Tali is an important person to this ship.

"She's... nevermind. Anyway, is your memory coming back?" Shepard asked me, a slight tone of worry in her voice.

"Yeah, I vaguely remember fireballs and shadow balls and thunderbolts and a food supply tent getting burned down," I said.

"... bad camping experience when you were younger?" Shepard asked.

"Probably... or probably a dungeons and dragons match," I said in reply. I never played Dungeons and Dragons before, but my mind is coming back to me. I guess the shock of being here sorta shorted out my memory, but I'm remembering things and nothing is making much sense still.

"Well, where are you trying to go?" Shepard asked.

"I was actually contemplating going to the kitchen...esque... area... thing. To, um, get food?" I said timidly.

"Art, you don't have to be so shy around us. We're all family... well, until you came out about yourself to us, but we're adjusting," Shepard said.

"Oh, okay. Hey, commander?" I said.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Ask me if I'm an orange," I said.

"Uh... why are you asking me that?" Shepard asked.

"Trust me," I said with a small smile and a little wink.

"Are... you an orange?"

"No."

...

... there was silence for a few seconds before the audible sound of a facepalm, coupled with the sight of Shepard shaking her head. Still, I could see she was smiling a little.

"Aha, aha! I got you to smile!" I said with a huge grin on my face. "Stupid, yet effective. Just gotta apply the KISS principle."

"The what?"

"My college professor told me once to... ahem... Keep It Simple, Stupid! I prefer replacing 'stupid' with 'shithead'. I just find that the connotation of a swear word fits more appropriately to the scenario."

"Uh... Art, I... nevermind," Shepard said before sighing and walking into a room. In front of me was a place with tables and chairs and—ooh, is that food I smell?

"Hey, Art!" someone called out from behind the counter.

"Hey!" I replied with a smile as I waved.

"Look, Sturge... Art here has some temporary amnesia of sorts and I'm trying to re-acquaint him with the ship."

"Really, Art?" Sturge asked me with a suspicious look in his face.

"Uh, that's what the doctor says. Either way, I don't know how I got on this ship," I replied.

"Well, we could always discuss it with a few people," Sturge said.

"Perhaps we could. This is surreal, though. I feel like Luke Skywalker," I said with a small smile.

"Wouldn't you say Darth Vader is the actual hero of the entire movie franchise?" he asked me.

"It'd be interesting plot-wise to note that the hero is meeting and working with the antagonist Palpatine," I remarked.

"I'll have Princess Leia meet with Luke later," Sturge remarked. What? Did I just make references to Earth pop culture with someone? How bizzare...

"Uh, sure," I said slightly awkwardly. What was that all about? "Anyway, so... um, Struge? You are, like, the cook here or something? Is there anything possible I can consume?"

"Uh, well, um, there's today's meal," Sturge said. I nodded and grabbed some of the food. Shepard got her own meal as well. I sat down at a table and she sat down across from me.

"I'm so thankful that you are showing me around. I hope I can figure out what the hell is going on soon, though," I said. Seriously... how did I end up here?

"Well, at least I think we can rule out that you were on a stim trip," Shepard said. I thought I detected a slight bite in the tone there, but that's probably just me.

"Stims? You mean, like, stimulants? I'd never touch that kind of stuff," I remarked while shrugging. "That's kinda bad for your body... I think?"

"Indeed they are," she said.

"Oh god, this food smells good! I wonder how it tastes," I said as I took a bite. It was heavenly.

"It's like Oscar's cooking!" I said aloud.

"Oscar?" Shepard asked.

"The grouch?" Sturge added from the kitchen.

... oh shit.

"... uh, someone I knew from a place not here," I said with a shrug.

"I see. He must have been excellent," Shepard said.

"One of the best I've tasted. I'd say the best, but I don't know... Sturge here is excellent... possibly even better," I remarked.

"Thank you, Art," Sturge commented.

"No problems, bossman! Er, I mean, you know, figure of speech," I said hastily.

"Don't worry, Art," Shepard mentioned.

At that moment, the door to the area opened. There was a person standing there. Wait, that was the suit figure thing that I woke up next to earlier. The girl in a suit who sounded, well, kinda cute. I mean, not as cute as Jill, but...

... hey, I miss having a voice in my head.

"Commander Shepard. Art. It's good to see you both," she said tentatively.

"Tali, I need to tell you something," Shepard replied.

Wait, Tali was supposed to be important. I remember Shepard mentioned her earlier. I woke up to find Tali in my arms. Wait a second. That means...

... that means...

... I'm dating her! Whoa, WHAT? BACKTRACK AND REWIND!

This is more confusing than figuring out how to get politicians to agree.

"Art lost his memory?" Tali asked. Whoa, did I get that lost and wrapped up in my thoughts? When did Shepard get up and when did she have time to tell Tali?

"It's some kind of temporary, partial amnesia," Shepard said.

"Hey, um, hey... uh... hi, Tali," I said.

"Hi... Art," she said to me in a slightly sad tone. Oh, don't sound like that, please. This is only temporary. I hope...

"Don't sound so down, girl! Everything'll be okay! I promise... and that's my way of the nin—just realized something here," I said.

"What?" Shepard asked.

"What if... this is permanent?"

"Then you better get re-acquained with life on this ship as fast as you can," Shepard said.

"Perhaps I should start learning now," I said.

"We should go down to meet the people that aren't at odds with you," Shepard said. Geez, why are people at odds with me? It's not like I hid a secret from them for months to years about how their world is a video game and lied that I was high of some drug, right? Nah, I couldn't be that farfetched.

Haha, Farfetch'd. That's a Pokemon! For some odd reason, I began humming the pokemon theme song. Shepard and Tali gave me an odd look and I quickly quelled my attempts at remembering my old self.

"I'll be seeing you around, Tali! We have so much to talk about the next time we talk!" I said with a smile.

"Uh... goodbye...?" Tali said. Well, um, I guess it can't hurt to try something. I walked over to her and gave her a warm embrace. I let go and smiled at her and she seemed to be a little more energetic. I hope when things are fixed, that hug will make things better! She watched Shepard and I as we left the area to meet some people.

Shepard and I stopped in front of a door; she knocked twice and waited for an answer. The door opened gently all the way open and I jumped back in surprise and slight fear. Oh my god! Who or what the hell is... he? She? What?

"Art, you okay?" the... person...ish...thingy in front of me asked.

"Sorry, just a little twitchy today. The door opening scared me," I lied. Definitely not human, but definitely an ally.

"Can I help you, commander? I was doing some calibrations..."

"I needed to speak to you, Garrus," Shepard said.

"What about?"

"Well, Art here has had some kind of amnesia and can't really remember what happened since he got on the Normandy or even how he got on here. He can't remember any of us," Shepard explained.

"Really? He doesn't even remember teaching about The Game to Wrex?" Garrus asked.

"... damn it, Ashera!" I said. Even in some fucking twisted alternate universe, I still lose the game!

"No, but I guess he still knows about it," Shepard commented with a slight chuckle.

"That infinite hellhole of a fucking no-win scenario! Learning about it is such a catch-22!" I said while facepalming. "Yet we are bound by its limitations, scarred for life by the very mention of those two words. Mere mention of those devilish minions, working in tandem to bring anger and despair upon those foolish enough to be entwined by its—uh, why are you looking at me like that?"

"You seem to be rather... wordy... today," Shepard said.

"I am? I feel kinda... not-shy anymore," I said with a smile.

"Well, that's good that you're starting to get some of your old self back," Shepard said. At that, I saw Tali walking toward us.

"Oh, Tali! Welcome back to our group," I said to her cheerfully.

"I just contacted alomst everyone for the Brotherhood meeting. I only needed Garrus here and Madison," Tali said.

"The Brotherhood? As in, like, X3?" I asked.

"X3?"

"X-men thr—nevermind... what's this Brotherhood?" I asked.

"Come and you'll find out," Garrus said. "I'll get Madison."

Madison? Gah, my mind's so screwed up right now.

"Okay," I said. I stopped trying to question things. Maybe this meeting will explain everything.

I made my way over to this meeting area and went inside. Soon, a few other people filled into the room. There was some other alien-ish looking person here too. Hey, even the doctor is in on this.

"So, now what?" I asked.

"Call the meeting to order," Tali said to me.

"Oh, um, this meeting of the... the... what was it?"

"The Brotherhood," Sturge said.

"Oh yeah. I'm calling this meeting of the Brotherhood to order. Anyone have any questions before we begin?" I asked.

"Yeah. What happened?" Sturge asked.

"He woke up this morning and some reason started to panic. Next thing I know, he fainted, fell backward, and smashed his head on the wall. Left a small little streak of blood on the wall, too. I feared for his brain, but apparently, all he has is some slight amnesia," Tali said.

"Uh, guys, I have a confession," I said.

"Already? We just started the meeting," someone commented.

"Madison, let the man speak," the alien-ish guy said. Hey, he's sitting kinda close to the commander. I bet something's going on between them... ooh, that'd be an interesting thing to watch play out.

"Okay, so, I know this will sound incredibly hard to believe..." I said before trailing off. I'm not sure how to say this.

"I think we've recently had our fair share of the out of the ordinary and impossible... from Art, no less. What can be worse than that?" another girl asked.

"Well, Kasumi, he could tell us he's actually a girl," Garrus commented. "It explains the voice."

"Don't even try to joke like that," Tali commented.

"What's wrong, Art?" Shepard asked, trying to cut the others off.

"I'm not sure how to word it," I replied.

"Well, tell us from the start," the girl named Kasumi commented.

"First of all, I'm not Art," I said. "I mean, I am, but I'm not."

"I think this goes with 'your world is a video game in my world' in believability," someone commented. I didn't see who it was or recognize the voice.

"The thing is, I haven't had amnesia," I said.

"Well, that's something I was going to address with you in private," the doctor said.

"You knew?" Shepard asked.

"I found out after I read the analysis. This is Art's body, but it isn't him... it's a different brain pattern, different reactions to words... it's like a new personality," she said.

"Oh, I'm glad you can corroborate my story," I said with a smile.

"Yeah, Art wouldn't use a word like that," Shepard commented.

"Wouldn't... or couldn't?" Garrus commented.

"Anyway, I'm from Earth... but apparently not from this time period. I left Earth in 2007 and got taken out and put into a video game I loved," I said.

"Featuring us?" Shepard asked.

"Uh... no... I actually don't know any of you," I said.

"Would you know me at least?" Madison asked.

"Uh?" I asked.

"You have to remember where I'm from, right? Heavy Rain?"

"Heavy Rain? In space? I don't think it'd be raining in space... unless it's a meteor storm!" I said with a huge, cheesy smile.

"Oh god, he's got the same puns," I heard Shepard say after she facepalmed. I saw Garrus facepalm as well.

"Really?"

"They're equally painful," Garrus commented.

"I guess I'm equally punful," I commented.

"Anyway, I think we established that, unlike Art, this person here doesn't know who we are," Shepard said.

"I'm John. I was zapped into some video game set in medieval times called Fire Emblem. Yeah, it's kinda weird going from Earth in 2007 to some game set in the medieval ages in our history. I dual-wielded magic swords and was a mage. I fell asleep after a battle, and woke up in Art's body. I have no idea why," I commented.

"Safe to say he's in yours?" Madison asked.

"... oh god, if he is... we're in the middle of a revolution as freedom fighters. We're the last hope of our land. I hope he's okay," I said.

"Ever notice it's always people saving the world that we meet?" Garrus commented.

"Any way to get back?" Madison asked.

"I have no idea. I don't even know how I got here," I said.

"If you're stuck in this body for good, we may have to re-train you," Shepard said.

"I like this body. It's nice and athletic. Do you know how horrible it is to have bad vision and wear glasses in a world where glasses weren't invented yet? If I broke my pair, I'd be fucked. Not to mention, as a mage, I have to be knowledgable and I have to study constantly? My body's weak, excluding the constant marching we do everyday. It's nice to be not weak for once in my life," I said.

"That's our friend's body, though," Kasumi commented.

"I know, I know... we'll figure something out," I said.

"For now... I'm a bit tired out. I apologize for dropping a bomb on you and then cutting the meeting short, but for some reason, I feel tired," I said.

"It is quite fine, Ar—John," Shepard said.

"Say, who trained Art? Maybe that person could train me," I asked.

"... she died in action two years ago... our gunnery chief Ashley Williams," Shepard said.

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that earlier," I said.

Wait... Ash! Holy fuck, this is surreal! Ash as in the Ash that—no, no way... it's a coincidence. Ashley is a common name and Williams is as well. I'm sure there's other people with that name that wears armor that can travel dimensions.

"Everything okay?" Shepard asked.

"Just had stuff on my mind. I'm going to head to my room," I said. "I guess this meeting's adjourned?"

"You answered our questions... well, to the best of your ability," Shepard said.

"It's the least I can do. If I'm stuck like this, I pray I won't be a burden to you," I said.

"I hope we can say the same for Art," she said.

"... if he can memorize hundreds of incantations for fire, wind, thunder, light, and dark magic... as well as research tomes in libraries for more information on the elements to boost the power of his spells... as well as re-learn the technique for dual-wielding the swords in frontlining combat... as well as-"

"I worry for him," Shepard said.

"I do as well," I added.

"Wait, you're a magic spellcaster and you're in the front lines?" Shepard asked.

"I'm an applied mage rather than a theoretical mage. I apply my magic to my magic swords, creating concussive blasts of energy and armor when necessary rather than standing in the back and tossing fireballs. That job's incredibly boring. Still, I get nervous sometimes. I guess you could say I'm a ballsy pussy," I commented with a smile.

"Art would tell you that the term you just used is an oxymoron," Shepard said.

"Perhaps," I said. "I still need to find my way back to my room... if you don't mind, Commander."

"It's this way," Shepard said as she led me through the hallways. We finally arrived back to my—er, Art's room.

"Commander... I'd just like to say something," I said.

"Yes, John?"

"Even though I just met you and I'll probably never meet you again... it has been an honor to meet you. You're a really nice person and understanding of my situation. If there was a way to repay you, I would," I said. I bit my tongue about Ash, though.

"I wish you luck in getting home and... I wish you luck in your revolution when you get back," Shepard said.

"I wish you and Art and the crew luck in your mission. It's funny... so many people live such normal lives... and despite all we do, I find myself envying them and their normality sometimes," I said.

"Only at times. Then I remember that helping others is a good feeling. So long as I live, I'll save the universe from the threat looming over us, even if we're swept under the carpet and unappreciated," Shepard said.

"Well, you have my vote of approval," I said. "I'll will my support from where I am."

"Thanks," Shepard said.

"Well, um, if I do go back soon somehow, this is a goodbye. So, um, goodbye, Commander Shepard."

"Any requests?" Shepard asked me.

"Well, if I'm here tomorrow, do you think you have any artichokes in the kitchen for Sturge to make? I have an obsession with those things..."

"Uh... I'll ask, if you're still here," Shepard said.

"Goodnight," I said.

"Good...night," Shepard replied with a small smile and walked off. I went into my room and lay down in the bed. I hope Art is okay. I mean, he has to deal with magic training with Selena. That's hell as is... and teaching Leo the bow... and Ashera knows what else.

"Art—I mean, John?"

I looked to the now opened door to see Tali standing there.

"Er, hi Tali," I said.

"I'm sorry for intruding upon you," she said.

"It's fine," I said.

"Are you well?" she asked.

"I am quite well," I replied with a smile.

"You can tell me the truth," Tali said.

"To be honest, I'm scared shitless. I haven't been this scared since I was pulled from Earth and pulled to Tellius. I'm once again in an unfamiliar world, this time I don't know what's going to happen in the future nor do I know the characters. I'm hoping Art is doing well wherever he is... and if he's in my body, I hope he's doing well. We're doing an uphill battle in saving the world and sometimes I just don't know if we can handle the pressure anymore," I said.

"I... see," Tali said.

"You're a really nice person, though. I can just sense your aura. You're so kind and understanding and I can see why anyone would like you," I said with a smile. "Art's lucky to have you."

"I find myself lucky to have him," Tali replied.

"Indeed... well, I'm sorry to fade so fast, but I'm starting to really get fatigued. I guess everything that happened has taken its toll on me," I said.

"Okay, goodnight John," Tali said.

"Goodnight, Tali... I won't forget you guys when I go back. You have a... very... good... dynamic," I said through yawns. I soon fell into slumber land...

* * *

I woke up to bad vision, canvas in front of me, and laying in my sleeping bag. Well, this isn't the future or the warm bed I had last woke up to. It was about ten or so minutes before dawn it seems. I saw Micaiah walking around camp and smiled to her.

She gave me the weirdest look. Oh god, what did Art do?

"Micaiah, it's me! John. Actual John... not just someone in my body," I said to her with a smile.

"_Nice to see you back,_" Jay said.

_Likewise._

Maybe this isn't familiar like Earth or comfortable in its futuristics like the Normandy was, but... there's no place like home... and there's no home for me like Tellius.

* * *

Author's Notes: Hey everyone! Foxwolf Jackson of Spellbinding Radiance here! I guess it's probably time to tell you—shit, I heard Final Fantasy VII's Cid telling me not to say things like a damn wimp. Anyway...

April Fool!

Herr Wozzeck and I were talking on AIM and I was mentioning I needed to possibly borrow Art for a little small canon scene in my fic (to tie in why Ash is there and stuff). I just wanted to have a dream sequence of the part in MV where she died... but we got this hilariously crazy idea to do this freaky friday shit and I was like, "Hellz yeah!"

Double bonus score in that April Fool this year IS on a Friday. Booyah!

... okay, seriously, I need to lay off the Kim Possible, which has been stuck in my head for the past week or so.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I never played Mass Effect before and my only ME knowledge is from this fic and Herr Wozzeck; forgive me if I fly from canon.

So yeah, hopefully you enjoyed this little ditty... or if you look at the table behind you, you'll find a huge load of rotten tomatoes! *flees* AIM AT ART!

Hey, if it splats artistically on him, can we call it art on Art?


	38. Chapter 36

_A/N: Why is everyone so confused about the April Fool's Day chapter? You'd think that with "Art" behaving erratically with some jokes you haven't seen before..._

_Just out of curiosity: how many of you read the A/N at the end of the chapter? (Yes, there was an author's note at the end of the chapter. If you missed it, go read it.) If you're not in the mood to do that... the thing was essentially a Freaky Friday flip with someone else's SI character. So he wrote the April Fool's Day chapter for Mass Vexations, and I wrote the chapter for his fic. So... I don't know why you're all confused._

_So yeah. That takes care of the April Fool's joke._

_Now... For more serious endeavors. This time, we really will have Overlord. So keep your eyes open, because this is currently the longest chapter of Mass Vexations yet. Hey, it's Overlord. It's a long-ass mission, you know? I have a _lot _to cover..._

_Well... before we go about starting the chapter, though, I thought I'd make a recommendation for all of you for a really, really good oneshot that recently showed up on the site. If you have time and are in the mood for something despressing, go search for _Simulacrum _by Amain. It's only a oneshot, but it's a pretty hefty one emotionally, concerning emotional bits surrounding what would've happened if the Lazarus cell didn't actually get Shepard for it. If you like your emotion served hard, by all means go check it out._

_All right. With that said, let's get started with this thing!_

* * *

Chapter 36: Shostakovich: Symphony no. 10

In the hammerhead on the way down to the planet, Jenny is refusing to speak a word to any of us. This... is not a good sign as we touch down to wherever this Project Overlord is taking place. The place looks near-on deserted at the moment, which doesn't help any of us at all. So yeah...

God... I'm bored. Might as well stir up some controversy as I'm sitting next to Tali. Hm... Well, Kasumi's standing over there, just minding her own business... Yeah, better not involve her. And definitely better not involve Jenny, as she hasn't spoken to me in a bit. I glance over to Shepard as she and Thane both sit to the side... holding hands... With Shepard sitting close to the assassin...

And leaning her head on his shoulder.

Hm...

"Thane and Shepard, sitting in a tree, _kiiisiiing,_" I tease in a sing-song manner.

I smirk gleefully when suddenly Shepard blinks. Her face goes red all of a suddenly, with Thane's second pair of eyelids nictating a little too quickly. I suddenly see Shepard sitting right back up, her hand not leaving Thane's as a blush suddenly forms all over her face.

"W-what...?" asks Shepard.

Thane simply blinks in surprise. "I... do not know what to say to that," he says.

I simply keep my gleeful smirk as all attention goes to me. "You shouldn't have much to say to it," I say. "I just see you two so close, you know..."

"Well... I... Uh..." Shepard stumbles all over herself, taking a deep breath. "Art, can we not talk about this?"

Oh, girl, that just made it worse. "And why not?" I ask. "It's fun watching you stumble over yourself."

"I... Art!" she says, her cheeks flushing an even brighter red than before. "My personal life is none of your business!"

Ooh... She's getting all defensive. "Well..." I mention. "It's no use denying what you feel, right?"

She simply looks at me, and out of the corner of my eye I can see Kasumi trying to hold down a chuckle. The commander shakes her head, blinking. "This is revenge for all the times we teased you about Tali, isn't it?" she asks simply.

Yep, that about says it.

"Yep," I say. "And look what happened with that."

"Well... I..." says Shepard. She sort of stumbles, closing her eyes.

"Aha, so you _are_ falling in love with Thane!" I say loudly, raising my hand in the air.

"I..." Her blush is only getting more furious as I keep it up. "Uh..."

"Art, I think that's enough of the teasing for one day." Tali's hand is on my shoulder.

"Seems pretty obvious to me anyway," says Kasumi.

Shepard looks right at the thief while biting her lower lip. It takes a brief second of considering before she looks over to Thane. The look she gives him is almost questioning in nature. Like she's asking something. Can't say I blame her there if they're doing what I think they're doing. The drell regards her then... Gah, why are drell eyes so difficult to read? The nigh-imperceptible nod he gives her is confirmation enough, and then...

She takes his hand fully!

Is that?

"Well, it's not that I don't acknowledge it, so much as I don't like to talk about it," she says. "But... yes, Thane and I are... well... together."

_Yes!_

Now comes the part where I cue the Hallelujah chorus in my head. Yeah, man! Thane and Shepard are together! Hallelujah, motherfucker! Hallelujah!

Just... don't let out a fan squeal of delight. Because that would be improper.

Before long, though, we feel a shutter, and then we come to a stand-still. It jolts us all a little bit, and then I look at Shepard as I sit in the little waiting area. She's as surprised, and the color slowly leaves her face. We hear a shift of someone moving on a leather seat, and then we all see Jenny turning to us with an unamused expression on her face.

"I'm sure you've noticed we've just landed," she says, a rough edge to her voice. "Now if you'll be willing to stop chatting like little schoolgirls over trivial things, you have a rogue VI to deal with."

...

Damn, I didn't know Jenny could be so harsh!

"But we only just landed!" I point out. "What do you want us to do while you're taking us down, shoot each other?"

Her unamuse look suddenly turns into a full-out scowl, and she turns back to the control panel. "Just get going."

The reply is very clipped and very short. Nobody dares say anything back to that, and really, what can we say? So I grab my pistol, stepping out as everybody else does. Jenny doesn't say anything more, instead preferring to sit in the driver's seat as we all crawl out. I'm out first, followed shortly after by Tali and Kasumi. Thane and Shepard bring up the rear, and as she draws her weapons she looks back.

"Jenny seems a little agitated today," mentions the commander.

"I don't think she's too happy about certain revelations," mentioned Kasumi.

I shake my head. "We can't worry about it now," I say. "Come on. Let's go take down this rogue VI."

* * *

No sooner do we walk into the facility (on a rather beautiful world, I might add) then we run into a whole ton of geth platforms. Yeah... There were a lot of them. As well as a bunch of dead bodies.

But, of course, geth is really nothing we can't handle. So we dispatch the first wave of them rather quickly. Though...

Something doesn't feel right about this. A rogue VI shouldn't be able to infect geth so easily. Hm... I really have no bloody idea what's up with that. And while these geth were pretty simple to deal with, we also bumped into a LOKI mech or two dealing with them. So yeah, this involves more than just the geth. But...

Yeah, nothing about this really rings like the lunar VI mission to me. Meaning there won't be generators.

The five of us eventually come across a communications thing after fighting our way through so many geth. Hm... It's online for some reason. It's not really looking like it's that great for some reason... I blink, looking on as Shepard walks right up to it. She sets her shotgun down, the bloody thing smoking from having been fired so much. I end up finding myself falling into step next to her, walking up to the comm array as the rest of us also file in behind her. Hm... I'll bet this showed up somewhere.

I take in the rest of the room. Hm... there's a window looking out to this huge-ass radar thinger. Hm... Reminds me of all the stuff they would have back home. Kind of makes me wonder what they're playing on 89.7 FM back in Miami. Or if it's still the classical station. They better not be playing _Bolero_ again. Seriously, Ravel was a good composer, but fuck that piece.

... Art, is this really the time to be thinking about impressionist composers?

Yeah, it's not. Shutting up now as I look out the window, and then back at the comm array.

It's when I turn my head to see the set-up that I notice Shepard working on it. It takes a few seconds of going through the panel before she manages to get it online. When she gets the array linked up, she clears her throat.

"Is there anyone out there that can hear this?" she asks.

At first, we're greeted with a little bit of silence. I nod, biting my lower lip. Oh, come on, can someone answer this? Can we please-?

"_Oh, thank God. I thought help would never arive..._"

...

God damn it, I have to speak to Teryn Loghain. Why the hell does he sound so much like Teryn Loghain? I'll bet this is revenge for not having gotten to speak with Han'Gerrel. It's gotta be.

Either way... it's comforting to know that _someone _is here. Unlike that mission on the moon, of course. So it's nice to know that we've got company here that isn't synthetic or trying to kill us. Though given that he's voiced by Teryn Loghain, there's _bound _to be something dark afoot.

... What was that I said about what's the worst that could happen again?

Yeah... I think Murphy's law is gonna kick my ass over the course of the day.

"Are you all right?" asks Shepard quickly. "Who am I speaking to?"

"_My name is Dr. Gavin Archer,_" replies the man. "_I was in charge of Project Overlord. Things got bad very recently. I'm sure you know that we have an experimental VI here._"

"If I do, I don't know exactly what's experimental about it," she says. "And right now probably isn't the time to think about it."

"_You're right, it really isn't,_" says Dr. Archer. "_We can't let this VI off the planet. We're looking at a technological apocalypse if it ever gets off-world._"

A technological apocalypse? Damn, this _definitely _isn't like the lunar VI mission. What the hell happened, and what the hell did they do with the VI on this planet that's so experimental? I mean... there's only so much you can do to make a virtual intelligence experimental. So... what the hell happened, man?

"You think it can get off-world?" asks Shepard.

"_This VI has been infecting things like a virus,_" replies the head of Project Overlord. "_There's a satellite array here in this station. I think this VI is going to attempt to broadcast itself from that array. You have to destroy the array before this VI can infect anything outside of this world!_"

My gaze looks right outside, and then... Oh, Jesus Christ on a pikestaff. You mean we have to blow that shit up? I can't see that ending well.

I look back to the commander as she responds. "Right, blow up the satellite array," she says. "Got it. We'll get it taken care of soon."

"_Good,_" replies Dr. Archer. "_I should be safe for the moment. When you've gotten the array, I'll try to-_"

Right before he could finish the sentence, though, a loud electronic scratching noise came from the speakers. Holy shit, that was loud! My hands instinctually rise up to my ears, and we all step back from how loud the noise was.

But it's what's on the terminal that's _really _crazy. For on there, we see the projection of an angry green face, likely in the middle of some sort of something. I don't know. He sounds like he's malignant. And the face is very clear on its intentions, it seems. I end up standing there, gazing at it with my hands squarely over my ears right as we look at it.

I blink, looking at Shepard. "Shit, this VI means business," I say. "Yeah..."

"I'd like to take this time to thank you for tempting fate back on the Normandy, Art," says Kasumi with a clearly unamused tone.

Hey, fuck you, Kasumi! I frown, crossing my arms, right before Shepard holds up her arms. "Now isn't the time for that," she says plainly. "We've got bigger things to worry about. So let's go destroy that satellite array, and hope that stops this thing from getting off-world."

I nod, all of us drawing our weapons out. But first, before we move on...

"I predict that with our track record, explosions are going to be ringing out during the course of the next few minutes."

Shepard looks at me once before winking.

"We shall see."

* * *

It's not very long before the five of us are outside again, holding our weapons up as we approach the array quickly. Yeah, there are the little side rooms on the walkway that's kind of on the way there... Yeah... That array is huge. If we have to blow that shit up... I'm not looking forward to seeing our physical health afterwards, I can say that much...

But... we move on, and I'm holding up my assault rifle. Yet another version of Chikktika vas Paus is floating just behind Tali, and hopefully this version won't get itself destroyed by us in the near future... Shepard and I are taking point, Kasumi and Tali are just behind us, and Thane is bringing up the rear. And we're just moving along towards the satellite array.

There shall be much synthetic ass-kicking in the near future, I can tell. I think this even as we pass the little room things and get onto the bridge that leads directly to the array itself.

And right as we do, we see a bunch of geth come out of a walkway away from our position. Hm... So they expect we won't get them there? Too bad for them.

I see Thane move first, lining up his sights and getting a sniper shot in on one of the flashlight heads without so much as a second thought. The first synthetic of the bunch goes down without too much ceremony, and before the synthetics know what he's up to I'm getting off a few rounds on the assault rifle. The rounds hit another geth square in the chest, sending it flying back and over the railing. Shepard moves next, sending a biotic throw at a third platform, and it too is sent careening over the edge into the abyss below.

No more geth come running out from there, so we proceed to the door that's not too far away from where we are now. Hm... Looks like this is the part where the real ass kicking is gonna start.

So we enter the door quickly, all of a sudden finding a very large room with a flight of stairs in the center. And there are geth all over it. Yeah... Try not to trip, Art. Because this next bit is going to be quite the doozy.

We see a large geth come out almost immediately. Oh, great, we've barely even entered and already we have a Juggernaut to deal with. Thanks, Cerberus.

I raise my assault rifle quickly, not bothering with my new poison rounds. Yeah... they're not going to be very effective on the geth. So I just shoot the thing, managing to take its shields down. It's enough for Kasumi to wail into it with an overload, though before we can say anything else a few troopers start showing up on the sidelines. Tali waves her omni-tool even as Thane gets a shot on one of the units, and before long I see one of the geth turn and start shooting on its comrades. I race towards cover quickly, putting my back up against it as Shepard throws out some kind of biotic attack at one of the other geth units. When I come back out, I concentrate my fire on the juggernaut yet again.

Okay... assault rifle fire should take care of that son of a bitch. And sure enough, it goes down rather quickly... only for a geth hunter to show up soon after. Oh, damn it... I get no breaks, do I?

But I don't get to think about it much, for then Chikktika comes in, zapping the hunter just before it gets the chance to cloak. Okay, good. I come up firing some more rounds before it clicks. Damn it, overheated... But I don't get a chance to think about it as the hunter explodes in a shower of sparks. It stumbles down, and then I see Shepard rush by. It only takes a shotgun round to the flashlight head before it goes down.

Oh? I suddenly glance around, seeing the headway everyone else is making. Yeah, better get going with that.

I leap over the chest-high wall I was hiding behind very quickly, levelling some assault rifle fire at a trooper that's trying to flank us. Thane shoots at another geth unit with a sniper rifle shot that brings it down instantly, and then the two of us are rushing forward, bringing up the rear of our little offensive. So yeah...

We work our way to the elevator from there, with me ducking behind cover every so often. I continually fire rounds, even as Kasumi and Tali work their tech magic on all of the units around us. Shepard adds in a biotic punch for good measure when appropriate, so I simply follow along. Yeah... There are a lot of geth here. Apparently, it wants to stop us really badly, this rogue VI. I wonder why...

I fire at another geth hunter, this time managing to take it down as we finally get to the center of the room. I see Thane biotically toss a trooper away, and then I look over to where Shepard is to see she's already gotten on the stairs. Oh, hey! Kasumi and Tali catch on quick, though, so they're following Shepard up the stairs quickly. Damn it... Okay, we only have one more trooper, even as Thane rushes up. So I pause at the foot of the stairs, keeping an eye on the geth in question. I fire my assault rifle at it, and the rounds puncture its flashlight head very soon after.

Okay... that's taken care of. I then rush up the steps as we all follow the Commander up there. Okay... We're around the satellite array now. And... How do we take care of this?

Kasumi answers that pretty easily, though. "Hm... big support structures," she says. "Looks like they have their own capacitors."

"Looks like we can blow them up," says Shepard. "Okay... Come on everyone, let's get to it!"

Shepard is the first to move, rushing right up to a support structure that just so happens to be there. When a round pings off her shields, though, we all glance to the side to see a geth prime standing there.

"Oh, bloody hell!" I say, raising my assault rifle as Kasumi waves her omnitool. As the thing explodes in a shower of sparks, I add my own assault fire, Chikktika floating up to the prime and zapping it for good measure. "Shepard, we'll cover you!"

The commander nods in reply, and then she's running up the steps straight to the capacitor of the support structures. Okay... Tali takes place behind some cover, pumping her shotgun as the prime fires at Thane. To his credit, the drell's shields are holding even as he grabs out his submachine gun. Even as he's firing, though, Tali stands and takes a couple of shotgun shots at the prime. Hm... Okay... I add some assault rifle fire to this, and before any one of us can tell what's up the prime goes down.

And shortly afterward, I hear an explosion close to where we are. I look over to Shepard, who's cocking her shotgun after having blown one of the capacitors of the support structure straight off. It seems to have a wierd effect on everything, and the support looks just a little weaker than before. Hm...

"One down, two to go," says Shepard. "There'll probably be get here. Come on. Let's get going!"

I don't need to be told twice, and I rush after Shepard as we make our way to the second little thing. We see a few troopers rush out, as well as a rocket trooper. I quickly lift my assault rifle at one of the farther geth, even as Thane fires a sniper rifle shot into it. Damn it... I see the rocket trooper spark slightly, and then I quickly swivel around and fire at the thing. The flashlight head goes out as I fire some rounds at its chest, and soon after Chikktika flies past me to shock another one of those geth troopers. I rush forward shortly afterwards, seeing Shepard biotically toss a unit off the edge of the platform we're on. She slows down, then, concentrating fire on reinforcements.

Hm... Looks like that leaves it up to someone else to blow up the next capacitor, then. All right, leave it to me!

I rush forward with this thought in mind, firing my assault rifle at another trooper as it comes up to my side. Okay... There's the generator thing... I can do this. I sprint past a whole bunch of fire, with my shields dying at each round impacting against them. But... I'll make it. After all, it's hard to concentrate on a guy when he's sprinting and there are four other people shooting at you.

Okay... I fly up the stairs with my foot going at three at a time. Okay... What's this set-up like?

Hm... Looks like a rapid transit terminal. Must be for when they do maintenance on these things. Okay... this looks simple enough to manipulate. All right... Open menu... Open hatch... Yeah, I think that's the way to go. I maneuver my fingers over the commands, and find the relevant one quickly. I tap it, and then watch as the capacitor opens up.

And sure enough, there's the flammable object I should not shoot with my gun but have to since this isn't that kind of situation anyway. I look at it, taking a step back. All right... looks simple enough.

I raise my assault rifle without too much more ceremony, and nodding at it, I bite my lower lip. Yeah... there won't be a need for bad one-liners for this situation, I think.

I fire a single round into the little capacitor, and then it explodes. This causes a whole set of secondary explosions to race up the support structure, crippling this sattelite thing further. I watch, seeing as some bits of debris fall off. Okay... The thing is still holding, but it won't be much longer now. Yeah... We've got one more thing to deal with.

And it's then that Shepard runs up to where I am, looking at me with a nod. "Good work, Art," she says, cocking her shotgun. "Come on. We've got one more to go."

I nod at this, raising my assault rifle as we both run down the following flight of steps. "Right behind ya, Shepard."

We come across more geth units shortly afterwards, coming up and shooting at us. And by this time, it's same old, same old. I stop to provide some cover fire for Shepard, I fire my assault rifle at a geth prime that shows up, we all pitch in to take out the geth, and all is good. Even as Thane throws various geth around with Kasumi causing showers of sparks to occur all over the place, I get the feeling we've got this.

I watch Shepard as she biotically tosses another trooper as she rushes up the stairs. Right... Cover her... I raise my assault rifle quickly, looking right at a trooper as it's about to fire at the commander. I let out a burst of rifle fire of my own soon after, and then the trooper goes down with a hole in its flashlight head. Yep... That should just about do it. I swivel to my right almost immediately, seeing another trooper come up very quickly. But... Thane takes care of that with a single sniper rifle shot.

And soon after, the boom of a capacitor explosion goes off, and the last support structure starts to blow up. Yeah... those secondary explosions are really travelling up this place. And honestly, it all looks pretty crazy from where I stand.

I look up as we all rush over to Shepard. All right, technological apocalypse averted! Yay! Now the VI is confined almost entirely to this planet. So... there we have it. Uplink is cut off, we're meeting up with Shepard, and we're all-

My thoughts are cut off by an intensely loud boom. By this point, I'm working up the stairs to where Shepard is, and I nearly jump off my feet at the loud sound next to me. I suddenly turn, seeing this huge-ass thing laying right next to us where the capacitor used to be. Jesus... it just...

And then I hear the loud groan of metal.

...

I look up, and then see that the part held up by the support structures is making a fall towards us.

Oh, shit!

"You've got to be joking," I hear Shepard say as I move next to her.

The woman takes off shortly after, with me, Kasumi, Thane, and Tali running in right after her. Oh, shit, this thing is falling! It's falling off! Damn it! And now it's like that final image in _Riviera: The Promised Land_ where Ein and all the girls that are still alive by that point are running behind me! Run, run, run, run!

I see Shepard vault over something, rushing right up it as she moves. I follow this almost to the letter, nearly slipping when I land. My footing holds, though, and I stumble after her. No sooner do I hear this then the sounds of the sattelite array crumbling all around us are heard. I feel a slight dip on the surface of what we're standing on, even as a section of the disc we're running up starts to fall apart.

And then, I see us dip towards one of the platforms that we had used to get to the array. Yeah, next to those little cubby things. Jesus Christ... That's our only way off! Okay... you've got one chance at- go!

I don't get time to think about it before my feet push off the surface I've been running on. Eh, might as well make the best of it.

"_Geronimo!_"

I let out this shout as I jump, but it's abruptly cut off when I land on the grating with a thud. I roll for one rotation, the sounds of the sattelite array completely giving way crashing all around us. I just so happen to look up as it gets destroyed, and am absolutely awed by the sight of the disk completely falling to pieces. It all falls down like a giant wave, some parts rising but all parts eventually falling to below where we are. My eyes widen as the array falls apart, and the sounds that it makes as dust rises all over the place.

And in a matter of seconds, there is silence. The silence is so utterly absolute it's deafening.

Jesus... that was... explosive.

And crazy.

I hope that Shepard saw that, because I am _not _doing it again.

I slowly find the strength to lift myself off the ground, shaking my head as the dust slowly settles. But as it does, I hear the loud clanking of footsteps against the grating of the platform we're on. And before I know it, I see a man rushing straight towards where we are, wearing a Cerberus lab uniform. I blink as I watch him run onto the scene, brown hair slicked back over what's apparently a bald spot.

"You did it!" he says as he looks at us. "You severed the sattelite uplink!" Oh, hello Teryn Loghain! I missed you when you were being a raving lunatic who wouldn't shut the fuck up about the Orlesians. Actually, no, I did. At least here you've got no chance of doing that, though, so I think I'll live.

"Good," says Shepard. I turn to her, watching as she advances while brushing some dust off of her armor. "Now what the hell is going on?"

The doctor looks right at us, his expression seeming slightly perturbed. "Man's reach exceeding his grasp."

Well... it can't be that bad, right? I mean, it's just a rogue VI. We shut it down, and things are happy. See? It's easy!

...

Why do I get the feeling I just jinxed myself again?

* * *

It's shortly afterwards when Shepard is talking with Dr. Archer. But apparently, it's a conversation for Shepard only. Aw, and I really wanted to find out what was going down!

And instead, I'm dragging dead bodies out of the base and off so Thane or Kasumi can identify them. Damn it, this is _not _how I want to spend this mission! I need to be shooting geth and blowing shit up! Not spending it dragging fucking bodies around the damn place!

Ah, well. There's not a whole lot I can do about it, unfortunately. So yeah...

I drag the body I'm working with. It's this woman I'm dragging. Black hair, dyed, obviously. She took a shot to the head, probably assault rifle if I know my bullet holes correctly. God... I just can't believe so many scientists died here. I think Thane identified her as Cristina Suarez. I don't know why, but... she kinda reminds me of some people back home that I knew. Like a certain best friend of my sister's. I dunno... She's probably got some family I don't know who'll be besides themselves in grief.

But the wierd thing is, I'm not even thinking about how tragic it is that someone just lost a daughter, sister, wife, what have you. No... It's the damn carcass itself. I don't know why, but I'm half expecting this thing to jump out at me any minute and chew my chin off. I don't know why, but it's just kinda there. Like a zombie.

On the bright side, though, at least I won't have to deal with a bumbly Nick Frost getting us spotted by the undead with a bloody cell phone ringtone.

And honestly, this isn't that kind of thing where the Reapers are going to unleash a zombie apocalypse. Especially not when they can just come in and blow everything up. So why the hell I'm even thinking that the dead will start walking the galaxy is a puzzle in and of itself.

Though it does make me wonder how a zombie apocalypse would work with the quarians. Last I checked, those face masks made it really hard for quarians to bite another quarian, and thus spread the infection. Yeah... I'll bet there isn't a lot of zombie-related material within the quarians, because if it could happen, the thing would be over in like two days or something and we wouldn't have time to do a George Romero thing...

Yeah... Why the hell am I thinking about zombies?

Stop it, Art!

I shake my head, dragging the corpse the final few feet over to where the caskets are. Tali's waiting for me there, and then she grabs the corpse's feet.

I look at her as we both hoist her off the ground. "Did I mention I find putting people in caskets a little disturbing?" I ask.

"Not really," says Tali. "I guess you still can't get used to friendly bodies."

"You never really do." We slowly drop the corpse into the little compact coffin thing, and that is the last I see of poor Christina Suarez as Tali closes the casket. "How many more have we got?"

"Not too many," says Tali with a shrug. "But still, it's too many bodies if you ask me."

I nod, looking over. "That it is," I say, shaking my head. "And the worst part is I have no idea what's going on here. But if the geth can be hacked..."

"That scares me a little," says Tali as we both walk on towards where some of the bodies are being identified by Thane and Kasumi. "You said that the geth we pick up was good, right?"

"Yeah," I mention. Wait...

She nods. "Then what would happen if it was hacked?" she asks. "If all the 'true' geth, as you're saying, get hacked? What'll happen then?"

... Should I? Yeah... Yeah, I should. She's stuck it out for me for quite a while, so I think she's got the right to know. I just... I'm afraid of Cerberus being sneaky. But... No. If they had bugs on Teltin, that project would've been shut down _well _before it got as out of hand as it did.

No... I think I'm safe here. No Reaper influence, no bugs, nothing. Just Tali, me, and some dead bodies.

"That's... kind of what we'll be trying to prevent in his loyalty mission, actually," I mention.

Tali gives me a perturbed look. "Really?" she asks.

"Yeah," I say. "If I remember correctly... the heretic geth have created a virus that can hack into the geth run-times and assimilate them to one mode of thinking. If I remember correctly, Legion found the data to the virus. They were going to try to use it so that the true geth could be rewritten as heretic geth."

"And then it would mean that all the geth would be against organics..." says Tali, her voice dropping in volume.

I take a deep breath in before nodding. "That's the gist of it, yeah," I say.

"Have they unleashed it yet?" asks the quarian, concern lacing her voice.

"Doubt it," I say. "But Legion enlists Shepard's help to go to a main heretic station. And from there... we get to stop the virus. And we do it either by blowing them up, or by repurposing the virus so the heretic geth will be rewritten as true geth."

She blinks, and I can see that she's frowning behind her mask. "I... I see..." she says. "I still don't know what to make of the fact that we'll be recruiting a geth..."

I shrug. "Well... we'll see what happens when we get there, no?" I ask. "For now, we've got this stupid rogue VI to deal with."

"You really don't think it'll be as easy as when we went onto Earth's moon to stop that VI, do you?" she asks.

Yeah... That was kinda stupid of me, wasn't it? I shake my head. "Not anymore," I say. "Apparently, things just got really complicated if it means that it could set off a technological apocalypse. I just assumed that given this wasn't even in the game and not something relevant to the Collectors... you know."

Tali shrugs, the two of us moving along. "Well... you never know what could have happened," said Tali. "I think you mentioned one time that Zaeed wasn't actually part of the game, but was... Oh, what was the term you used...?"

"Downloadable content?" I ask, looking at her.

"Yes," she says. "That. I don't know, but... maybe this is a piece of downloadable content."

I shake my head. "Doubt it, Tali," I reply. "I don't think they were going to add DLC bits quite like this. I just... I don't know... I think we'll just have to see what Shepard says before we can call it in and say we're all happy about what's going down. And hopefully, we'll get this whole thing solved."

Tali simply nods, and the two of us walk side by side as we make our way over to the next corpse to be carried off into a coffin of some sort. Because we still do have a few corpses to go, and Shepard doesn't look like she'll be sitting on her ass here anytime soon.

* * *

Jenny is driving the Hammerhead along, not saying anything at all. We see the landscape go by, sitting there waiting for stuff to happen as she drives over to our next destination. Apparently, we have to go to two separate stations to override the lockdown on the station that the VI's core is in. So yeah... the first one is called Vulcan station. Hm... I get the feeling fire is going to be involved somehow. Also, that it would probably have been more appropriate to call it Nibelheim station.

But then, that's the _Ring der Nibelungen_ fan in me speaking, so that really doesn't mean much.

I shift slightly in my seat. Hm... "Say Shepard," I say. "What's up with this VI anyway?"

"A lot," says Shepard. "It was... quite a bit to think about. Knowing that you didn't know about it makes this even crazier."

I shrug, chuckling. "No kidding, right?" I ask.

"Yeah," says the commander. "Apparently, Project Overlord was an attempt to gain influence over the geth by interfacing a VI with a human mind."

I rear back, looking right at Jocelyn. "I didn't even think that was possible!" I say. "I mean, apparently you can integrate software with human memories like the greybox... but an actual VI."

"I don't know how they did it either," says Shepard. "Either way, it doesn't look like they've been as successful as they'd like."

"That's putting it mildly," I say with a smirk dancing on my face. "So what happened?"

Shepard shrugs. "Gavin had a brother. David Archer." Hm, a brother, eh? "He volunteered to be a subject, but he couldn't handle the VI connection. And now he's infecting everything around him."

"A perfect technological problem," says Kasumi as she leans back. "Sounds like your kind of thing, Shepard, stopping things like this."

"Oh, that's putting it mildly," agrees Tali as she herself leans back. "But we've faced worse."

I shrug. "Yeah..." I cross my arms. "Don't remind me about Virmire. That was tough on all of us, I'm afraid."

"As one can imagine," mentions Thane. "Perhaps this problem will be solved without anything such as that happening."

I nod, crossing my arms as I turn my gaze back to Jenny driving. "I hope so, Thane," I say. "And for the record... I can't believe I jinxed us with that. We're gonna be down here for a while, it seems."

"Well, we'll just have to make the best of it, right?" asks Kasumi.

Hm... She does have a point. The only thing that could make this really work is to make the best of it. Because when things aren't actually going well, there's the power of denial! Or something stupid like that.

I dunno.

But she's right. I do have to whistle a happy tune, and I think I'll be good.

"Yeah, you're right," I say. "Though it does make me wonder what's coming up here..."

We ride on in silence, sitting there as I twiddle my thumbs. Yeah... the silence is pretty thick. But hey, what can a man do, right? So we sit there, waiting for things to come up. Okay... the ride to Vulcan station shall be had in wild times and wild times only. Okay... what shall happen now.

I suddenly hear a gasp from Jenny, alerting all of us to attention. I stand up, looking out the viewport as Shepard does the same.

"My God..." says the plot. "I didn't think I'd have ta go through anythin' like this, Shepard!"

And looking out the window, I can certainly see Jenny's point. Right in front of us is a river of lava. Yes, a river of lava, of all things. I blink to get that image out of my mind, and it's then that I see some bits of rock floating out in the middle of the lake of lava. It all looks hot... and on the other side looks like some place that we can't really advance beyond for some reason. Hm... I can't say I like this... But the river of lava? Damn... just damn. What the hell was up with that?

I blink... I mean, wait a minute. There's the lava there... and there's the platforms there...

"We're gonna have to jump across the lava, aren't we?" I ask.

"Seems like it, yeah," says Jenny, her voice the slightest bit angry. "Ya better get back in your seat. This is gonna get rough."

Oh, dear... I do as I'm told, Shepard following shortly after as I glance back at Jenny. "And here I thought I could avoid having to think about Mario during this adventure," I reply with a sideways glance of dismay.

Jenny shakes her head, and then I feel the Hammerhead lurch forward very suddenly. My eyes widen as I nearly fall off my seat, glancing right at Jenny. Hey, what the hell was that for? What do you have against fat Italian plumbers who can jump higher than you, anyhow?

Oh... Looks like I just answered my own question.

I then feel ourselves fly up in the air, my stomach churning on the rise in altitude. Holy crap, Jenny, slow down! I don't get time to think about it before suddenly we're back in freefall. I barely get any time to grab on to the armrest of Tali's seat before I feel myself falling. Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!

I then feel the Hammerhead return to where we were, and I'm forced back to the ground. I then feel the g-forces pull at me again as we're sent flying into the air a second time. What the hell, Jenny? I glance at Tali... Oh, God, I don't want to have to injure myself, especially _not _in this armor, damn it! We still have a whole mission to go!

Fortunately, just as I feel the dip of zero g's in the vehicle, I see Shepard and Thane both reach around and grab my legs. So even as I glance back and we go into freefall, I find myself not floating up to the ceiling. Okay... this is a major relief. We'll be jumping around, but I won't be flying everywhere injuring everyone. Because that would suck.

I feel us land on something hard yet again, and the jump occurs again. This occurs a few more times, even as I'm held in place by the commander and the drell. My stomach is doing flips in my body, but I'm used to that. Or hopefully I am. I at least don't have the urge to vomit. That would just suck. I mean, between the slight increase of heat in here and all the jumping we're doing, I think I'm doing wonderfully for myself, all things considered.

So we jump around, and then in the ensuing minutes, the Hammerhead comes right to a stop. I find myself still being held, but Shepard and Thane thankfully have the good sense to release my legs shortly after we've stopped. I fall to the ground, letting out a sigh of relief as I turn to the commander. I shift so I'm on my ass, looking right at the commander.

"Why did we stop?" she asks.

"I can't go any further," says Jenny. "I can see a deactivated fan, though. And it's right next ta some building. Shepard, you're gonna have to go take a team with ya to take care of whatever's in the thing near that fan."

"Got it," says Jocelyn. "Tali, Kasumi, you're coming with me. Thane, Art keep watch over the Hammerhead."

"Of course," says Thane with an imperceptible nod.

...

Oh, dear... This is gonna be awkward, isn't it? It's just me and Thane standing here, with Jenny sitting at the driver's seat. Hm...

I'll just look over here, then.

* * *

Vulcan Station wasn't really that big. Shepard just turned a fan on, and we got to jump on more rocks in a lava pool. Fun times were had with that, right up until Jenny tried to give me a concussion with her driving. Jeez... She seems all angry and stuff now that she knows. I just... I don't know what the hell is up with that. But... we ended up getting into Vulcan station to override the lockdown.

That is pretty easily done, really. The only deal is that there were a couple of stray LOKI mechs. They all got hacked, but... if I know LOKI mechs, they're really ridiculously easy to kill. So really, it's not that big a deal. Well, other than the fact that they were posessed by some AI thing.

But that's besides the point.

And now, Jenny's driving us back along the place, taking us now to Poseidon station. So yeah, Jenny had to maneuver over all those lava things all over again. Fun times were had for all. Except the people inside the Hammerhead. Which was all of us.

So nobody had fun times.

It's when we finally leave the general vicinity of the volcanoes that we begin to cruise along at a respectable rate. Hm... I sit back, biting my lower lip.

"Well... that's two stations down," I say. "Now it's just this last one and then we get over to Atlas Station to see what's going on."

"That's what it looks like," says Kasumi. "I wonder... since you don't know about any of this... how's it been for you?"

I shrug. "Honestly?" I ask. "I dunno what to think. I just feel kind of 'eh' about this right now. But seriously, this is turning out very differently from what I'd expect."

"Well... it can't be that different, right?" asks Tali.

"Yeah, it's not radically different in that sense," I reply with a shrug. "But... I dunno. I'm sure we'll be able to fix things before they get worse, though. You know what I mean?"

"Yes," says Shepard. "Look at it this way. We can go there and stop the VI from infecting new things. And say a bunch of badass one-liners while we're at it."

I chuckle. "Totally," I reply with a smirk. "I just wonder how bad we can get our one-liners to sound."

"I would fear what would occur with such a prospect," says Thane almost immediately.

Well... "You never know, Thane," I say, giving a hand gesture for effect. "I think we can all come up with bad one-liners. Though you have the advantage of making all of your one liners sound sexy for all your fangirls back home." I glance to the side. "Of course, it's not as egregious as certain vampire abstinence people from badly-written teen novels, but hey, what world is perfect?"

"I see..." says Thane with a simple dip of his head.

"I wonder who else had fangirls," says Shepard, crossing her arms. "It would seem that with all these people it would be tough to concentrate on even one character."

I chuckle. "Hardly," I ask, shaking my head. "Tali and Garrus fans are both a little on the wild side. Especially the Garrus fangirls. I guess it all started when he took a missile to the face in the game and somehow survived _that_, you know?"

"Yeah, I had heard about that from Garrus when he stood up for you," mentions Shepard. "What did the fangirls say?"

Oh, nothing much. "Well, apart from them all squeeing when they found out he was romanceable in the second game?" I ask with a smirk. "Well... I didn't know you had a thing for men with scars, Shepard."

I hear Shepard chuckle at this, and I see her lean closer to Thane. "Well, I guess I can't fault them for that," she says. "But right here, right now..." She leans against Thane's shoulder. "I think there's only one man I'm interested in."

I smile, crossing my arms and legs as I look at them. I see Thane sit there for a second before his gaze turns to Shepard. I can't read it, but the way his arm comes on her shoulder... It's just so tender. And beautiful. I smile, nodding my head. Yep, I knew I liked the Thane romance for a reason!

And things are all good, even as we head to Poseidon station. I wonder what Poseidon station is gonna be like.

* * *

Okay. This... does not look good.

Jenny drives the hammerhead, but... there's this geth turret there at the top of the geth ship that's guarding some geth shield around the turret being kept up by geth generators. And they're all whirring away there. And... they're defended by shields. Damn it all to freaking hell... What do we do? I blink, looking out the window as Jenny slowly moves down a cliffy face. She shakes her head, looking at it as I brace against the side.

"Oh, dear, Commander," she says. "That looks like a doozy. Gotta take down those generators, but the shields are gonna make it tough."

"Do you think you can do it?" asks Shepard.

The colonist shrugs. "If I can get the turret to aim at its own generators, sure," says Jenny. "And then we just wail into 'em with rounds." I nod. Hm... looks like I'll be manning- "But don't put Art on the guns, please."

...

"And why the fuck not?" I ask.

"I just..." the Irishwoman lets out a sigh as she shakes her head. "Shepard, just do it yourself."

I frown, looking at Shepard with a concerned look. The commander returns my gaze, but shakes her head sadly. Yeah... there's not much we can do about it now. But as I feel the Hammerhead move forward, she takes a position at the guns.

Jeez... Jenny was running right for me when she needed a gunner last... What changed? Was it... was it finding out about my secret? It had to be... But... I don't know why she suddenly refuses my help.

Either way, I can't worry about it now. She moves her hands across the panel, and then the hammerhead is strafing as the turret moves. Oh, dear... We're amongst the generators now. A determined look sets on her features, and then she nods.

"All right, ya son of a bitch!" she says. "Show me what ya got!"

With this, she strafes around the area, taking care to keep as close to the generators as possible. The turret locks on, and then Jenny moves us so we're strafing faster. It takes a few seconds, and then I see the turret launch something straight at us. What... what is that-?

I don't get to ask before I suddenly hear the impact of the rocket against the ground. It goes up against the generator's shields, blowing apart the shields almost instantly. The blue isn't around there anymore, and then I watch as Jenny abruptly turns us back.

"Right... that takes care of the shields," she says. "Now for the tricky part."

You mean that was the easy part?

Eh... She then starts strafing while facing the canon... but she's circling around the generator without shields now. Ah... I see what she's doing. The generator gets caught in the blast, shrapnel flies everywhere, there are fire and flames to be seen... and everybody's happy. Except for the turret, of course, which then gets exposed to some nice explosions courtesy of m-... Shepard. Damn it... Gotta stop thinking about that.

Jeez... All this circling around the damn thing is actually making me just the slightest bit dizzy. I'm still holding on, I mean... Whoah. What the hell is up with most of that stuff... There's the turret... trying to get a lock on us... But damn, that blast radius. That looked like something else. It looked almost too wide for it to be a real blast radius. Jeez... Say what you will about the Mako, but at least it has shields. This stupid thing hasn't even got that. So yeah... This is kinda crazy.

I look up then, seeing the turret launch another rocket at us. Gah! Jenny takes this as a cue, and suddenly rushes away from the generator in the direction we were... which is behind and around. Gah, jesus! I buck forward slightly with the sudden acceleration, but I manage not to fall over the panel. I look up right as I see the bright explosion in front of me. Holy crap... that is one destroyed generator! I blink in surprise, hearing Jenny give a small whoop of joy.

Oh, dear...

"Well, that takes care o' that," she says. "Now... let's get to the others!"

And so, Jenny goes around another of the generators, waiting for the turret to make its next move. Jeez... This is all kinds of tense... I mean... that explosion was actually really big! Imagine if that hit us...

But Jenny isn't so terrible a driver, and she takes us all around. And I watch as Jenny gets the geth turret to destroy its own generators one by one. I mean... Wow, it's hilarious how crazy it is that the geth turret doesn't even seem to realize how Jenny is getting it to destroy itself. But here we go, blowing up the second and now the third generator. For a VI, you'd think that it would catch on eventually that maybe shooting at us the way it has been for a while is counter-intuitive.

You'd think. I guess an AI is smarter than a VI for a reason.

So Jenny pulls away from the last generator, looking right up as we see yet another explosion. It's a little close to home as the radius almost gets one of the Hammerhead's thrusters, but Jenny is quick with the hands, so she looks right up at the generator.

"Yep, we got the shield down," says Jenny. "Shepard, let's give that turret hell!"

And then I see Jenny rush forward, and Shepard unleashing a barrage of rockets at the thing. I glance up, following the rocket's trails as they go right for the turret. Okay... This is gonna be a real doozy. A really fast one, too, as the rockets all fly right toward the turret.

And with a few satisfying explosions... well... our work here is done.

I see Jenny turn in her seat, looking right back at Shepard as she climbs out of the main gun. "We got it, Commander!" she says. "Now let's get inta this station!"

Jenny then drives close to the entrance of Poseidon station. Yeah... I think this is a good time to back away. I don't want to spoil Jenny's good mood, if me being here is enough to ruin her day for some reason. I just don't get it at all...

I shake my head, looking to the Commander. "Got it," she says. "Art, Thane, Tali, you're coming with me. Kasumi, stay here and make sure nobody takes the Hammerhead while we're gone."

Oh, yay, I get to be out of the awkwardness for a bit. "You got it, Shep," replies the thief.

Okay... Good.

Now let's see what the interior has got for this station.

* * *

Hm... It wasn't too different from the last station, it seems. We had to go through a bunch of hallways with deactivated geth and all that jazz... And then the geth all activated when we overrode the lockdown. Jeez, it can never be easy for us, can it. And the crazy part is, I just _knew_ they were getting activated later. My genre senses were tingling the entire time we were there, and Shepard even mentioned how it was obvious they were all going to get reactivated at some point. So we ended up fighting through them on our way back to the Hammerhead. That ended pretty well, so we're all in good hands now.

So now... the station lockdown has been overriden. And now... we can head over to Atlas Station, where the really crazy shit is probably going to go down.

It has to go down there. There hasn't been that much going on in the other stations. And given it's where the VI is housed...

I shake my head, leaning back against a bulkhead as Jenny takes us away from Poseidon Station. "So," I say. "What do you guys think is going to be waiting for us at Atlas Station?

Shepard shrugs. "Who knows?" she asks. "I wonder if we'll be greeted with something strange..."

"Maybe it'll be creepy," says Kasumi. "That would be appropriate, I think." She does her creepy face, and I can see the glint of her smile as we go around.

"It would be fun," I mention. "Like a haunted mansion, you know? We go through, get a few well-placed jump scares, and shut things down."

"My ultimate question would be this: how do we shut this VI down?" asks Tali.

I shrug. "We find Dr. Archer's brother. And then we bring him out of whatever he's in. Pretty simple, yeah?" I ask.

The vehicle abruptly comes to a halt, nearly sending me off. Before long, I see Jenny turning to me, an annoyed expression on her face.

"You've been sayin' that the _whole damn trip!_" she says, getting out of her seat in the hammerhead. "And yet things haven't gotten any simpler yet! And you all have been chatting on this stupid bloody vehicle like lovestruck schoolgirls!"

I stand up, watching as she advances into the cabin in here. Everyone else stands, too. "Jenny, what are you-?"

"I'm fed up with you tellin' us that things are gonna be simple from here on out!" says the Irishwoman, interrupting Shepard. "I can't believe you're tellin' us things are gonna be simple from 'ere! Ya know they're not gonna get simpler!"

"Maybe they will!" I reply, shrugging. "Hell if I know! I've gotta hang on to _some _hope, right?"

The colonist takes a step forward, and it's only then that I see the full extent of her frown. "Or maybe ya _do _know what's going on here!" she says. "Ya knew what was goin' on at everythin' else!"

"W... what?" I ask. "I'm being completely serious, I don't-"

"Jenny, we have discussed this before!" cuts in Shepard. "This issue is _not _going to interrupt our mission! He's stated elsewhere that nothing that happened here happened in what he saw."

"Or maybe he's tellin' ya that ta get ya to shut up?" asks Jenny angrily. "I wouldn't put it past him!"

I raise my hands. "Whoah, Jenny, let's not jump to conclusions here!" I say. "I'm being serious about the fact that I really don't know what's going on!"

"And how do I know that, hm?" replies the colonist. "Ya couldn't be bothered ta tell us all that before. And now... now that I know that ya might know what happened to my brother, I don't think you're bein' honest with us!"

W... What? No... Oh, shit! _That's_ what this is all about, isn't it? It's that I would know what happened to Gregor. But... fuck me. I can't... it would break her heart! And besides, I don't even know for sure if that's what happened! It only happened to that one colonist right before you rescued the crew of the Normandy, and that's if you didn't get there at the point where Chakwas would be the only member of the crew left. So...

"That's what this is all about, isn't it?" I ask.

Jenny nods. "Ya didn't think for one second I might wanna know what happened to Gregor?" she asks. "Ya didn't think ta tell me 'oh, look, I might know what happened ta him'!"

"You think it's that simple?" I ask. "You and Gregor weren't even in the original game! So even then I only know what happened because it happened to all the other colonists that disappeared at Horizon! And if you think it's as simple as sayin' 'yeah, half the colony got taken, and by the way I know what happened to them', well, it's not."

"And yet here ya are," she replies. "Your secret's out, right? So why not tell me what 'appened to him?"

I shake my head. "Trust me Jenny, you really _don't _want to know what happened to him," I say, gesturing definitively. Because it's damn awful. "Especially not with other people in the room."

"I _do _want to know what 'appened to him!" she says, pointing a finger right in my face. "It'll hold me over until we actually do our bloody job and go over to wherever they took 'im so I can know he's all right! Because I'd rather know what could've 'appened to him than not know while doin' errands for your stupid boss!"

"Jenny, that's enough!" Shepard shouts, butting into the conversation. "You and Art will discuss this matter another time, and you will discuss it in private. Right now, we don't have time to deal with it, and you're disrupting the mission at hand. On top of that, it may be better for you if he tells you on his own terms and when he's ready to tell you! So you will drive us to Atlas station, and you and Art will talk about it when we get back on the Normandy! And when I say _will_, Art, I mean it. Am I understood?"

Jenny glowers at me for a second, and for some reason... I blink, looking at Shepard before my gaze settles back on the angry colonist. I mean... Jesus Christ...

Finally, Jenny takes a step back and nods. "Fine," she says. "But his ain't over yet!"

With this, she take her seat back in the cockpit, plopping down in clear anger. Soon enough, the thing is moving along again, and I'm left standing there as Shepard looks at me and nods.

"You will tell her, right?" she asks.

I shake my head. "Just don't blame me if she wants out when she finds out what might've happened," I say.

"You don't know that!" shouts Jenny from the driver's seat.

Hey, fuck you! "I think I do!" I reply back to the driver. "Either way, you're not going to like it!" I shake my head as I plop back down in my seat. "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff..."

Shepard simply looks on before taking a seat herself. She opts not to say anything, looking at the both of us with a slightly disbelieving shake of her head. The rest of the ride to Atlas Station is had in silence, nobody wanting to make small talk after that.

* * *

Okay... Now we're all in Atlas Station... And I mean all of us. Jenny is staying behind in the Hammerhead, of course, but Kasumi, Thane, Tali, and I are all with the Commander. Somehow I get the distinct impression it won't matter, even without any knowledge of what's going to unfold next. And it's all dark in here. Like any place that's gone to hell probably would be like.

I nod to Shepard as we enter. But right as we do... our comm units crackle to life.

"_Good, you're in_," says Dr. Archer.

Shepard nods. "What's our status?" she asks.

"_I'm getting troubling readings,_" replies Dr. Archer. "_I think the VI is trying to upload itself onto your ship from our location! You have to stop the VI before you ca-aaa-a-a-a-a-ann-n-a-n-!_"

And with this last string of random gibberish, the comm link to Dr. Archer cuts out. I glance at everyone else, biting my lower lip.

"Well, this is it," I say with a shrug. "We're on our own from here. Good thing we have actual physical forms to talk to, am I right?"

"Yep," says Kasumi. "And now... we can figure out what happened here."

"Yeah," says Shepard. "Let's move."

And with this, the commander moves forward in the hallway. Okay... we see the door right in front of us... and we go through that. Hm. Damaged Tupari machine. And it's still dark, and sputtering out stuff about how Tupari is good for you. Eh, I never liked Tupari anyway.

But there's a terminal there. Hm... I wonder what we can scare up with that. I mean, it's probably not worth looking at, but if games like _Dead Space _have taught me anything, it's that in these situations there will usually be an inordinate amount of audio logs to give the player some kind of idea what the hell happened. So I imagine that's what we'll find here. I walk over to the terminal, waving my omni-tool over the bloody thing. Hm...

Yes! There is in fact an audio log here!

"Art?" asks Shepard.

I turn to her, raising my omni-tool. "I don't know anything about this mission, but years of playing survival horror tells me you can find audio logs everywhere," I say. "I found one here. Hold on a second..."

And then I set my omni-tool to play. Okay... here we go.

"_Archer Log 155.2: For years, my brother's condition has been a handicap. That changed today._" What? Handicap? "_His autistic mind is the breakthrough I've been looking for- he can communicate with the geth!_" Hold on... that can't be- "_Such a tremendous grasp of mathematics! It seems serendipity is alive and well in the 22nd Century._"

...

I blink, looking at my omni-tool. "Wait," says Kasumi. "So David was autistic..."

... "Oh, Jesus Christ," I say, shaking my head. "I think I know what might've happened. The thing is... autistic minds can't really process a lot. Maybe David didn't know what he was getting himself into. And then... when his mind finally had the information, it was too much. And now... this."

"You seem to know a lot about autistic people," says Shepard.

"I'll have you know my younger brother was handicapped," I reply with a shrug. "I've told Tali about it a few times, actually. He's so innocent, but so cute at the same time it's kind of insane, really. But... I think that's what might've happened."

"And now we've got this mess." says Shepard. "I don't know if we'll have time to go through every audio log. We'll have to push forward for now. That VI won't wait for us to get there, you know."

"Got it, Commander," I say.

And I was looking forward to compiling the apocalypse journal! Well, bummer. So... We see this hallway to our right. And it ends with these two doors at the end. One of them has an indicator panel flashing red... and the other is green. I look to Shepard breifly as she takes a look down that passageway. And with a motion of her head in the affirmative, we move on, walking down the hall. A door closes behind us, but we really can't afford to go back.

Okay. I think we know our destination.

So we go over to the door with the green panel on it, standing in front of it without too much problem. Right. Shepard knows the drill, so she touches the panel...

...and for some reason, it's the door to our left that gives off the opening sound. Even though it was the one with the red door panel on it. What?

I look over to my left and see that the door that was supposed to be locked did, in fact, open. I blink in surprise at this development, before looking at the door that _should _have opened. Yeah... there's no door panel there, meaning...

...

Jesus Christ... This VI is going to try to mess with our heads, isn't it?

Yep. Yep, it's gonna mess with our heads.

"This is... most intriguing," mentions Thane.

"Keelah..." says Tali. "I'm not liking where this is going..."

"Neither do I," I say, even as we raise our weapons and move where the VI wants us to. Jeez... this is kinda like a _Saw _movie, now that I think about it. There won't be a single place here that we'll go to that the VI won't want us to go. That's kinda scary...

But... it doesn't seem like we've got a choice, so... Shepard turns, and then the five of us follow rather closely behind in walking through this station. We move further down, keeping our guns raised. Huh, we haven't run into any geth yet. I'll bet the VI is saving it for later. For now...

We come to another set of doors. Okay... it looks like all the doors down the hallway are open. A lot of doors are down that way, too... So... Yep. We're going to go right up to it and-

Before I can say anything, though, there is a loud slamming, and suddenly all the doors directly in front of us slam shut. They shut off in a series, and then the door directly in front of us slams shut. I blink at this sudden change of events, and then suddenly we see the door panels come up on the door directly in front of us and two doors on the other side. And before long, all the doorpanels are quickly cycling through green, red, and orange. This causes me to stop, and I feel my hair standing on its end as the colors cycle through. I just stand there, looking blankly at everything there as the colors cycle through each panel. Jesus Christ...

Finally, the doors stop this, and while the panels die out on all three, the door to our left side suddenly opens with a hiss. This makes me jump in surprise, and I just stand there in confusion.

...

"What the hell was that?"

The others are just as confused or scared as I am. This is... this is really freaking creepy. This feels like something straight out of a _Twilight Zone _episode, let me say that now. We all walk towards the door, seeing nothing when we approach it. Jesus... I step through first, looking around... Wow. This room is pretty big. There are terminals and med pack things out all over the place, and at the end there's some kind of elevator. And there are all these things around it. Hm... Well, we're on level seven. And there's a panel that says... zero. Must be the floor the elevator itself is on.

I look back to Shepard, seeing that everyone else has just filed in. Shepard holds her gun up, and then I hear another Archer log go off in the distance. I don't really hear it, though, and Shepard comes into the room with an apprehensive look on her face.

Finally, I look back at the elevator, rubbing my chin. "Hm..." I say. "I don't know why, but my puzzle senses are going off."

"Puzzle sense?" asks Kasumi.

"I don't know why, but it seems like we'll have to figure out this elevator," I say, pointing in front of me. "I don't know why, but this reminds me of old JRPG puzzles where you have to move blocks."

We advance towards the elevator with this, moving past all the items of interest that are sort of scattered there. We all look at the thing. "Well... I don't know," says Tali. "How did you get that idea anyway?"

"Intuition," I say. "I guess we have to find some combination of stuff to touch that will get that elevator to where we are."

"That's preposterous," says Shepard, shaking her head. "There's no way it could be possible."

"You never know," I say.

"I still don't believe it," says Shepard. "Watch. It's going to be simple!"

And then she struts right up in front of the elevator, and presses the call button.

And it only goes up two floors. I see Shepard lean back at this, and she hits the call button again. It goes up another two floors, and when she hits it again it goes up another two floors. Uh... I see her hit the call button again, but then the whole thing resets and the elevator is back on the zeroth floor. Zeroth floor... man I never thought I'd see that again. I glance over to the Commander right as she turns her gaze to me...

Yeah.

I shrug simply. "Just so you know, I called it," I say. "Now... what will affect things so that we can get to the seventh floor?"

By this time, Kasumi has walked over to a terminal. "Hold on," she says. "There's something on this terminal... let me see..."

The voice sounds out overhead, and before anyone can say anything else, the elevator panel rises to one. I raise my eyebrow at this, crossing my arms as I look at Shepard.

"Told you," I say, walking up to the elevator panel and hitting it once. Okay, now it's at level three. "See? Now we just hit this again and again until the lift gets here. And then... we work our magic down below."

I hit the panel two more times, and sure enough, seven shows up on the display of the thing. Okay. So everything works out upon completion of the puzzle, and the elevator opens-

-and suddenly a shotgun blast goes out.

Oh, shit!

"Geth!" shouts Shepard as she pulls out her shotgun. I don't think twice about pulling my own out either, even as Kasumi ducks under the table she was behind. Thane and Tali both whip out their weapons, and then I see Tali whip out the combat drone as well. Chikktika moves forward, shocking one of the geth there. It stumbles back, but still... there's a freaking geth prime here! I fire my shotgun once, the round managing to take down its shields as it moves forward, aiming a shotgun at the Commander. Oh, that little-!

Before I can move, though, the geth is biotically thrown against the wall, and it crashes against said wall. Shepard manages to plug another round into it, right as Kasumi and Tali finish off the remaining two geth troopers. I quickly turn around while pumping my shotgun, hoping to finish a geth off. All right! Let's finish you fuckers off!

I fire my shotgun at the heads of one of the other geth, and that comes crumpling down. But before the other trooper can go down, I hear the angry snarl of that geth talk that the VI's been giving us this whole time. With this, I see Chikktika shudder a little bit, and then it gives off this green glow.

...

"Tali, tell me you didn't give Chikktika armor upgrades!"

"I did!" she says. "She'll be hard to break now!"

...

Well, shit.

"Yeah, that'll work out so well now that it's _turned on us_!" I shout, backpedaling right as it shoots a lightning bolt in my direction.

"_What_?" shouts the quarian as my shields deplete and Thane shoots the last geth in the room. But the fact that she saw it try to zap me and thus took out my shields tells her all she needs to know.

"Shit!" shouts Shepard, firing her shotgun at the thing again. "Fire at will!"

"You don't have to tell me twice, Shepard!" I shout, cocking my shotgun and leaping backwards right as Chikktika starts following me. The rounds hit, embedding themselves in Chikktika's armor. I see Kasumi wave her omni-tool, the thing letting off a lot of sparks but not showing any signs of backing off.

It's then that we start shooting at the damn thing with everything we've got. It manages to get off a charge at Shepard, taking down her shields, but by now mine have recharged, so... Jesus Christ, die!

Finally, a single shot is fired, and the thing falls to the side. Oh, no! I'm not letting you get back up. I rush forward, literally landing on Chikktika. I raise my foot shortly after and start stamping on the combat drone repeatedly. The loud crash of metal sounds out repeatedly as I start raising and slamming my foot down on Chikktika over and over again. Damn it! Die, combat drone! Die!

I finally stamp down on the thing decisively one last time, breathing in and out very raggedly. Yeah... I think that's the end of it. I step off after a few seconds, taking a step back as we all look at the remains of Chikktika vas Paus version 3.0. Jesus Christ...

Why is it that we're always destroying Tali's combat drone?

I shake my head even as Tali looks right at the remains of the drone she built herself. She shakes her head.

"Next time I rebuild her, I'm putting in seven additional firewalls in her programming," she says. "If it fills her memory banks to the maximum, the armor can go to hell."

"Indeed," I say, looking at the drone. "I can't believe we had to destroy the thing..." I turn to Tali. "Look... if you're mad, I can understand, but-"

"Don't be," she says with a shrug. "It turned on us. I can't blame you for wanting to take it out."

"But still..." I say. "I really shouldn't be finding ways to destroy your combat drones."

"Well, we'll find a way to kick the habit soon, don't worry."

I nod, looking at the quarian as we all file into the elevator. "I hope you're right, Tali."

With this, we enter the elevator. Okay... this looks like a maintenance elevator, complete with grate flooring and all that stuff. We all file in, looking around us. It's spacey for a maintenance elevator. Hm... Maybe it's more like a freight elevator than a maintenance elevator. Either way... this is giving me uncomfortable memories of when that elevator in the building that Rictor's studio was at was undergoing service. Man... That's one reason I hated service elevators. You could see the damn cables and everything... I prefer not to see them.

At least in this case, though, there are no elevator cables. I'm thankful for that.

So... I look to Shepard, who presses the button. The doors close, and a voice announces we're heading to level six. Well, hey, whatever rocks its-

The elevator lurches downward suddenly in the middle of it's descent, stopping right at where the doors from level six are. No... right in the middle of that! What the hell? We then rise an inch or two, and I look right at the doors as we do so. Oh my...

It's still trying to fuck with us!

I then find myself holding my arms out as the elevator suddenly descends very briskly. It stops abruptly in that juncture between the sixth and fifth levels, and it nearly throws me off balance if not for the fact that I've got my arms splayed out to help me keep my balance. I look to the side briefly, and even as we rise up a little faster and then go down a little bit, I feel very strange. I look right at Shepard as the thing slowly rises from another dip.

And then, I feel the floor rapidly give out from under my feet.

It takes about a half a second to register that the grating we were standing on is racing down to the bottom from the fifth level. Everyone is moving so fast, but... Jesus Christ, we're falling! Oh my God! I see Thane somehow grab a ledge to safety as Shepard follows Thane in hot pursuit of safety. I can see Tali and Kasumi barely getting around to doing the same thing even as I continue falling down to the bottom level! Crap! And I'm just falling.

It only takes a few seconds. One thing I know I'm just falling in the air.

And then, I land on my right foot. As I hit the ground, I feel something snap within my shin, and then I'm violently thrown to the side. I suddenly feel a great pain shoot up in my leg, and I don't get a second to think about it before the rest of my body hits the ground. I feel an instantaneous moment of shock as I hit the ground, but I don't feel anything else.

But I'm not even granted any time to think about that before a primal scream rips itself from my throat. God damn it! My leg! I take a breath in, and let loose another scream as I look right up at the ceiling.

"Oh my God! Art!"

I hear people plopping down onto the elevator even as I'm screaming in agony, and suddenly I feel a three-fingered hand resting on my shoulder. Before I know it, the rest of the squad is gathering around me, and I'm feeling them grab on to me.

"Art!" shouts Tali. "Oh, Keelah..."

"Gah!" I scream out again. I end up going on and on about how much my leg hurts... Oh my God... And... And they're all shouting frantically at stuff.

"I think it is safe to say he broke his leg," I can hear Thane dimly over the confusion that's occurred.

"I think we got that much, Thane!" says Kasumi as Shepard works at ripping off the armor of my leg. "What do we do?"

"I don't know," shouts Shepard. "Maybe find him a safe place somewhere!"

"There is no safe place!" shouts Tali. "This VI won't let us go anywhere!"

"So we gotta carry him now?" asks Kasumi.

"He would never make it," replies Thane passively.

"That's not the point!" says Tali. "We don't have a choice!"

"Then how are we supposed to carry him around?" asks Shepard loudly.

"We'll find a way," says Kasumi. "But we can't leave him here!"

"I'm not saying that!" shouts Shepard loudly. "I'll carry him along for now! Tali, Kasumi, Thane, cover us!"

I groan out in pain as I feel Shepard's arm slither under my armpits. I feel myself get lifted up, and immediately my weight gets shifted onto my good foot. Tali, Kasumi, and Thane all walk ahead of us, and then I look to Shepard as I scrunch my eyes in pain.

"Don't worry, Art," she tells me reassuringly. "We'll be fine."

I simply groan in reply. Ow... My leg... Ow... Ow...

* * *

I hobble into the room just behind Shepard, leaning against a pole as I move. Good thing we found a length of pipe that could serve our purpose. God damn _Tower of Terror _elevator. That would've been better if we actually had some fucking restraints around here... Shit, I'm sure it's actually broken now. Damn it all to hell, I should've snuck in those genetic modifications when I could've...

Well, I'm stuck with a cane-like pole now. It's also light-weight, though. I guess that way I don't become a burden to anyone. Metal poles should be heavier, they really should. But hey... I guess years of getting back in shape mean I can lift heavy things more easily now. Yay!

The Commander approaches the room, and we all enter as the lighting flickers around us. Okay... There's a control panel in front of the room, and it looks like it's where we have to go. Tali and Thane both take a place next to it, with Kasumi standing off to the side as Shepard walks over. I stay back by the door, looking right at the Commander.

"This looks like the panel," says Shepard, looking down on it as she prepares her omni-tool. "Be ready. For all we know, this button will summon a Reaper."

"Yeah," says Kasumi. "But really, anything would make this place less creepy."

I shake my head. "I know, right?" I ask. "First it's taking control of Chikktika, then it was all those geth on the elevator... and then it was the whole _Tower of Terror _busines... Ow..." I cringe slightly as I shift my weight off my broken leg.

"I just hope nothing else happens," says Tali. Shepard manipulates the control panel then, looking at the panel as she works on shutting down the VI. "We've had enough happen to us already."

Oh, Christ. I shake my head. "Tali, I tempted fate before we got here," I say. "Trust me, I think we've reached the point where something else is virtually guaranteed to happen..."

"Why?" asks Kasumi. "What's this VI got left to hack, anyway? Next you're telling me it'll hack into Shepard."

It's then that suddenly we see Shepard come to a sudden stand-still. She freezes, shaking slightly as I can suddenly notice a greenish glow from under her skin. She stands still, and before long she turns away from the door. Wait...

Oh, crap! It hacked into Shepard's cybernetics!

Damn it, Kasumi, you just _had _to jinx it, didn't you?

"Shit!" I shout, watching as she hobbles past us. It's clear she's in some form of pain from the expression on her face, but... she seems to be moving not entirely of her own accord. "Shepard? Shepard, can you hear me?" She doesn't pay attention to me, though, instead preferring to stumble right past me. Hey! Wait up!

"Shepard, wait!"

I end up following her out of the room, nearly stumbling over the pole as she ends up walking outside of where we just were. Shit... I hate following Shepard with a broken leg. Thankfully for me, she's not actually running, though, so I can follow pretty easily. I hobble past the door, following her as she comes to a stand-still in the hallway.

It's then that I hear a particularly loud slam behind me. I suddenly turn my head, nearly shifting my weight on my broken leg as I do so. Gah, what the..? I then see that the door behind me is slammed shut, and all of a sudden those little door panel things are all over the place. Oh... Oh shit... This VI trapped Tali, Thane, and Kasumi in there! I blink in shock, rushing right at the door.

"Thane! Kasumi! Tali!" I shout, banging on the door. But no matter what, I know it won't budge. Just... damn it, open the door!

I can hear faint voices from the other side, but none of them are really loud enough for me to get a good sense of how they are. Damn it... The VI has trapped them in there... Shit... Well, there's nothing anybody here can do about that now. Not even Tali or Kasumi with their combined hacking expertise can get them out of this one... so I guess the only option left is to manually shut down this VI. Wherever it is... I turn back to Shepard, who seems to be calming down a little. She looks ahead of me, and I end up hobbling to the side.

"Shepard?" I ask. "Are you okay?"

She blinks at me, and almost instantly I can see there's a greenish glow in the cybernetics behind her eye. In fact, all of the visible cybernetics (which aren't that many now that I think about it) are glowing green instead of red. She looks at me... Okay, this is reminding me a little too much of Sarah Brightman at the moment. The last thing I need for the moment is for her eyes to start projecting the image of some singer in front of my face while singing _Chase the Morning_, because the absolute last thing I need is a reminder of _Repo: The Genetic Opera. _Because the music from that movie absolutely sucked.

But that doesn't happen (of course), and she looks at me. "Art?" she asks. "You're here?"

"Yeah..." I say. "I can't believe this VI infected your cybernetics..."

"I don't think it stopped there..." says Shepard.

Huh? What does she mean by that? "Why do you think?" I ask.

She shakes her head slightly. "It... Everything around me looks so wierd," she says. "You're nothing but a collection of pixels now... Everything around here... It's like we've entered a virtual reality. I don't know... But I don't think I should be seeing this. Everything is green pixels, just like the face of the VI as we've been seeing it. I just... I don't know what to think."

"Probably not..." I say, shaking my head. Great. Now the rogue VI is making her hallucinate about stuff that isn't actually there. "Is there anything else worth mentioning?"

"Something's... compelling me forward," says the commander. "I don't know what... but I think this VI is trying to lead me to something. I can see where all the open doors are. I can feel that somehow, it wants to let me through. I don't know... But I have to follow it... It's like it's asking me to take it down."

Again with this stuff? I frown, crossing my arms. "That doesn't make any sense!" I say. "This thing has been infecting everything in sight, and now it wants you to shut it down? Why?"

"I don't know," says Shepard. "But I get the feeling that we'll get our answers as we move along. You have to trust me with this."

I nod, looking right at her. "Well, whatever the case, Shepard, I'm right behind you," I say. "Broken leg and all."

She smiles at this. "Good," she says. "It's good knowing I'll have a friend watching my back."

She walks forward, drawing her shotgun as I hobble along. I grab my pistol, being careful to move as fast as I can with my leg in the shape it is. Damn it... of all things, why did it have to be a broken leg? I mean... it can't possibly be any worse than having run on glass with bare feet and injuring yourself like that, but seriously. This is gonna suck, I can tell.

And something tells me that the really crazy stuff with Shepard seeing things that I seriously cannot see has only just begun.

* * *

Somehow, we hit no resistance on our way to wherever. Well, that's a good thing.

But... it seems Shepard was right on one thing... It might be that the VI is trying to get us to shut it down. Shepard won't say much as I hobble along beside her with my broken leg. I just... Why isn't Shepard saying anything? It's like she's just walking forward of her own free will. For some reason. Honestly, I don't know why. But I should keep it to myself. She'll stumble across something eventually.

And... eventually we do bump into a room that looks like it has all sorts of important stuff. Shepard pauses at the doorway briefly before we enter the room. Huh, that was strange. Yeah, she's definitely seeing things. I'm pretty damn sure it's the VI, though, so I can rule out insanity. That's a good thing.

I see myself walking into a lab with a bunch of tables on it... Hm, looks pretty dark. I wonder what it's like when Shepard's inside. I see a bunch of surgical tools off to the side, some still not having been sterilized. Hm... This must be where they did the requisite operations to get David to interface with the VI. Hm... It barely looks like they finished the operation before stuff happened. There are a few bodies all over the place.

Hm...

"Yeah, this place doesn't look that great," I say, looking over to Shepard as she walks over to a terminal. "You see anything?"

"I... I feel like I'm being pinpointed to parts of the room," replies the commander. "I don't know why, but..."

I walk over to the terminal screen she's in front of, the green glow of her cybernetics being the only thing that illuminates the room. I blink, looking right at the terminal screen. Huh... That's strange...

"This is... odd..." I say, walking to a table.

"Art, stand back!" commands Shepard.

I raise my free hand in self-defense. I take a step back, and then watch Shepard looking at the table intently. Why... Why does she look like she's so concentrated on stuff? This... this is a little wierd. I mean... I don't see anything, so... Why should Shepard be interested in stuff like that? I mean, for the life of me, this makes absolutely no sense! I mean... shouldn't we be stopping the VI?

Finally, though, she turns, looking for a different spot. "Shepard?" I ask. "What's going on?"

"I don't know why, but I'm seeing things," she says. "Images. Of things that have gone by. I don't know. It's like the VI is giving me... memories."

Huh? Memories...? Wait... if the VI is giving her that... then that means... Yes. This is kinda wierd, but since David's mind is interfaced with the VI it makes sense. He would be able to broadcast memories to Shepard. I don't know...

"What sort of memories?" I ask.

"Memories of Gavin... and David... and the experiments," she says as she walks over to another corner and just stands there. Huh. She must be getting it again. "I don't know, Art. But it seems that David wasn't put into this program with his complete consent."

Hm? I... "I... I don't know what to say to that..." I say. God, I hope she doesn't notice how hard I'm gripping on my pole... "That... that doesn't sound good."

"I don't know what that'll mean in the end," says Shepard. "Either way... we have to stop this program. For the sake of the world... and for David's..."

I frown at this as we move on. "Why?" I ask.

"I understood some of that screeching," she says. "I... I don't know why... but the last time I heard it... the word 'stop' came out."

And that's when I freeze in place. W... What? Stop?

"Stop?" I ask. "Why stop?"

"I don't know," says Shepard. "But when I heard that word... it sounded desperate."

"Desperate...?" I ask. "What...?" He was desperate about it? Huh? No... That can't be right... I shake my head. "He's gotta be bluffing about that," I say, shaking my head. "Or... Or maybe he's just blowing it out of proportion! I... This can't be... I mean, can it really be so bad that he's screaming 'stop' at the end of all his sentences?"

"Maybe it's the end of all the sentences," says Shepard. "Why?"

I shake my head. "Gavin's lived with a disabled brother his whole life," I say. "As have I. And if I were Gavin, I would've gotten David out of any situation that put him in immediate peril. But... if he's doing that..."

"Art." The word is said very simply. "I know what he said."

"I just..." I say, shaking my head as we both walk to the room. "I don't know, Shepard. This doesn't seem right that someone would just put a disabled person through this without them at least knowing what's going on..."

"I don't know either," replies the commander with a shrug. "Either way, we're not going to get this resolved by standing around. So..."

We then both look to the next room. And then we both notice two pretty important things.

One: the door is locked, and the only way into the next room is to vault over the windows. This... wouldn't be a problem, except for my fucking leg which the VI broke with that fucking _Tower of Terror _elevator. So now, it'll take us longer to get past that. Thanks, VI.

Two: there are geth in the next room.

"Well... shit..." I say.

Shepard nods, pulling out her submachine gun. "Art, stay down," she says. "I'm going to clear the geth for you."

W... what? "Shepard, you're not going to face these things alone!" I reply. "I'm not dragging my broken leg all the way here for you to get yourself killed by the fucking-"

"Art, please," she says, turning to me with a wary expression on her face. "Your leg isn't going to help your combat abilities... So please. It's not going to heal itself. Stay down. I promise that when I clear the room, I'll come back for you."

Damn it... I can't help Shepard in the firefight because of this broken leg. God... I'm slowly beginning to find more reasons to fucking hate elevators. But... She's right. I can't get myself killed like this. I nod then, hobbling over to a section of wall and placing my back firmly against it. I nod to Shepard as I hear the geth start to move in the next room.

"All right, Shepard," I say. "But if you're not back to get me when you've cleared the room, I'm coming for you. And I'm vaulting over that window, broken leg or not."

"Don't worry," she says. "I don't break my promises."

And with this, she fires her submachine gun into the window. All I can do is watch as the rounds fly by her and impact against her shields. I give her a tired glance as she pops under the window, reloading as the steaming clip flies from the submachine gun. Okay... I guess it's time to do the waiting game as I watch Shepard do her thing.

Soon enough, Shepard vaults over the window, firing her submachine gun as she rushes into the room. All I hear for the next few minutes are the sounds of the gun being fired and rounds being exchanged with the geth. I simply sit back and wait for Shepard to come back. Because she's right. She doesn't break her promises, even if it's against her better judgement in a lot of cases. I swear, that tendency is going to get her in trouble with someone one of these days. And I am going to look back on that day and laugh at how idiotic everyone else was being because Shepard knew best. Especially if the Council is involved somehow.

So I stand back, gripping my pole as I wait for Shepard to come back.

* * *

And she totally did come back. And we got my broken leg over the small space we needed to just fine, so...

Yeah. I'm still on board for following her.

I move along, and the two of us come to a door as David lets out his sort of angry screeching sounds again. I look to the Commander... Huh, the door is locked. Looks like we're going to have to-

I then see Shepard pull out her gun. I only have a second to blink in surprise before she starts shooting at the side of the door. Wait, what? No! Shepard! You're shooting the door now!

"Shepard, what are you-?"

She shoots the door in an exact pattern, but before I can tell her she's doing the door no favors, the panel suddenly changes to green. Shortly afterwards, the door opens, and then I find myself looking right into a rather spacious room with an elevator in it.

...

Say what?

I frown while looking at Shepard. She simply shrugs, going into the room. "I was able to see a VI connection," she says.

Huh? "VI connection?" I ask. "You mean... by shooting things you can't see, you can control the VI to your whims?"

"Or I can keep the VI from fulfilling those whims," replies Shepard. "I can't believe my cybernetics didn't get hacked before. That would've made things so much easier."

I shake my head. "I doubt it," I say. "I don't think Thane or Tali would take kindly to you seeing stuff that nobody else can see but you and the VI can. Kasumi would make a joke of it, but not them."

"I'm sure they'll understand," replies Shepard with a shrug.

Yeah... "Sure, you tell yourself that." I say. "Next thing I know the VI will start sending you images of topless dancers doing the can-can. Without bras on."

Now it's her turn to give me a funny look as I follow her into the room. "Why mention bras?" she asks. "If a woman is topless, that kind of means she won't be wearing a bra."

I shake my head. Oh... That's a memory I need to tell her soon. "Old childhood memory," I reply with a shrug. "Remind me to tell you about it in the near future."

Shepard simply nods. "Of course," she says. "Hm... It looks like that elevator will lead us to the server room," she says. "And that is where we'll finally find all this."

"Yeah," I comment, looking around the room. Hm. Lots of lab tables. And all that other jazz. I lean against my pole, looking directly at a terminal nearby. Hm... Looks like it's good for summoning the elevator. "We should get down there."

"Art, your leg is broken," she points out as we approach the terminal. "It'll be very dangerous to go down there."

I shake my head. "Not if I stay out of sight of the geth," I reply. "If that elevator goes down and there's a good enough view, I can set up a sniper perch right at the elevator. And then if you have to do anything with the geth trying to kill you... you've got easy access to someone covering your ass, you know? You can't do it alone, and I can help you. So please... let me help."

Shepard nods. "You've got a point," she says. "All right. You can help out." She walks over to the terminal. "I get the feeling this elevator might bring some geth with it. You should get into cover."

I nod, looking over at a nearby counter. Okay... that should suffice. "All right, gotcha," I say, hobbling over to cover. I lean against my pole with some force as I draw my pistol with my free hand. I slowly move to cover, ducking down behind the counter as I look to Shepard. My hand is still gripping the pole with some amount of force, helping me keep myself up as I very slowly shift down so as not to aggravate my broken leg. Okay... Pistol should be enough, yes. Too bad my stasis poison is worthless against synthetic opponents. Thankfully, Shepard's biotics aren't so discriminating, so I should still find a way to be all right.

Okay... As soon as I'm settled into cover, I nod to Shepard, ignoring a slight throbbing in my leg as we move around. Well... I'd think that with a fall like that my leg would be really bad right now. Thank God for medigel, I guess. The medical marvels of this universe are something to behold indeed. And I'm glad they're all there.

As soon as Shepard sees that I'm in position, she nods, and keys something into the terminal. We hear the whirr of the elevator coming up, and then she works her way into cover. I see her glow biotically for a little bit, and she draws an assault rifle pretty quickly. Okay... Here's hoping things will work out for the best.

Eventually, the elevator makes it to the top. And from where I'm leaning against the pole, I see two troopers and a hunter.

Aha! Shepard was right!

Without any further delays, Shepard comes out of cover, and then I see her use a biotic throw on one of the... rocker troopers, I just realized. This sends it flying back, hitting the glass of the far wall with quite an impact. Okay... I come out of cover as quickly as I can, leaning against my pole as I fire a few shots at the rocket trooper Shepard biotically threw. Its headlight dies after a little bit, even as Shepard concentrates assault rifle fire on the second trooper.

I then feel the pole wobble slightly just as the hunter cloaks. Oh, boy! I duck back down, pressing my side against the counter to stabilize myself. Okay... That would be disastrous if I fell to the side. I don't know what would happen then, so I should avoid getting into that situation in the first place. And what better way to do that than to make sure I'm always standing with the pole in the right place.

I bite my lower lip as Shepard retreats into... Wait...

The outline...

Shit! The hunter is almost on her!

I raise my pistol quickly to shoot a few shots at the thing, when... Wait. I have a pole. No... Guns are more practical! But it's...

I see the geth prime fire the shotgun at Shepard.

Shit! That took out her shields. Yeah... I might not have time for finesse. I'm going to have to go with the instant-kill option.

Pole it is.

I get onto my feet quickly with the help of the pole, not caring if the other rocket trooper is there. I raise my pole soon after as I stand on my good leg... Okay, god, please make this work! I look at the invisble frame of the hunter as I hold my pole in a stabbing position. All right... three, two, one, go!

I raise my pole up, and right as Shepard is about to biotically punch the thing, I bear the pole right into the hunter's back, just at the base of the neck. Yeah, that was totally intentional, I swear! I rear back then, resting my now freed hand against cover as the thing lets off some final sparks. I don't get much time to admire it, though, for I see the rocket trooper preparing a rocket to fire at me. Oh, no, bitch! I raise my pistol very quickly, and fire a shot at the thing quickly. It doesn't quite hit the head, but the chest is close enough. And besides, it sends it down to the ground, so it did its job. I then turn back to the geth hunter to see Shepard just in the process of biotically punching the thing. It goes down without further ceremony, and when it falls face-up on the ground I see the pole protruding from just below the neck.

Ooh. That would gain a definite R rating if that were human. That... is really freaking disturbing... But hey, it did its job. So Shepard gives me a strange look, and then she shakes her head.

"Oh, Art," she says. "Always doing crazy things."

I nod, feeling the throbbing in my injured leg had increased a little. "I'll manage," I say. "Now... would you mind getting my pole out of there?"

"Right..." says Shepard. "I...can't see the thing right now."

"What?" I ask, frowning. "Why not?"

"The geth units keep exploding into green pistols whenever I kill them," she says. "Although... Oh, I can see it now. Hold on."

With this, she steps onto the geth hunter, her foot resting squarely at the point of the neck just above where the pole is. Her hands wrap around the pole shortly afterwards. I watch her as she prepares herself to pull it out. Jeez, Shepard, it's only a pole. Shouldn't be that hard, right? I watch then as she breathes in. Soon after, the woman gives it a hard yank, and then the pole comes free of the geth's neck.

She stumbles back from the force, but manages to stand on her feet as she holds the pole in her hand. Okay... good. We got my pole back. She then hands it back to me, and I take it gratefully as I stow my pistol away.

"So the geth keep exploding into green pieces?" I ask as we move towards the elevator. "Why?"

"Beats me," says the commander. "Either way... I can never tell where there's going to be a new unit. I guess I should be grateful for the cover."

I nod. "You're welcome," I say, hobbling along as we both get on the elevator. "Come on. We've got a VI to shut down, and we'll have to do it fast."

And with this, Shepard gives us a simple nod. "All right," she says. "Let's do this."

She hits the panel in the center of the elevator, and then we're both slowly descending to the bottom of the lift. I stand there briefly, looking to the commander as the green from the cybernetics gets slightly more enhanced. She simply nods at me, and I give her a smile. Okay... it's good that she's got back-up. I can't remember any time outside of the first few minutes of the game where Shepard was really without a squad behind her back.

I mean, if Bioware happened to add something to the game where she had to survive waves of enemies by herself, that would be absolutely ridiculous!

The bottom of the lift finally touches down... Yeah, this definitely looks like a boss to me. I see some kind of fog and smoke-covered installation in front of me, with all these giant tendrils connecting to pillars. I can barely make out the centerpiece, but the fog is so thick around there that I really can't make it out. Hm... It's like it's trying to keep me from seeing something. Either way... it looks like Shepard might have to shoot at it to take it down.

I nod, pulling out my sniper rifle as I nod to Shepard. I set my pole down on the ground, laying on it as I prepare my sniper rifle for sniping. Okay... I haven't really sniped on the ground like this before. But with my leg in the condition it's in, and given that there are no guard rails on this elevator, I'm not left with much of a choice.

But hey, some choice is better than no choice. So I lay down and peer through the scope as Shepard approaches the installation. Hm... It looks like she's seeing more of those memories she was claiming to be viewing like a vision. Hm... David Archer is fucking with her head. He's gotta bet.

Either way, she only stands there for about ten seconds before she comes forward. I see her draw her assault rifle, and then she looks up at the tendrils. I watch her through the scope as she looks around, and then I see her raise the assault rifle and fire at one of those wire tunnels that connects right to the column.

Yep. Let the fight begin!

I see Shepard move around the VI's core, shooting at the thing. Hm... Just what is she shooting at? I can't really see it, but... It seems like it's trying to do something... Hm... I better trust Shepard on this. I watch her shoot at the cable things...

And soon enough, this causes something to occur over where the VI core itself is... And suddenly, I see why I couldn't see anything before. There was something covering it. Hm... I guess Shepard has to shoot that however many times she has to before the whole thing starts powering down. So I see her pull the particle beam from her back... wait, when did... Oh, yeah, she always had it. My loss for not paying attention. She grabs the thing, and aims it right at the center of the thing. Yeah... this is definitely like a boss fight.

For some reason, it's more _Zelda_-esque than it usually is with this universe...

But... I'm thinking too much. After some time with the particle beam, the thing closes back in on itself. I can hear synthetic whirring off to the side, and then from the sniper scope, I can see geth.

Oh, boy.

I aim my sniper rifle at a geth trooper as it comes right in. With a single shot to the head, the thing goes down.

"Shepard!" I shout. "You take care of whatever it is you're doing! I'll handle the geth!"

"Much obliged!" shouts Shepard as she takes out her assault rifle again.

She returns to the wire things, and I nod as I see another trooper come out of the corner of my eye. Okay... Let's snipe his ass into oblivion!

I line up my sights quickly, taking a breath as he approaches. Shepard is weaving her way around the structure, though, so unless they get behind the VI core, I'll be in good hands. Okay... Geth trooper... is in position!

I squeeze the trigger, and am met with the satisfactory sound of the geth falling in a heap on the ground. This gives Shepard a little bit of license to shoot at whatever the hell she's shooting at. She's gotta be shooting at it for the same reason she was shooting at the door earlier. Whatever... I can't think about that, since there's a third trooper here that needs to be taken down. Okay... follow along with the trooper as she chases Shepard...

I'm distracted by the sound of the core opening up. I glance up, seeing Shepard has quickly grabbed the particle beam and is firing right at the center of the thing. Okay... Yeah, that'll be a good thing. I shake my head, turning my attention back to the geth unit. Okay... this looks like we'll have it out in no time. I nod at the geth unit as I fire a single sniper shot into its head. Okay... and it goes down just like the rest.

And right when it does, I hear the electronic screeching above. It sounds out again, but...

"_MAKE... STOP!_"

... What? Make stop? There's... There's something in the middle there... And I don't know what, but...

The VI core closes a second time, and I find myself laying there in surprise. What the hell could David have meant by that? And... and what's going on with it, anyhow?

Well... either way, the fact that we can understand what it's saying is a sign that this whole rigmarole is about to end.

I've gotta do this. I see another geth trooper come in as soon as I bring my eye to the scope. Okay... geth trooper... meet your death, via sniper rifle round to the chest. It sends the geth unit flying back as Shepard resumes shooting at the connection tendrils. I look through the scope as she runs around, and then when I see another geth trooper show up, I aim and fire. Okay... these geth troopers have to end sometime, right? It's getting kinda boring just seeing them all rush-

Holy crap! I see a rocket trooper rush in, right after a normal trooper. Crap... With shepard all concentrated on that... Yeah, I need to be careful. I shoot at the rocket trooper first, nodding with a satisfied grin on my face when the thing crumples to the ground. Okay... that leaves the trooper, which is-

Oh my God! The troopers are starting to pour in now. Damn it... What the hell do we do? Damn it... there's more here than I can snipe before they start shooting at Shepard. Shit... what to do...

It's then that the VI core opens once again. Wait... take out the heart... and you can take out the body! Yes! I need to help Shepard finish this!

With a final triumphant glance, I turn my scope straight towards the VI core. I see the particle beam come on, even despite the sound of rockets being fired. Judging from how the particle beam is dancing around the thing, I'd say Shepard's doing a good job of everything. I nod, looking through it and letting loose a sniper round into the VI's core. Okay... That's one round successfully shot. I look through the scope, and take another breath. Just a little more...

The particle beam wears it down some more.

So then, when my final sniper round goes right into the thing, I hear a rather satifying crash of the round impacting.

What happens next is nothing short of extraordinary. I see the core light up, with lightning arcing from the thing. Suddenly, all the geth units in the room seize up, almost petrified where they stand as the lighting starts to crackle all over the place. I look at this, and then I see all of the geth units start to drop to the ground like flies. Their lights go out, and there's nothing around us as the lighting overloads whatever units haven't been affected by this.

Well, at least I won't have to snipe anything.

Before I can ponder much on this, though, I hear the loud mechanical screeching all of a sudden, and the power starts to fluctuate everywhere as the screeching takes hold of everything. I can barely make out Shepard standing there as this happens, and I look at the VI as the screeching becomes less like screeching and more like-

_"-STOP! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!_"

...

What?

I hear this screech once, and then all of a sudden the lights return to normal. It's like nothing has ever been touched by anything, and I look up at the VI core as it hangs open. The fog has died away, and I can see Shepard standing in front of it... and...

What... What in the world...?

No... No, that can't be!

I slowly stand up, and find myself limping over to the VI core. No... I've gotta be... Nobody would actually do that to another human being! No... There's no way...

And then... I walk up next to Shepard where she's standing in front of the VI core. Oh... Oh my...

No.

Oh my God.

"_Make it stop. Make it stop_."

No... Oh no...

Why...?

I see David Archer suspended by a whole bunch of things that are stabbed in his arm. His eyes are being kept open by something, and... there are these... these _tubes_... and he's naked... and he's got things _stabbed_ in his _arms_... And there are things... He's held there by a head brace... and a waist thing... My... I can see the residue of tears on his face... No... And he's completely naked except for the thing around his waist...

And it's then that I notice the resemblance... No... He...

He looks so much like... like _Augie_...

No...

Oh my fucking God no...

I sink to my knees at this. No... This can't be happening... No... This... This couldn't happen... No...

Why...? Why would he do this? Why would _anyone_ do this? David is _innocent_, damn it! And... And... He got dragged into... into...

I blink, feeling something wet crawl down my cheek. And suddenly, the throbbing of my broken leg is forgotten as I simply kneel at the threshold of where David Archer is. No... He can't possibly...

The door opens behind us. "Wait! Commander!" Gavin... He's behind us now! I... No... He wouldn't... There's no possible way... He couldn't have thought...

He... He did this to his own brother... He forced him into a situation where he doesn't know what's going on... No... Oh my God...

"Please," said the head of Project Overlord. I hear his footsteps get close, and then I hear them stop just around where Shepard is. "I'm begging you. Don't do anything rash."

"Rash?" asks Shepard, her voice filled with fury. "Like forcing your own brother into an experiment?"

"I know how this must look, but I never intended any harm to come to him," replies the doctor. "You must believe me. It's not like I planned this. It was an accident. Seeing David communicate with the geth... It all seemed harmless."

Is he...? He thought that...? No... He couldn't possibly be that stupid. No. He had to have known that David would have no idea what the hell you were trying to do... Right? Because there's no other way that anybody would do things like this to their own brother, right?

No...

"And before you knew it, you were running your own private hell," says Shepard.

That's... that's not the important part... Why...?

"I had no choice!" replies Gavin. "The demands were incredible. The Illusive Man doesn't broker failure! Any war we fight with the geth will be bloody. I was asked to find a way to avoid that."

"And how many have already died for this project?" asks Shepard.

I... I just... No...

I feel myself zone out of the conversation. And suddenly, very vividly, I see Augie in those things. Not David... Augie... I see him hanging there, with all those... those _things _in him... Poor, innocent Augie, who loved the _Free Willy _song and _Kung Fu Panda_ and bears and whales...

And I see him there, his mind hooked up to some VI interface against his will. And then, I hear him screaming 'make it stop', but it coming out as confused geth speak which nobody can translate... And I see him crying and hoping that mom or dad or Anneli will get him out of it...

Oh... Oh my God...

I blink, and the vision is gone. And there is David Archer...

No...

Why would _anyone _do this to a disabled person? And to their _own brother_?

I'm suddenly aware of the fact that my throat is uncomfortable, with tears running down my face. But I don't care. I just kneel there, gazing at David Archer as he goes through God knows what those implants are doing to him. Damn it... I can hear the screams from the electronic chatter. Damn it... He just wanted it to end...

He just didn't know what was...

Why, damn it? _Why_?

"So you'll sacrifice your brother's happiness for your own ambition?"

Shepard's saying this brings me back into the conversation shortly after. I look right at David as he shifts his head as much as he can (which isn't a lot), and I blink, new tears falling as I fight back the urge to start sobbing. I sniffle, though, looking up at him.

"_Square route of 906.1 equals..._"

"30.1..." Gavin Archer is silent after this, standing there for a few seconds. Damn it... Only now does he see what he did... Damn it... I just can't see it... What kind of _monster_ would do this to an innocent man? And to his _own brother_, no less? I... What the hell can you say to justify _that_?

The silence gets almost deafening as I stand there, looking at David Archer. Finally, I hear the doctor shift behind me.

"What I've done to David is unethical. If he dies, it's unforgiveable," Finally, you've come to some-

"Let me take care of him. Please."

...

You... You...

_You son of a bitch!_

"Fuck. You."

The words come out of my throat, a little shakier than I intended. I feel both of their glances on me, and then I take a stand on my good leg.

"Fuck. You. You... You saw something and expected him not to react to something he would have no fucking idea about?" I ask, turning to Gavin as a frown takes over my form. "You... You put your own god-damn _brother_ through this shit! And you put a mentally disabled person through this fucking shit, too! And now... now that we fucking know about this...? You want to keep him here? So you can perform more cruel experiments on him?"

"I... I never-"

"Fuck you!" I shout out, hobbling towards him slowly as my broken leg starts to scream in protest. I ignore it, as I ignore Gavin's subsequent attempts to protest. "Fuck you, you son of a bitch! Fuck you!"

It's with this second phrase that I begin to launch myself towards him on my good leg. I hop towards him once, twice, and then suddenly, I let out a scream of rage as I tackle Gavin to the ground. A firearm falls to the side, but I don't care as our combined weight falls to the floor. I wince a little as my broken leg falls, but I don't care anymore. This... This son of a bitch!

I crawl up onto my elbows, letting out a shriek as I raise my fist. The fist collides with Gavin's face soon after, and my knuckles are quite numb to the impact against his cheekbone. As I lift my fist again, I give out a harsh cry of 'fuck you' before slamming my fist into his face a second time. Damn it, you son of a bitch! I punch him a couple more times, seeing him cradle his nose as it starts to bleed. Damn you! Damn you!

It's after about the fifth time of punching that my anger starts to dissipate, and my tears start to flow anew. I raise my fist weakly again, and then I find I have no strength to punch him again even as the fist falls into his face. It's then that the emotion comes over me, and then I roll off Dr. Archer, a hand instinctually going to my broken leg as I start sobbing loudly. I close my eyes then, hiding my face in my free hand as I let out a keening wail.

Damn it... Why?

Why?

The sounds coming out of me are thus the only sounds to come out for a while. I don't care what Shepard is doing, but... I don't want this man to get away with it...

I hear Shepard take a gun out then, as I hear the assembly bit. "The Serviceman is right," she says. "I'm taking him with me. Don't follow, or I'll have a bullet waiting for you."

Yeah... Because we can't let shit like this happen again. "Where... Where will you take him?" he asks, almost defeated.

"The Grissom Academy," says Shepard. I feel a hand touch mine, and then suddenly I feel myself get pulled up to my feet. "They can help David there. Without the torture."

I stand up, looking to Shepard as I blink a tear or two away. She looks at me with a kindly expression, placing a hand on my shoulder. No... She wouldn't understand. But... I'm glad she's trying. She shakes her head sadly, but I simply bat a tear away with my eyelashes.

I shake my head, biting my lower lip as I glance at the ground. I sniffle again, and suddenly feel her arm coming under my armpit. I then feel her lug me along, and I nod appreciatively. I bring my arm out behind her shoulders, gripping them as well as I can as I hobble along on my good leg. It's only then that I realize the pole has been left carelessly over by the elevator. My broken leg is dragged along, but... but I don't care...

And all the while, I hear David Archer give the square route of 912.04.

"_It all seemed harmless_."

His final words as we walk to get him out of there are like a knife to my heart.


	39. Chapter 37

_A/N: And thus ends the Overlord DLC. And now, sad times ensue for Art._

_So yeah. Last chapter was a doozy to write. Damn it, was it long... *shakes head*_

_Thankfully, this chapter will be nowhere near as long. So now... we set some stuff up. And we get stuff out of the way._

_So here we go._

* * *

Chapter 37: Gideon Klein: Preludium

I can't... I just...

Shepard and I walk through the corridors of Atlas Station. Dr. Archer was left behind there, kneeling catatonically as we just took him away. David is now in Shepard's arms, being held there almost like a baby. We couldn't find much in the way of stuff to cover him with, but somehow... we managed. And now Shepard's carrying him out. He's only too happy to cling to her like he would his own mother. All the while, I can hear him mutter 'it stopped' over and over again. The medigel is holding in the place in his arms where there was stuff attached... and we've tried to cover his wounds.

There's not much we _can _do in the first place. This will have to be left to Chakwas...

Damn it... He was so fucked up he didn't even register that we were there to save him at first...

I nearly fall over, the pole wobbling slightly as I move. I haven't said a word since I beat up Gavin Archer. But really, what can I say? There's... there's absolutely nothing...

As we walk down the corridor, we then come by the room where Tali, Thane, and Kasumi were trapped. And now... I see them standing there listlessly. Even as Shepard and I walk over, they look on. I... I close my eyes, shaking my head.

The three of them take a step forward, Kasumi and Tali both in front of us as Thane stays where he is. He looks at David, his second eyelids nictating in contemplation.

"I guess it got taken..." says Kasumi, pausing in her tracks when her eyes fell on David.

There is impenetrable silence when everyone looks on the form of the savant. He doesn't register that the others are there, instead murmuring in Shepard's ear as he did when we entered. I... I just can't... I bite my lower lip, letting out a sad sigh.

"Keelah..." mutters Tali. "How..."

I shake my head sadly as her gaze turns to me. I move to speak, but my throat suddenly feels constricted. And when I move my mouth to speak, no words come out. I just... I can't speak, and it all comes out as silence.

Damn it... I guess I really can't say anything about this. I then resort to a sad turn of my head, looking up at Tali. There, she can plainly see the residue of tears that have run down my cheeks. I simply blink sadly, looking right at her.

I don't need to say anything else before she approaches me. I feel her come next to me, and then... then I just collapse. The pole falls to the ground with a rather loud clang, and then I'm clinging on to Tali with everything I have. I shake against her as she holds me there, and I just sob and shake my head as I let out my sorrow again.

Damn it... Why did he have to get put through that...?

I just... I don't get it at all. Nothing should be able to justify that. Nothing...

* * *

The trip back to the Normandy was silent. Not even Jenny cared to say anything at me when she saw the look on my face as Shepard came in holding the autistic man in her arms. We all just sat in the Hammerhead, not saying anything as we ascended. Really, what is there to say? I just... I sat by Tali, not saying anything as she held me comfortingly. David, thank God, didn't see it fit to say anything at all on the ascent back to the Normandy.

I mean...

There's nothing to say. There are no words for what I've seen.

And I don't say anything to anyone even as I'm ushered straight to the medical bay to get my leg checked up on. I just prefer not to say anything at all...

I just simply sit there, my eyes closed as Chakwas does all the requisite stuff. Sturge was chilling with Chakwas when I walked in, but... well, he's over by the side as the ground team also stands by me. Sturge did ask why I was so glum, but... I think David's condition speaks for itself.

David's already been taken care of by the doctor, actually. He'll live, thank Jesus. I don't know what the hell I would've done. All I can say is that if Gavin Archer was here, he would've been so fucked up he wouldn't be able to fucking walk. Fuck him. This... I can't believe he would do something like this. That he would think it was harmless is despicable. That anyone would think that it was harmless, and that anyone would let it happen...

I just...

God, why?

I hear an electronic beep off to the side, and looking up I finally open my eyes to see Dr. Chakwas nodding. "Okay..." she says. "Your leg is in pretty bad shape. You probably shouldn't have been running around killing geth."

I grumble, shaking my head. "I wasn't offered much of a choice in the matter," I said. "If that fucking VI hadn't been made..."

"Art," says Sturge simply, looking at me with an unreadable look on his face.

I glance at the old man, shaking my head. "I just... I don't fucking get it. Why would _anyone_ do that to their own brother? Why would _anyone_ think that it's actually okay to do that?"

The old man simply nods. "I do have to admit, it's a pretty sick thing to do to your own brother. And when he's disabled, no less..." He shakes his head as he looks back. "But he's safe now."

I shake my head. "Maybe he never will be," I say, my eyes falling on where David is. He's currently laying down under mild sedation. His limbs are all arranged... again, like my brother would if he were under sedation... His wounds are all patched up, but all I can see are where those interface things stabbed into his forearms. I mean, just... I don't think I can ever unsee those things inside of his arms... I still don't get why anyone would think that was a good idea at all...

I look at David again before turning my head back to the doctor. "I'm sorry," I say. "I just..." I take a deep breath. God, why can't I stop thinking about it?

"You won't have to worry about that," says the doctor. "At any rate... your leg took serious damage. Your leg broke from the fall, I'm afraid. It's good they didn't take off the armor when they tried to look at it... it might have compromised bone structure. But the pole didn't seem to be enough... There's severe enough damage that you will be put out of commission. Again."

Pff, yeah, that's true. I nod, looking at her then. "How long are we talking about?" I ask.

"Nearly a week, at this rate," replies the doctor simply. "Shouldn't be too long with the nanobot treatment. It will have to stay in a cast for four days, though."

I nod. "Well... I... guess that's good," I say. "Doctor... just tell me honestly. Is David going to be all right?"

Chakwas gives me a look that is asking me why I'm asking this. "Art, this is the fifth time you've asked," she says.

I shake my head. "I just..." I glance over to the autistic man. "I still can't wrap my head around the fact that this happened to him..."

The doctor looks at me again, her eyes shining a little bit in sadness. She shakes her head in disapproval, but... She moves to the table, picking up the datapad she had used for David. "David will be all right," she says. "There's a small chance of infection at the sites of the stab wounds in his forearms, but thanks to quick application of medigel, there was minimal disinfection needed. The skin of his forearm will take a month to heal completely, even with nanobot treatment." It's around here that I feel the hairs on my arms stand on end, and I look at her sadly as she continues. "Other injuries minor. Eye drops have been applied to eyes for extensive period of dryness, and small cuts in the skull have been disinfected properly. Survival chances are very high."

She looks at the datapad again, closing her eyes as I shake my head. "Very high isn't good enough, doctor," I say. "And he's not going to return to what he was. Ever. What about his mind? What about the nightmares about this he's going to experience for the rest of his life? I just..."

I grab my head in my hands, the tears threatening to fall again as my throat blocks up against my own will. Damn it... He's going to be all right... but all right is not good enough... There should've been a way to prevent shit like this from happening...

"Art..." I feel the doctor's hand fall on my shoulders, and I take my hands away to look at her. "I've done everything I can. There's nothing more we can do now but wait until we get to the Grissom Academy. They can help him there... and we've done what we can."

My glance falls on her. "It doesn't feel like it's enough..." I say, shaking my head. "It'll never be enough for him..."

"Maybe it won't be," supplies Sturge. I turn my eyes to him as he shifts slightly, pulling at his colonist uniform. "But he's safe right now, and we have to take what victories we can with this."

"I know, Sturge," I say, shaking my head. "I just..." Damn it. "I don't want to talk about this right now. Chakwas... you said we had to do the treatment, right?"

"Yes," says the doctor.

Yeah...

"Then you should probably get started with that so we can get this out of the way..."

* * *

An hour or two later, I finally emerge from the med bay. My entire lower leg is wrapped in a cast as I walk along, a proper crutch supporting me instead of a piece of pipe. Good thing, too; that pipe wasn't tall enough to go under my shoulders. Chakwas says I should take it easy for the week, especially when the cast comes off. But it's not coming off for four days, so until then, I get to walk around. Funny how I become the cripple now... I wonder what Joker would have to say to this.

But... I can't see him now. So instead, I end up heading right out of the med bay. Okay... So I go along with Tali tagging along behind me. I take the crutch over to my quarters. I mean... I just don't feel like doing anything at the moment... I want to be left-

"Art? Are you all right?"

I blink, looking ahead of me uncertain-

...

Oh. It's Miranda. The Cerberus cheerleader is standing right in front of me. That... I can't believe she'd let shit like this happen!

I frown shaking my head as I point back to the med bay. "Was _that _for the good of humanity?" I ask, pointing back to where David would be. "How does your organization justify shit like that?"

This causes the operative to pause where she's standing. She gives me a rather shocked look, but I stand my ground, giving her the harshest glance I can. Obviously, she already knows what happened to David, as it created a big commotion when we got back on the Normandy. But she stands there, finally turning her attention to me.

"I..." she says, looking there. "I don't know."

"Exactly." I adjust myself on the crutch. "You don't fucking know. You don't know, because you've bitten right into the whole Cerberus mythology about it being for the good of all mankind. So when you're torturing disabled people to get your fucking results, you don't even realize-"

"_I _would never dream of such a thing," interrupts the Aussie. "I can assure you that not all of Cerberus is like Gavin, as well."

"And how the fuck would _you _know?" I ask. "You just let shit like this happen."

"Art." Tali's interjection is fairly severe. "You can't blame Miranda for what happened with David."

"And why the fuck not?" I ask sharply, turning to the quarian. "The whole of Cerberus is just as much to blame for what happened to David as Gavin is. Yeah, Gavin did it, but who was the dipshit who allowed him to do what he did? If somebody took a fucking stand, none of this would've fucking happened, and David wouldn't be all varieties of fucked up."

Miranda crosses her arms at this, and by the way her brows are slightly furrowed I can tell she's not happy about what I just said. "I can tell you that had the Illusive Man known, he would have put a stop to it."

That... she honestly believe it? "And what would that have done?" I ask. "Or did you not fucking realize that it was the Illusive Man who put the pressure on Gavin that caused him to do what he did to David in the first place?"

Miranda gestures, and oh no, I'm on the floor now! "Actually, now that I think about it, he tends to say that a lot about the projects that have really gone south in terms of human treatment and especially results, hasn't he?" I ask. "What about fucking Pragia, then? Did the Illusive Man put pressure on those guys too, only to backpedal when it got too out of hand and Jack escaped? What about Admiral Kahoku, Miranda? Where was TIM to provide the pressure when they killed him? And where was he when they were experimenting on the rachni so he could tell them to stop?"

"Art." Tali's voice is more firm this time.

"We had no way of knowing any of what would happen," says Miranda simply, ignoring the quarian. "If he had known before hand, he would have stopped it."

"Exactly. You didn't have any way of knowing," I say. "And because of that, he just let it all happen anyway. 'If he had known' is one of his most popular excuses, it seems. The fact that he just lets it get out of hand and then says 'oopsie' afterwards makes him just as fucking guilty as everybody else in Project Overlord _and_ all the other shit I brought up." I frown at her as I start to hobble away. "Maybe it's about fucking time you got your head out of the fucking sand to see that, _cheerleader_."

"Wha... I-!"

"I don't want to hear it." With this, I hobble along on my crutch, not even caring enough to look back as I hear Tali quickly catch up with me. "There's nothing to discuss, Miranda. I'll leave it at that."

And with this, I finally show up at the door to my quarters. I don't even give her so much as a glance before I walk back into my quarters. Damn it, I don't want to hear any of that stupid bullshit about humanity that you always find good to spout out. I just... I can't believe she's still standing up for them after that. I simply walk back into my room, finally taking the time to get out of my armor as Tali stands there.

"Art... are you all right?" she asks.

"I'm just fucking peachy right now," I reply angrily, tossing one of my arm guards carelessly to the floor. I let out a soft sigh as I do, turning to her as I sit on the chair of my desk, pulling off my leg guards. "No, I'm not fine, Tali. I still don't get why Gavin would do what he did... and I don't know why anyone would be stupid enough to defend it." I look right at her. "It's not that I hate Miranda. Because I don't. But she should know so much better than to bite into the Illusive Man's excuses without question."

The machinist nods, taking a seat beside me on the bed. "You're right about that," she says. "But did you really have to take it as far as you did?"

"I don't know anymore," I say, throwing my arms out in front of me. "It's just..." I shake my head, placing my face in my palms softly. "There's too much that's wrong with this stupid picture. Why did Cerberus do what they did? I just... I can't wrap my head around it, no matter how hard I'm trying. I just don't understand anything about this. I don't understand a single god-damn thing that would drive a person to do something so damn sick!"

"But Miranda wasn't responsible for it," she says. "I won't pretend that Cerberus has done bad things to my people, but... you have fought with her. You should know her better than that, Art."

"Well, I know that at heart she's a loyalist to Cerberus because they saved her," I say. I think she needs to get her head out of the fucking sand that maybe they've got her in their own little chains."

"Art." The quarian's voice is severe enough at this that I raise an eyebrow in shock. "Whether Miranda is chained or not, she is not responsible for this. It would be like saying that Kal'Reegar was involved in what my father did on the Alarei. She had nothing to do with Overlord."

And that says a lot coming from a Cerberus hater. "I just..." I say, shaking my head. "Yeah. You're right. I'm just angry right now. People can't possibly be stupid enough to do that to a mentally disabled man who wouldn't know what was happening to him. They couldn't possibly be that deranged...

Tali nods. "It'll be all right," she says, placing her hand on my shoulder. "He's safe now. That's really all that matters."

I shake my head. "I know, Tali," I say. "But I just don't..."

Words fail me yet again. And all I can do is sit there as Tali places a reassuring hand on my arm.

* * *

Tali's returned to engineering by now... and composing doesn't seem to be doing anything for me. It's been a day or so since we came back from Overlord, and I've been avoiding Miranda like the plague. I will not deal with her right now. To his credit, Jacob is already avoiding me, though. Thank goodness for that.

I just... every time I look into the med bay and think about David... I just feel hollow. I had a very tough time sleeping last night because of it, and I had never been more relieved in my life when I _finally _found myself in the dream space. And then my meal became very tasteless. It came from Rupert this time around, so I guess that's part of it... but still... I just can't take my mind off of David Archer.

And doing what I normally would doesn't seem to help. I just can't stop seeing the look of relief on his face when we had finally gotten him out of those god-damn things. And now...

Now there remains almost nothing, really, except to think about it.

And now... I'm finding myself standing in Samara's observation post. She's not there for some reason, but... I don't care. I just need a moment alone. Rael wants to talk with me about something, but... I think I can hold it off. Chiefly because I just can't let it go.

I look out into the stars then, leaning against the window as there's nowhere else that's interesting in the room. Except for the couch, but that seems to be a disservice. I have a hand splayed out on the glass, looking out at the stars.

Something about this baffles me. If we're able to move in the stars so freely, then why the hell do human rights atrocities like this still happen? I thought those were supposed to end with Darfur and the Nazis and Iran and all that other crap. Instead... even as we move on in an era where we supposedly know better... they're still perpetrating crimes on human rights. I just... I don't get this shit at all... Why, damn it? Why?

I let out a sigh just as the door opens behind me. I hear someone take two steps behind me. Oh. There's Samara. Okay... I think I'll be fine if I just keep my cool about this. I would be pretty alarmed as well, though Samara isn't easily alarmed, right? No, I should be-

"Serviceman," says the justicar, her voice betraying no emotion. "I would not have expected to find you here."

I let out a sigh. "I guess you're one part of the many admirers I've got after that little gambit I took with the tell-all?" I ask.

"You joke now, but your heart is not in it," says the asari as I feel her walking close to me. "I have watched you as of late. There is... much that troubles you."

"No shit, Sherlock," I reply. "I can never see my family again, I may have lost the friendship of most of the people I know on this ship, and to make it all worse I just saw what happened with David. It's a lot to be thinking about for you too." I shake my head bitterly, turning my head to see her standing next to me as she looks out into the stars. "Samara, can I ask you something?"

"Ask as you wish," she says simply.

"Are you allowed to go visit your two daughters on a whim?" I ask. "You know... the two daughters who weren't Morinth?"

Samara stands there, blinking. "They are held... very close to where I trained to become a justicar," she replies. "My two remaining daughters are safe from the rest of the galaxy. I have not visited them, but the fact that they are somewhere safe... that is enough." She looks at me. "I take it you are asking that which was not mentioned in this 'game' you claim to have played."

I nod, turning to her. "Yeah," I say. I let out a sigh. "You never mentioned Morinth by the name you gave her in-game. And there was only fleeting mention of your two other daughters." I bite my lower lip. "You... you were proud of Morinth to the end, right? If I remember correctly... you didn't use her given name when you killed her..."

"I did not," she says. "Mor... Mirala... was the smartest and bravest of my daughters." Mirala? That... that was her real name? "I am so proud of her..."

I look at her, seeing her remain as stone-faced as ever. Honestly, I have no god-damn idea how she does it. She just manages to bottle all this emotion in her and she never once shows it. I don't know... I would go insane if I was in her shoes... But... still.

"Mirala..." I mutter, looking back out to the stars. "It's a beautiful name you gave her. Shame she ditched it in favor of Morinth. The name 'Morinth' always did rub me off the wrong way, you know?"

"It was a mark of what she had become," replies Samara. "We were... a happy family then. I wish it had never come to what ultimately happened..."

"As do we all," I say bitterly. "And yet somehow it always goes down the shitter, you know?"

"In some cases, it is more drastic than you would believe," states the justicar. Oh, how right she is.

"At least you have some form of comfort there," I mention. "You had to kill your strongest and bravest daughter, but at least you know the other two are alive." I chuckle darkly. "Ironic how _I'm _the one who's lost so much more than you, am I right?"

"Perhaps not," she replies. "You have risen from the ashes of the event that shattered your life. I... have no ashes left to rise from." She simply walks back to her meditation spot on the floor as I turn to look at her. "In this, you at least are comforted."

I blink, looking at her. "Is it ever easy to rise, though?" I ask.

"No," says the justicar. "But it is in our nature." I see her assume her meditation pose. "I suppose you wish to ask what I think of your true history?" Yeah... I do. I nod simply, and the justicar simply looks on, blue eyes kind as I move away from the window. "The Code has no provisions for such a history as yours, deception and all. I can only judge how you have acted, whether because of or despite this truth. But you have no quarrel from me. When I am released from Shepard's vow, you need not fear retribution from the Code."

...

Uh... I'll take that as good news then.

"I see..." I say. "But I want to know your opinion as a person, not based on the Code."

"If it were left soley up to me, I would not be happy at the initial revelation," she says. "But you have your reasons, as do the rest of us. As the Code would have no quarrel with you, I have none either."

I nod. I see... "Thank you, then," I say. "Makes me feel a little better knowing that. I... should leave you to your meditations. I'll see you around, Samara."

"Good day, Serviceman," she says simply. I then see her take on her biotic meditation hues. Okay... that means I should probably leave her alone now.

And I do just that, walking out of the observation deck of that side of the ship very soon after.

* * *

After a pretty long bout of walking around with nothing to do, I ended up returning to the med bay where David is. He's laying down on the berth, heavily sedated. His arms are supposed to be better now... Chakwas applied some stem cells on those wounds in his arms, and the tissue there is regenerating. But for now, David is currently under sedation while the stem cells are busy doing their regenerative magic.

It's just... it had to come to this for absolutely no reason at all. My crutch now lays on the bed, and I look at the savant sadly as he sleeps. He looks so peaceful in this state... and yet he's probably not feeling as peaceful in his head. It's just... why, damn it? Why?

Chakwas has left the med bay to get herself something to eat. So now she's asking me to make sure the process is going all right. Honestly, it's actually kinda gross watching his tissue regenerate. I figured it would be kind of like the movies, where it's awesome to behold. At any rate, I was sure it was going to be so much more amazing than it was in that one shitty movie where John C. Reilly was some kind of vampire and the evil force was called the Vampanese or something stupid like that. Instead, it's just gross. I've only had to check occasionally, thank Christ...

...and the rest of the time, I can't help but think about how he's doing inside.

I shake my head sadly as I look on at him. Damn it... this didn't need to happen...

I hear the door whoosh open behind me. Oh, well... I guess I didn't have to wait that-

...

Oh. It's Miranda. And she looks at me with a slightly apologetic look on her face.

"Art," she says simply.

I frown, crossing my arms. "What do you want, Miranda?" I ask.

"I..." She stands there, somehow unsure of what to say next. "I wanted to speak with you. About what I said the other day. Or rather... what you said the other day."

"I don't want to talk about it," I reply, crossing my arms.

"Art..." she says. "You weren't right to heap all of the blame on Cerberus on me."

Oh. Yeah. About that. I frown, turning my attention back to the savant. "There's nothing more to say," I reply. "There's nothing you really can say to... to this." I gesture towards David. "Your organization's working towards humanity's benefit by violating everything that humanity is about. That's more what this is about, really..."

"That's not exactly what I wished to ask about, actually," mentions Miranda as I hear her footsteps approach me. "I was speaking with Tali just now." Hm? Yeah, she would go to someone who knows me best, wouldn't she? "She may have mentioned that there was an extra piece of information you don't talk about often with the rest of the ship that is playing into this..."

... Hm... I don't really know what to say to that. "I just..." I let out a sigh, glancing right at David. "I just don't understand why someone would do this to their own brother. To their own disabled brother..."

"Whatever the case, you can't exactly blame all of Cerberus for this," she says. "I had absolutely nothing to do with Project Overlord or how it was handled by anybody. I was still overseeing the Lazarus Project when Overlord began, and there must have been many people who were involved in many other Cerberus projects. I couldn't be there to stop it."

"You weren't there..." I say then, looking at David. "You weren't there when the garble became intelligible and he started shouting 'make it stop'... I just..." I shake my head, feeling my throat stop suddenly. It's just...

Miranda is silent at this, but I don't turn my gaze towards her. I can hear the loud clanking of her shoes against the floor... Jeez, what kind of person lets their operatives enter the field of battle in fucking heels anyway? I don't get it... but that's not important.

"It's all right," she says. "You know that I trust you, Art."

Well... That... is a good point. She stuck with me even through the revelation that I had been lying. "You've... got a point..." I shake my head.

"Tali may have mentioned it had something to do with your family..." says Miranda. "What... exactly was she alluding to?"

Hm... I would be miffed at Tali, but she is right. I did kind of jump on Miranda a little too easily. I guess I'm just pissed at all of Cerberus for doing what they did... But she's right, Miranda had no part of Overlord...

I should just tell her about Augie...

"I... I remembered to mention my younger brother, right?" I ask, feeling my eyes sting slightly with tears. "There's something I didn't mention about him. He... he was severely mentally disabled. I'm honestly shocked I didn't mention it earlier..." It's like the plot almost demanded it... "And... you know. He was a pain in the ass sometimes, but... his disability was why he was so innocent. He loved whales and bears and that one song from the Disney version of _Beauty and the Beast_ where the villain indulges in self-praise... And he was pretty adamant about what he did and didn't want..."

I feel a tear finally fall as my gaze falls on David. "David... he just looks so much like Augie," I mention. "And... I just don't get it..." I shake my head. "When I saw David... I was reminded of him... And... you know, Miranda, I just don't fucking get it. Why would any brother do this to his own disabled sibling? I don't understand it." I blink, wiping my eyes with a free hand. "Maybe I never will. But I just don't understand... David, who wouldn't know what was going on... why?"

I simply shake my head. "I just don't see how anyone can justify this kind of thing," I say. "I know that if I had to do this to Augie... I'd never be able to live with the guilt. And if it had been Augie that had been hooked up to that thing instead of David... I'd have killed every last operative on the station to save him. I just... I... How does Cerberus justify any of this? It's like they're constantly trying to defile humanity with their experiments, you know? But this... this defies everything I've ever seen, in the game "

I feel her hand settle on my shoulder then, and I glance at it to see her pale skin contrasting against my casual dress. I nod, looking at her with tears in my eyes. "I'm sorry," I say. "You had nothing to do with this... I just don't understand how you could expect Cerberus to be foolproof with stuff like this..."

"Honestly... I don't either," mentions the operative. "But I understand your anger."

I nod, my gaze falling back to David. "I'm sorry I put you on the spot like that," I say. "I guess... I just needed someone from Cerberus to yell at over this. You're a prime target of that for me, you know. What with you being the loyalist and all."

She doesn't say anything as her gaze shifts to David. "I'm finding it a little more difficult as of late, to be honest..."

Neither of us dare say anything more, even as I blink some of my own tears away. Yeah... David will be safe soon, Art. There's no need to worry about it. And... I really shouldn't have yelled at Miranda because of something the whole corporation did. Tali was right, I guess. And there is a truism I forgot: not everyone of a given affiliation thinks exactly the same way. I'm pretty sure Miranda would have flipped if that was Oriana in David's position...

Yeah... I kinda messed up there. But it's good that she came to me instead of me to her. That just makes it more meaningful in many, many ways.

* * *

Damn it. I need somewhere to look at the stars from. But... I don't really know where to look at them from. The observation decks are out of the question as Kasumi is asking me not to go in there and I already spoke with Samara... So the only other places I can think of are the captain's quarters, where that would not be welcome... or the cockpit. I don't really know.

So I find myself wandering around the CIC, looking at the galaxy map as we pass by it. It's so strange how that thing is actually there. I just... I don't really know what to think. We have holographic interfaces here, all that jazz...

But we're still torturing people.

Are we always going to be torturing people? I just... why do we keep on doing it? We already know it doesn't provide any useful information whatsoever, and we know that it doesn't help any of the rest of us. So why...? I just don't get why people still do it. Is it really true that people are still as sadistic as they used to be way back when? I... I just can't wrap my head around the fact that despite hundreds of years of experience we're still making the same god-damn mistakes we've always been making.

I just can't get my head around it...

"Well, if it isn't the creepy fortune teller who lied to us all."

...

What the...?

I blink, suddenly realizing I've stumbled into the cockpit. Joker is looking right at me, having turned his chair in my general direction, giving me a rather... strange look. I blink at this, looking right at him as I find myself involuntarily taking a step back.

"Uh... Hi Joker," I say, holding my hands behind my back. "I just got kinda lost in thought, so..."

"That seems to be a thing for you lately," replies the pilot. "Ever since you came back from Aite with that David guy you've been thinking yourself to death. I don't know what crawled up your ass, but it's not good for you, _clearly_."

My eyes narrow at this, and I look at the helmsman. "And who the fuck told you that, Einstein?" I ask. "It's not like me angsting over shit is entirely new around here."

"That is a good point," says the helmsman, giving a simple nod. "At this rate, I'm just glad you haven't locked yourself in your room for several days yet. I guess you're making progress with all that stuff if I'm seeing you here this early after we've settled the overlord mission."

"Shut up, Joker," I say, looking out the viewport as I take a step in. Oh, what the hell, I'll just talk with the pilot. "I guess you're also taking it as a good thing that I'm walking around with my leg in a cast."

"Don't see why not," replies the helmsman. "At least you're walking at all." He looks out the window. "I guess it makes sense now, though. You knew about what was going to happen to Ash, didn't you?"

"Yeah," I nod, leaning against the crutch as I close my eyes. "It was supposed to be an either or decision between me and Ash. I wanted Shepard to go get Ash." I shake my head, looking over to him. "But that's not what you really wanted to ask, is it, Joker?"

Jeff Moreau's face then contorts into a frown, and he shifts in his seat as he does this. "No, you're right. It's not." His frown only gets worse. "You... you didn't try to stop Shepard's death! Why? You couldn't have just told me not to stay behind while my baby was going down in flames! You just left and walked onto the Citadel instead, and you left Shepard to die! And I... I had to watch her get spaced!"

I shake my head. "You don't think there's a day that goes by where I wish things didn't happen in such a way that I had to keep my mouth shut about it?" I ask, gripping my crutch with my free hand. "I... You know how much pressure I was under. What would you have said?"

"Maybe a warning," says the helmsman.

"Knowing you... you probably would've just ignored me," I say. "And then you would've been even more angry at me now. I mean, it's not like I was going out of my way to talk to you, you know? And we didn't know each other that well..."

"I would've still tried," says Joker. "I mean, you didn't want Shepard to die either, did you?"

"Deep down... no." I simply shift. "A small part of me thinks it needed to happen, but the large part of me knows we might have found a way around it. I just... I don't know, Joker. It was as hard for me to let Shepard die as it was for you. For what little it's worth... I'm sorry I put you through that."

"No, you don't have to be," says Joker. "Even if you weren't there... it probably would've happened anyway. I'm just mad that you could've stopped it but chose not to." The helmsman shrugs. "Besides, it's not like what happened with Kaidan. You're actually sticking your neck out for her. I gotta say, you've got some real balls knowing what you do and deciding to help her out anyway. Paid off in the end, I guess. Shepard's come to terms with you knowing, so..."

Hm... "So you're okay with it," I say.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm still pissed you didn't say anything about Shepard dying," he says. "I'm just saying that as long as Shepard doesn't have any beef with you, I won't try to call attention to it. Unless there's some other thing you haven't mentioned yet." He shrugs. "Next you're going to tell us the Reapers are going to invade anyway because we didn't prepare enough."

I frown, looking at him. "Honestly, Joker, my precognitive abilities don't go _that _far," I reply.

"Really?" he asks.

"The narrative of the franchise wasn't finished when I came here, I'm afraid," I mention. "As it stands from how it was when I left, I'll be completely out of the loop once you get out of the Omega 4 Relay. And I mean you as in you, individually."

"Once _I _get out?" asks Joker.

"Yeah," I reply. "The second game had multiple endings, I'm afraid. In the worst ending, though, you're the only one who gets back from the Omega 4 relay. But at best, everybody comes back home. Either way, you don't get your ass killed. Hence, you." I face him, tilting my head to the side. "But don't worry. It was apparently mentioned that if you killed everyone but... well... you on the mission, you wouldn't be able to import your save to the final game of the trilogy that hadn't been released yet, so I think Shepard get out fine."

"And what about everyone else?" asks Joker.

I shrug. "We'll have to see about that, won't we?" I ask with a shrug. "But still... with any luck, you won't have to deal with seeing the Commander die a second time, you know what I mean?"

"I guess..." he says, letting out a soft sigh. "But if you're wrong on that, I'm coming into the afterlife after you so I can kick your ass."

Oh? I smirk playfully at this. "What are ya gonna do, break your arm at me?" I ask.

"Hey, don't underestimate the power of a broken bone punch!" says the pilot. "I hear it's pretty damaging in the afterlife!"

"Or you could just ram the original Normandy into me," I say with a shrug. "That would work too."

...

Did I seriously just suggest that?

"Actually..." Joker's smirk becomes absolutely evil. "I think I might just do that. Supposing I can piece it back together."

Yes, yes I did just suggest that. "Don't let it get to your head," I say. "But... man, I can't believe that all came from me just randomly wandering in here."

"You seemed pretty lost in thought there," he says. "You're still thinking about David, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am," I reply. "I still can't wrap my mind around it. Even after all these years Cerberus is still doing shit like this." I glance at him before leaning against the bulkhead. "Say... you remember when we were taking down Cerberus bases while fighting Saren?"

"Oh, yeah," says Joker, raising his hands. "Those were some crazy missions you went on!"

And so we end up talking about old takedowns of various Cerberus bases for most of the rest of the time. Hm... I'm speaking to Joker. First time I've had a conversation like this with him. I understand his anger: I would be pretty angry too in his position. Besides, he was absolutely destroyed at Shepard's funeral... I think he grieved even harder than Kaidan did, and that's saying quite a lot...

I'm just glad he's in good hands when it comes to me having known about it before hand...

* * *

Again, sometime later, I'm sitting in the med bay, looking at David. We're almost at the Grissom Academy. Hell, we've pretty much already docked by this point. That means that we're going to give David to whatever administration is there. Maybe it'll do him some good.

Hopefully, they'll provide for him like my parents did for Augie. They did a lot of things for him... I still remember when I was taken over to that flower sale for his old school over in that patch of land. Those were some very good times. And if all goes well the Grissom Academy will be just like that...

He's awake at the moment, looking right at the ceiling as he doesn't say anything. The crutch I've been using sits to the side, laying against the berth I'm sitting on as I watch the savant's face. He looks so calm right now... so peaceful...

But it's probably not like that in his mind. I just... I don't know how it is for a disabled person. But I would be so disappointed at life. Disappointed that this could happen. Disappointed that my own brother would do this to me. Disappointed that I was being forced into something I didn't want to do.

Worst of all, I guess, I'd be disappointed that I would have no idea what the hell is going on.

It just kinda sucks that there was nothing I could do for him or anyone...

I look to him again, seeing him lay down there as he looks at me expectantly.

"Are you...?" he asks.

I blink, looking at him with a sad smile coming onto my face. "You're safe, David," I say. "Nobody can hurt you now. We're taking you to a safe place."

He's quiet, then. He doesn't say anything at all for a little bit. I close my eyes then, imagining Augie once again with his frail little arms and frail little hands... I wonder if he's pulled a patch of his hair out, actually. Augie was really deceptively strong when he didn't want to do something. And then he pulled his hair when he got upset. And we never even saw him do it.

Hm. And then he'd start singing Gaston songs all over again. You can ask any Tom, Dick, or Stanley, and they'll tell you who's team they prefer to be on. After all, when he was a lad he ate four dozen eggs every morning to help him get large.

Subconsciously, I start to hum the tune to that silly little thing. You've gotta admit; even if Disney was ridiculous in how they handled all the adaptation decay that occurred with a lot of their movies, _damn _could they write some catchy tunes. I start tapping it against my knee, rocking my head back and forth very lightly as I think about it. Yeah... it was a very catchy song.

It brings back this flood of memories, even if David Archer isn't saying anything about it. I just remember so much now. Augie, sitting at home watching whatever the hell he had in the DVD player... me, thinking about how bad that one movie about Namu was

"The square root of 906.01 is 30.1."

This throws me off of my train of thought, and I open my eyes to see him there. Huh? What brought him to say that? I look down at him then, seeing him look a little happier than normal.

Oh, what the hell? I'll humor him. Maybe it'll take his mind off of what happened.

"It is?" I say, leaning forward. "I didn't know that! What's the square root of 764.23?" Yeah, give him a random number.

"The square root of 764.23 is 27.6," he replies.

Damn... he's good!

"Wow!" I say, looking right at him. I've never been this talkative with a savant before. Then again, I didn't know any savants, period, so that doesn't help. "You're really good with math!"

"The square root of 3842 is 61.98," he says. And just like that, he's off on another topic. Eh, people like him are like that. Maybe I should ask some more numbers.

"Good!" I say. Hm... algebraic equations might work... So let's try that. "Maybe you can answer this for me: if x squared minus three equals 426.3 and the square route of y added to four equals 46.12, then what is x plus y?"

And then he goes off on this.

From there, it's all a matter of watching him work mathematical pyrotechnics from where I sit. And damn, can he work them well. I continually ask him random equations, and he's really fast with coming up with answers. I mean, seriously, he's a natural at this stuff. It's too bad he's not completely like Sandal, who can tear through hordes of darkspawn and just randomly show up in the middle of nowhere to give you a final shop. But honestly, having a skill that you can actually see in action is a big plus in David's favor.

And honestly... he seems happy doing the equations. And... somehow, that's making everything better almost automatically.


	40. Chapter 38

_A/N: Okay..__. That should end that run of angst. So what happens now?_

_Now... we stay away from planet-side missions for at least two chapters. So there will be much social interactions had with all the people on the crew of the Normandy. So yeah... we'll see what happens with that, right? Right?_

_Anyhow... let's move on, shall we? We have other things that require our attention..._

* * *

Chapter 38: Thoughts

So now... David is safe at the Grissom Academy. And I'm left to think about it as I take the elevator down to the engineering deck. Man... the Grissom Academy was actually pretty beautiful. I can still kind of remember the ruckus Jack made about it right up until Al mentioned it was a school. They dont' torture children there, so that's a good thing. So... we handed David to them, spoke with the administrators a little bit, and all that other beautiful jazz.

And now... knowing that he's somewhere safe, I can rest at ease with that.

But now that that's taken care of... now we have other things to take care of. Namely... stuff having to do with Jenny. I still haven't told her what her brother's fate is supposed to be... and I'm sure this is one instance where I will need to follow Shepard's orders or face tough retribution from the powers that be for this transgression. Especially when Shepard can be a bit mean-spirited when I disobey orders. And... and I don't think Jenny will shut up about it.

So I guess it's off to the gallows with me...

I get off the elevator, making a beeline straight for the hangar. I move as quickly as I can there, because really, I don't want to bump into Zaeed or Grunt here. That would suck, I think.

So I move quickly, finding myself in the hangar while nearly tripping over my crutch in my hurry. Fortunately, I don't, so I move as quickly as I can.

And when I get there, I see Jenny's working within the Kodiak, as the door is open and the ladder is strung up to there. I look over at the open compartment of the shuttle. God... How the hell am I going to tell her what might have happened to her brother at this stage? I just... I don't know what to think when she'll react. And I know she's gonna react...

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...

...

Damn it. I knew I wouldn't have the balls to do it.

...

Fuck. I better just make myself forced to stay here so I have to tell... But I'm gonna regret this for the rest of my life.

"Jenny?"

I wait for a few seconds, and then see her peek out of the compartment she's working in. I can see her face form a scowl as she sets her eyes on me, and she shakes her head, setting something down. She looks over the edge, laying down on the floor of the vehicle.

"So ya finally decide to come tell me what the bloody hell 'appened to Gregor?" she asks, a frown set on her face. "Took ya long enough."

Hey, fuck you! "I had emotional baggage to deal with," I reply. "Not my choice."

"Just like not sayin' anythin' about Gregor wasn't your choice?"

... Oh, bitch, you better not!

"Seriously, Jenny, you don't want to know," I reply, looking up at her. "It's not... good, what could've happened. And I don't even know if it's happened yet."

"Then why don't ya just tell me?" she asks. "I'd be better knowin' than not knowin'!"

I shake my head. "Jenny, I'm giving you one last time to think about this..." I say. Damn it... I'm gonna regret this. "It's seriously not pretty!"

The colonist simply shakes her head yet again, giving me a deriding stare of disapproval. "I seriously don't get ya sometimes," she says. "How do ya do it, not sayin' anythin' to anybody else? Isn't it easier just ta say somethin' to someone? Just tell me already!"

Damn it... she's not backing down on this. Well... I tried to warn her at least. But there's nothing I can do. Now I have to tell her about what might have happened with her brother being taken over to the Collector Base. And then I'm going to lose a friendship.

I think my luck my have finally run out.

"Fine," I say in a dejected sigh. "You want to know what happens to your brother, Jenny? He gets taken straight to the Collector base way out in the Omega 4 Relay. And then, he gets trapped in a small pod for God knows how long while he watches as everyone around him gets turned into genetic paste. And he drifts in and out of consciousness as he sees all of this happen around him. And as far as I know, he might have been turned into genetic paste himself!" I shake my head, and look up to her. "But that's not even the worst part. They're turning him into paste to make him part of a human Reaper they're building at their base. So if he's not dead already, he's watching it happen to everyone else!"

And that is why I didn't tell you. And now... now that you know...

You're going to throw a tantrum about this whole involved rigmarole...

"So... So you're saying he could be dead?" she asks.

"I don't know!" I shout, looking right up at her. "But yes, he could be dead!"

And sure enough, I see her shake her head. "You're lying!" she says. "You're just making stuff up!"

"I'm not, Jenny!" I shout. "Why would I lie to you now?"

"You... You're making... I can't..." I see Jenny retreat back into the Kodiak soon after she says this. I peer up, looking at the opening left by her. And now... I don't see her head at all. I think I can hear a faing sobbing noise coming from inside the shuttle, but... but I can't tell. I simply continue looking up... Damn it.

"Jenny? Are you all right?" I ask. "Do you need me to come up there?"

She doesn't answer, and I can hear a loud sniffle. Damn it... she's crying. Yeah, I fucked up big time. And I don't have any idea how to fix it. But... I guess I should wait for her to answer first. Which she isn't. Meaning I should probably go up there of my own volition.

Now... how do I climb a rope ladder with a-

Ow! That hurt!

I cover my head to see Jenny at the edge of the shuttle, clutching a tool box. In her hand she's got another tool, and it looks like... it looks like...

Shit.

With this singular thought, I watch as she hurls a screwdriver in my direction. Quickly, I move just a little bit to the side, dodging as the tool hits the ground very rapidly, bending slightly at the metal bar though refusing to snap. I glance back up as Jenny fishes through her tool-box to get another projectile.

"Go away!" she says.

"Jenny, wait!" I shout. "I might-!"

"I don't want to fuckin' talk to ya!" she shouts, chucking a wrench at me. I manage to swat it away with a spare hand. "Leave me alone!"

"Jenny-!" I look up after glancing to the side and throwing my arms up in frustration. "Jenny, look, I mean-! God damn it, what the hell are you-?"

"Don't talk to me!" she shouts. "You're a cruel bastard, and I won't have any of it! Go away!"

She then raises a hammer pretty high. Okay... you know shit is serious when she's raising the hammer.

"All right, all right!" I say, holding my free hand up as I quickly shuffle along on my crutch. "I'm going! I'm leaving you alone now!"

I then take off right as the hammer hits the spot where I was a second ago. Damn it... I hear her scream something unintelligible, but I don't catch it as I'm already far enough away from her wrath that I won't have to deal with it. And before long, I've taken the door out of the hangar, sighing in relief when I get through the other side of it.

Well... that certainly could've gone so much better. Actually, that went terribly. Now... Now Jenny doesn't even want to speak to me again. Damn it...

I really fucked up big time. I should've just told her everything. But then... then what would've happened? I really don't think she would've believed me if I had said anything when I first met her...

I... I just don't know what the hell to think about that. Dagnabit... I need to clear my head a little bit... Maybe even hang out with someone who I know is friendly. Nothing could possibly be worse than having Jenny yell that she never wants to see me again, right?

Right. I think I'll just go off and-

"Art. Helluva thing. I was just thinkin' about ya."

...

Okay, scratch that. There _are _worse things than having Jenny yell that she never wants to see me again. There are much, _much _worse things...

"Uh... Hi Zaeed," I say, looking to the old mercenary. He's sort of leaning against the wall of the little way back to the elevator. Oh, dear... How to get out of this one... Right. I begin walking past him, holding my hands together with an iron grip behind my back. "I'm... kind of busy right now. So..."

"Oh, no," he says, and I feel him take a hold of my arm and pull me back right towards him. I let out a yelp as I suddenly find myself pulled back. "You're not gettin' of the hook _that _easy, kid."

I stumble back as he lets go of my arm, and I find myself blinking in shock. Shit... Yeah, there's no way I'm getting out of this one. Fuck me... I look right at the mercenary, and my eye almost instantly falls on where he got shot in the head all those years ago by Vido Santiago. Shit... this is about Vido, isn't it?

Oh, dear...

"What do you want, Zaeed?" I ask, trying to hide my trepidation at being cornered by him suddenly. "If you want a question answered, ask and I'll try to answer."

"I wanna know what ya knew about Vido," he says, his eyes boring right into me. Well... his good eye, anyhow. His disfunctional one bores into everything by its own.

Yep, I knew it. "And why would you want to know that?" I ask. "Your loyalty mission's already passed. And Vido's already dead. So what are you asking me that for?"

"Ya obviously knew about Vido," he says. "I wanna know what ya knew."

Hm... Well... he wants the truth? It's too bad that in his case the truth is almost insultingly spare with how much I really know.

"I only know as much as you did," I say. "I only know that he was on Zorya recently, right up until you killed him! Any earlier, I have no idea, except for your backstory with him, and why you hated the son of a bitch so much."

"Bullshit," says the old mercenary. "I've seen krogan that've known more about Vido Santiago than you say ya do."

"And yet there you have it," I reply, frowning. "Believe it or not, Vido Santiago was not a major antagonist of the game I played. So you're shit out of luck if you're gonna get some kind of info from me. just know a small handful of things: he shot you in the head, rage is a hell of an anesthetic, thus meaning you survived, you had been chasing him for 20 years, and you finally cornered him on Zorya. And in killing him, you probably set him on fire with an overheated thermal clip and gasoline and whatnot."

"That's not bloody enough," he says. "Why did 'e do it? Why'd he betray me?"

I frown, looking at him. "Is this what all this is about?" I ask. "You just want to know why he did stuff?" I shake my head.

"I'd figure you would know what 'is motivation was," he says. "I still ask myself that sometimes when I think about 'im. I take it ya know why."

"Well, much to your misfortune, I don't," I say. "Just because I know everything about what's going to go down with this mission doesn't mean I know everything about what happened to Vido in the twenty years that occurred between him shooting you in the head and now. So you're asking the wrong person for a reason." Now please, leave me alone. I have people that actually like me that I need to hang out with or I'm going to lose what little sanity I have left.

I try to move past Zaeed once again, but I feel his palm flattening against my chest. He then shoves me back pretty hard, almost so that I'm hitting the wall. I drop my crutch in my surprise, the thing clattering to the ground as he pushes off the wall.

"We're not done here yet, kid," he says, glaring at me. Oh, God, he's not finished, is he? "I need ta know. Ya said ya knew what was gonna happen on all the missions. So ya knew what was gonna go down on Zorya."

Yeah. We're not done. Damn it all to hell.

I nod, crossing my arms. "Yeah," I say. "And your point is...?"

"Ya just let it happen," mentions the former Blue Suns leader. "I'll have ya know Vido nearly got away. If Shepard hadn't split the group, I wouldn't have gotten 'im in time."

"I noticed," I say. "I heard about all that happened from Madison when she came off the ground team for that."

The mercenary frowns. "You're missin' my point," he replies. "Ya knew what was gonna go down there. And ya didn't try to warn me about what was gonna go down?"

...

Wait...

So he's trying to pin the fact that he almost didn't get his chance to kill Vido on _me_?

...

Oh, no, bitch. You did _not _just go there.

"Well then, let me tell you something, Massani," I say, pointing my finger right at him as I lean forward on my good leg. "If real life had been closer to the game, and Shepard had taken _two _squadmates with her instead of _four_ like she actually does, then you probably _wouldn't _have gotten your revenge. It was supposed to be either fucking or, before Shepard took four squadmates instead of two. So you better consider yourself lucky that that held true."

"Well, ya still coulda told me how Shepard coulda reacted!" says the mercenary.

"Well, much to your great chagrin, I _did _tell you that," I reply, frowning at him. "I mentioned that you should spare the innocents to be spared of her anger. But obviously, you didn't listen to that, did you?" He opens his mouth to reply, but I just keep on going. "And I'm pretty damn sure you would've just laughed in my face if I said 'and I know this because I played Shepard while you told war stories at the press of a space bar and by the way this is a Paragon Shepard you're talking about, so yeah'. So yeah, I did tell you to be careful. And did you listen? Hell no! You still endangered innocents, just like you did in the game."

"Boy, you will-!"

"I'm not fucking done yet, Zaeed!" I shout, watching his increasingly frustrated frown carefully. "There are things I am going to take responsibility for. I am going to take responsibility for lying to you about my origins. I am going to take responsibility for lying to you about knowing your history with Vido before you told me. But I am _not _going to take any fucking responsibility for any of _your _fucking choices that _you _made by yourself. Whether you want to admit it or not, what _you _did to endanger those innocents on Zorya is _not _my fucking fault. The fact that I saw them coming ahead of time does _not _excuse you from the fact that you consciously made those decisions."

"So you're tryin' to dodge the question?" asks Zaeed, his voice turning into an outright snarl that causes the hairs on my arms to stand on end.

But I'm not backing down. Oh hell no. "I'm saying that you shouldn't try to blame me for shit that clearly isn't my fault!" I reply as he comes over and stands right in front of me. And now... we're literally inches away. Oh, dear... Well, his breath smells bad, at least there's that to keep me going. "Even in the game, it was never Shepard who made things get out of hand. It was you. So don't you fucking _dare _blame me for _your _fucking choices!"

The blow comes without warning, and then I'm doubling over as I feel his fist connect with my gut. Ow! Okay, ow, that really hurt! I feel myself lean back against the wall, looking right up at the really pissed-off merc as he shakes his head. After a few seconds of looking at me with this incredibly indignant expression he turns away. He takes a step or two as I lean against the wall, my hands coming up to my stomach and the structure itself as he gives me a harsh glare.

"Ya coulda just given me answers," he says.

I frown, breathing in and out as evenly as I can with having just been punched in the gut. "You're askin'... for answers... I don't have," I say between bouts of breathing in and out. "And then... blaming me... for _your _choices..."

"Ya didn't get my questions," he says. "If you're gonna get in a twist like that... I might as well kill ya here. But I won't, 'cause Shepard likes ya. And I'm not gonna piss 'er off today. Don't come to me unless ya got a damn good reason."

I take in a deep breath as he walks away then, his fist clenching and unclenching alternately as he walks away. Heh. Here we go, starting as such good friends, and now it's come to him not letting me tell it how it is and me chewing him out on that.

Oh, whatever.

"Good fucking riddance, then," I manage to wheeze out, just soft enough that Zaeed can't hear as he rounds the corner to the ascent where we go back up to engineering.

Ow... Okay, that actually really hurt. And I can't actually fake that I'm all right after that punch... I mean, jeez, was Zaeed freaking Captain Falcon in a previous life? That was a powerful fucking punch, man! And it really fucking hurt!

Hm. I guess I better just wait it out here. Jenny or no Jenny, I'm kinda stuck on this level until I can walk again. So yeah.

Either way, fuck you, Zaeed.

Fuck you for trying to shift blame where it wasn't due.

* * *

When I finally did manage to catch my breath, I ended up moving about the parts of the ship with people that actually like me. I ended up hanging out with Kasumi for a little bit, feeling as my leg improved in terms of health. So we chatted a little bit, and then I ended up going around the ship with everyone else.

And then my cast came off the next day. Yes! I'm just glad that's over with. Now it's just a matter of making sure everything gels well with walking around the damn place, and I'll be good to go. So just be careful with what you step on. And stay the hell away from Zaeed: the last thing I need is a beatdown causing me to take damage to the leg and start the healing process all over again. I'm just thankful Zaeed hasn't mentioned anything to Shepard yet, and I'm also thankful it showed up in one place where EDI dares not show her face. So for now, I'm off the hook.

As it is, I'm walking around with a slight limp. So... I really don't want to get into a fight.

Right: note to self. Stay away from engineering. At least, until Jack comes around.

Speaking of which... Jacob went down to Aeia an hour or two ago. I guess that'll be my moment of truth. So we'll see what happens with that. Either way... I should also seek out Rael to tell him about the geth unit we'll be finding. I don't think it'll go down well with him when we find a synthetic being anywhere... So I have to warn him first. Especially since I don't want him pissed off at me for possibly omitting that detail.

But I can't do that now, because he's hanging out with Tali down in engineering. And I'd like to avoid that when there are people down there who want to kill me. I think.

Anyway... I'm in my room now, doing some composing. Yeah... the song cycle is almost finished now. The love song... turns out I just needed to fall in love with a girl, it seems. And then that takes care of itself. Now... it's just a matter of going back and looking through it for anything I might not like. But that doesn't include a whole lot, so I just go about looking through stuff, with good ol' Mime and Alberich the dwarves arguing in the back of my mind to that one part in the middle of the second act of _Siegfried_ where they shout just after Fafner gets himself killed.

So yeah, that's going full speed in the back of my mind. So yeah...

I wonder if Jacob's gotten back from-

I hear the door open, and wouldn't you know it, there's Jacob Black. I mean, Taylor.

Damn it... I need to get my names straight here...

Speak of the devil either way.

I look at him, but... Wait... No... his expression doesn't look like he's happy. But he's not distraught either. It's more like... sad-ish? I don't really know. It's hard to tell with him. He sort of just stands there, looking at me as I subconsciously save whatever progress I've made. Okay, that's taken care of...

...

"Jacob?"

This knocks him out of whatever daze he was in, and he steps into the room. The door closes behind him as he goes and sits on the bed. Well... I guess I can't say no to that, but I just cleaned those sheets, damn it! Oh, well... might as well put them through yet _another _wash cycle... as soon as I can get confirmation from EDI that Zaeed isn't down there again.

"Art," he says, shaking his head. "You were right. You were right about everything."

I nod, looking at him as I move my chair around so I'm looking at him. Ha. Told you.

But seriously, though, that's gotta suck. And now that he knows I knew about it... I hope he's all right.

I glance at him solemnly. "Jacob, are you all right?" I ask.

He nods simply. "I'm fine," he says. "The body has some catching up to do, but the father I had died ten years ago."

I see... "I take it Shepard either gave him the gun or unleashed the hunters on your father, then," I mention.

"She left him to the mercy of the hunters," replies the armory officer. Good. I'm just mad there wasn't an option to shoot the bastard yourself in the game. "It's... strange. Here I am... hoping to get some answers, and then I find all that..." And then his gaze falls on me, and for the first time I can see that he's all but hiding tears. "And then you knew about all of the answers." He shifts where he's sitting on my bed. "You knew them all, exactly down to the details."

"And you're not sure what to think," I reply.

"Exactly..." he says, looking at me with a not-harsh expression. "I... I guess if I had found out about you after, I would've asked why you didn't tell me. But knowing that you told me everything when I found out..." He shakes his head. "I just don't know what to feel. I knew all the answers, and it all unfolded like you said, but a small part of me wished I hadn't known what was waiting for me down there. I just... it's wierd, going there and seeing all these things unfold. It was like I was dreaming..."

I snort good-naturedly. "Welcome to the story of my life here," I reply with a crooked smirk. "How do you feel about it?"

"I... I don't know," he says. "I figured that if I knew everything ahead of time it would make things better. But it didn't..." He bites his lower lip then. "I guess you were right about one thing. Telling us things you know about us isn't a good thing. You don't tell, you get your ass kicked. You do tell, and we find ourselves in situations like this where we find it hard to believe that we've actually been in this situation in teh first place..."

...

No, Art, that is in extremely bad taste. And it's heavy risk, too...

But the _priiiiiiize_...

...is probably not worth it, now that I think about it.

"And they're hard for all of us," I mention.

The two of us sit there, not really saying anything. Hm... I get the feeling he wants to say something, but... but nothing is coming up apparently. I just don't know what he wants to say. I simply look at him, and finally...

Finally he speaks.

"You know, I was suspecting something was up with you for a while before I found out," he admits. "I just... wasn't expecting what finally came. I get all this build-up... and then it leads to this." He shifts. "You know that I installed some extra bugs in this room when you weren't looking."

... Zuh? "You mean those bugs that I unearthed after I took out all the Cerberus bugs..." I say, gesturing to where I had found a bug the first time I saw them reappearing. "Those weren't official Cerberus bugs?"

"No," says Jacob. "I suspected you were trying to sabotage the mission. I don't know why, but I wanted to make sure that if you were, I could prove it first."

I blink. Wha...? No, this doesn't make sense. "I'd expect that kind of 'the mission comes first' out of Miranda... but you?" I ask, frowning as I indicate him. "I... I can't even begin to tell you how out of character that would be for you! I mean, yeah, I know you're Cerberus right now, but you're certainly not a loyalist. You just latch on to whoever walks the walk and call it a day."

"I'm not so sure why I did it, looking back," admits the operative. "But I guess I was just looking out for Shepard's best interests..." I see him fidget nervously, and watch as he... cups his hands... together...

...

No.

No fucking way.

"You're not crushing on the Commander, are you?" I ask, tilting my head to the side.

Jacob glances to the side. "Maybe at one point, I was," he replies simply. "But we're just good friends now." He nods, glancing over to me. "I guess I can still watch out for a good friend in some ways. I just thought you were going to sabotage the mission somehow."

"And what brought you to that conclusion?" I ask.

"You always seemed to know more about what was happening than the rest of us," he says. "There was something... off about your body language. I definitely wasn't expecting what I eventually got, though..."

"Who would?" I ask with a shrug. "Still... I can't believe you of all people would be the one installing bugs and other listening devices into my quarters here." I shake my head, biting my lower lip while doing my best to hold back a chuckle. "I guess I'll add that to my list of 'things I never expected to encounter here'."

"Indeed," says Jacob. "I... I probably shouldn't have told the whole crew, now that I think about what I've seen..."

I shrug. "Yeah, I'm still dealing with the fallout from that," I reply. "But I know you were a little distraught at that. You feel better after having seen everything?"

"Honestly?" Jacob moves around, his feet changing positions on the floor. "I don't know. I'll have to think about this. But my head's all clear for the mission."

I nod. "And that's a good thing," I finish for him. "Good to hear. I guess you wanted to check in with me on that."

"Yeah..." he says. "And also to admit that I had been snooping on you for a while now. I... I probably should've just come out and asked you first."

"And what good would that have done?" I ask. "You know I would've just stonewalled you with that stuff, right?"

"That's true," concedes the operative. "But I shouldn't have been so subversive in how I approached trying to find information on you. It's not like me, and I shouldn't have done it."

Yeah... you shouldn't have done it, but you did anyway. But really, I can't fault you for looking out for people on the ship. "It's all right, Jacob," I say, looking at him. "You're still all right in my books."

He nods. "I guess this would be a good time to ask this," he says. "You remember when we had that conversation about vampires and werewolves?" Oh, that conversation? Yeah... I nod at this, before he blinks and crosses his arms. "What brought that about?"

Oh. Yeah, he would ask about that, wouldn't he? Well... "Since you asked..." I say, smirking. "There was this series of four novels written for teenage girls back home that isn't here in this universe. It was called _Twilight_ and it was about this girl who fell in love with a vampire, got into a love triangle that also involved a wolf... and shenanigans occurred from there." I shrug. "I don't really know about the details, nor do I care, because the series as a whole sucked. But it was massively popular with naive teenage girls, so what can you do when you start seeing it show up everywhere?"

"Is _that _where the sparkling vampire bit came from?" he asks.

Oh, dear... I put on my best embarrased face before nodding. "Yeah, it is," I say. "But anyway, they made two movies based on that piece of crap, and a third one was on the way. And anyway... the werewolf guy was called Jacob Black."

"Jacob Black?" he asks. "Really, Art? Pulling the race card at a time like this?"

...

Okay, yeah. I kinda deserved that, because let's face it, that's _part _of what got that whole association going. But still... At least let me finish!

I shake my head. "That's not the whole story," I reply, gesturing with my hands. "It gets even better. See, the guy who was going to play Jacob Black in the movies was this guy. His name was Taylor Lautner, actually..." I gesture towards him. "See? Jacob Taylor. Taylor Lautner. Jacob Black. And it gets better!" I raise my finger at this. "See, I actually sat through one of the movies. And if you're a werewolf, you're apparently contractually obligated to take your shirt off every ten or so minutes of screentime. And every time he did, the fangirls would swoon at his body. For some reason. And given that in the game you were the only romance option that ever fully took his shirt off and you probably would also make the fangirls swoon from your musculature..." I wink at him then, not caring that his expression seems shocked to the point of being aghast.

"I... uh..." he says, blinking uncertainly. And with a _lot _of discomfort on his face. "You're not... hitting on me... are you?"

...

What the fuck? Where did he get that idea?

"No!" I say, my face contorting in disbelief. "Where the hell did you-? No! No no no no no! I'm just-! No! I would-!"

Wait.

...

Oh, shit...

"Damn it all, I did _not _mean for it to come out like _that_," I reply exasperatedly. I then facepalm very quickly without actually hitting myself as I hide the shame on my face. Damn it all to fucking hell! "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit on you like that!"

"Eh, it's fine," says Jacob, giving a handwave. "I've gotten propositioned by other men before. At least it wasn't intentional on your part."

"Totally," I say, shaking my head. "Besides, Tali would probably flip if I hit on other people. So no, I totally didn't mean it that way." I blink, shaking my head as my hand then rests on my hair. "Anyway... after that bit of unintentional pick-up lines... where was I going with that?"

"Jacob Taylor Lautner?" asks the former Corsair.

Ah, there we are! "Yes, that was it," I say. "But anyway, you were a romance option in the game. And back home, you were popularly considered to be the most bland and uninteresting of the romance options in the whole game. So I couldn't help but draw parallels, you know? Because pretty much every character in the series was bland and uninteresting. So... You know?"

"I see," says Jacob, a slightly bitter edge in his voice.

I shrug. "Hey, you have your fans back there," I say. "And honestly, I don't see what the big deal is with all the dislikes you got back home. But yeah, you take off your shirt, and bam, you gain instant _Twilight _comparisons. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I think so," he says. Soon after, he springs himself from his bed, nodding as he looks at me. "Well... I'm glad we got that cleared up. I just wanted to check in with you after my mission."

"Indeed," I say, looking over to him. "Hopefully, that'll be the worst that'll happen. I'll see you around, then."

"Yes," says Jacob as he moves towards the door. Just before he exits, though, he pauses, and then turns to me.

I then see him snap up in an Alliance salute... wait, a marine is saluting someone who never got past Serviceman? Huh... that's... actually kind of invigorating. Soon after he does this, he assumes his normal posture and walks out the door.

Well... it's good to see Jacob and I are getting along again. I was honestly expecting him to be the guy that I would like better of the two Cerberus agents. But that turned out to be Miranda for some reason. So it's nice to know that he and I have some similarities. That is always a very, very nice thing to have, I think. So... yeah. Fun times are had for all.

I better get back to composing now that Jacob and I are on more or less the same page as to what he thinks of me.

* * *

Some time later, I go out to get a snack of some sort when I notice Rael'Zorah idly sitting by in the mess hall. He's mulling over a pack of nutrient paste, working all the tubes around in just the right way.

Hm... I should probably talk to him about Legion. And... since he's here, what better time than now?

I nod in his direction, and it's then that he notices me. I walk over to the table he's at in the mess, and he nods his head in appreciation.

"Ah, Art," he says, as I swing my formerly broken leg carefully. Yeah, gotta be careful with it. "Are you all right after what happened on Aite?"

Oh, dear. That again. "I've come to terms with it," I say, shifting as I sit down. "It's... tough, but at least he's safe for now. I just can't believe they tried to fuse stuff like that with someone who would have no idea about what was happening to him..."

"I cannot believe someone would think of that myself," says the quarian admiral, shifting as he connects the tube of nutrient paste to the various little fiber optic cable things that connect into his suit. "But... there we have it. I'm glad you're doing all right with it."

I nod. "I'm managing," I say with a shrug. "Speaking of which, actually... I needed to talk to you about something." I shrug, leaning in a little closer. "How are you adjusting to EDI's presence?"

"I... can tolerate EDI," he states. "I've never trusted an A.I... but I feel as if I can trust it. She has been extraordinarily helpful whenever I have required her assistance. If you are asking me if I still think it was a mistake to make her... I am still a little afraid that it may turn on us eventually. You can't just expect me to instantly like an artificial intelligence, Art. The geth kicked us out of our homeworld... and I still don't know if it is a good idea to make an artificial intelligence that can be unshackled at any time."

I blink. "Okay..." I say. "That's not what I was going to say, but that's good to know."

The quarian's expression is confused as he rears his head back. "It wasn't?" He asks.

In reply, I shake my head. "No," I reply. "I mentioned that, because there's something that's probably going to show its face soon, and I know you're not going to be happy with it. So I figured I could give you a little forewarning about it."

He blinks at this. "The unshackling of the AI?" asks Rael. "I have no qualms with that. I just suspect that it could turn on us after it gets unshackled."

I shake my head. "It's not about EDI," I say. "I just asked because by the end of this trip, EDI probably won't be the only artificial intelligence on the ship."

It's then that Rael leans back, the nutrient paste tube slowly thinning out as he looks at me. Yeah... his expression shows confusion. "What do you mean?" he asks. "Do we recruit a geth later in this mission?"

... "Well..." Oh dear... I bite my lower lip briefly before continuing. "You said it. I didn't."

In his shock, the nutrient paste nearly slides out of the tube, his hands splaying against the surface of the table as his eyes widen.

"_What_?" he asks, the shock all too apparent on his face. Oh, dear, he raised his voice.

I lean forward, doing my best to get him to keep it down as the crew all look at us. "Yeah, we get the opportunity to recruit a geth soon."

Rael shakes his head, looking at me with the surprise clear on his face. He shakes his head then, and I'm sure that if he had been drinking with water he would've done a spit take at that. "Is your commander insane?" he asks.

"Hey, we haven't actually met the unit yet," I say, holding up a finger. "Hold off on shouting that until she actually meets the thing!"

"It doesn't matter!" says the admiral. "Your commander has faced off with them before! She knows what they are capable of! She also knows it will attempt to kill organic units if she gets it!"

I hold my hand up. "Whoah, Rael, just settle down and let me explain!" I say, looking at him.

"What is there to explain?" he asks. "It's a geth!"

...

Right, his prejudices are getting in the way.

"And it's going to show you definitively that _everything _you know about the geth is a lie," I reply, holding my hand up. "We'll run into it while it's trying to help Shepard out on the derelict Reaper. Furthermore, when it's activated, it'll start talking about heretics and true geth and how the one is different from the other and all this other stuff."

"How would you know it is not lying to us to get on our good side?" asks Rael.

I blink... Oh, dear... Should I, or should I not...? No... No I really shouldn't. I'll let him see for himself. "Trust me on this, Rael," I say, looking at him. "I know what I'm saying, and I know that this geth unit won't be tray you or Tali. I've seen what it does, and what it's capable of, and not once does the geth unit try to kill you or anybody else on this ship. I'm just warning you now so you don't flip when we do bring him on board."

"And... I don't even know what I should think..." Rael shakes his head, noticing only then that the nutrient paste tube is empty. He simply shakes his head as he works at the connecting things with slightly shaky hands. "I can't believe you'll be recruiting a geth."

I shake my head. "Give it a chance," I state. "Trust me. You won't regret it for the world if you just let it explain itself."

The older quarian shakes his head. "I don't know..." he says, placing a hand on his facemask as his elbow leans against the table. "This ship will be the death of me with this much influence from an A.I. First EDI, and then a geth unit... does this ship know no sense of restraint with that?"

"Give it a chance," I repeat. "I know it's difficult, but please, at least try to understand."

The admiral looks at me with a bewildered look before he sits up. "I can't guarantee that," he says. "I mean... it's a geth! It is working for the extermination of all organic life!"

Oh, Christ... "Just trust me on this," I say. "That's all I ask."

And things are silent between the two of us for a few seconds. He stares at me, back at his hands as he removes the nutrient paste thing from his little connector things, then back at me as there are no doubt a ton of thoughts flying through his mind at the moment. Poor guy. I probably shouldn't have dumped this on him, but at the same time it's the right thing to do. I don't want him shitting bricks when Legion winds up on the Normandy, so...

"I... I don't know. But I'll take your word for it," he says, and I can tell there's a hint of defeat in his voice. "For now. But at the first sign of hostility, I will disable it without waiting for anyone to say so. Is this clear?"

... Well... it's the best I can ask for from him. Especially given what he did to the geth... "Fair enough," I say. I wait for a few seconds before raising my hand again. "Tali knows, by the way. She's known about the geth unit for a while now. She'll be giving it a chance too, so..."

"I see..." says Rael. "I... I just don't know what to..." He shakes his head, standing up. "I'll have to think about this. Much like I've been finding myself doing with everything about you as of late. We will talk later."

I nod, watching as the older quarian walks off. He now seems very perturbed about everything that he's just heard. And honestly, who the hell can blame him? He's just heard potentially earth-shattering information, and now... now that he's being asked to give it a chance. But I doubt very much he'll be able to give the thing a chance without giving in to hostilities somewhere along the line. So we'll just have to see what happens with that.

For now... I sit. And wait. And see what happens when the geth shows up.

* * *

Okay... stuff has been happening all around, and my leg is nearly healed now. I should be clear to go on the next mission, according to the doctor. That's actually a relief.

And it's also kinda surreal. This is the first time I've ever had a broken bone anywhere on my body. Here I was, expecting to miss out on the mission and get abducted by Collectors. But instead... it's gone within a week. It's wierd how broken bones work in an age where medicine is ever useful... I just feel a little wierded out by it all.

So next... we're finally off to Pragia. Thank Jesus. Jack's loyalty mission has kind of just been hanging there in limbo, waiting for Shepard to complete it. I think Jack will be relieved that we'll be heading there soon. She'll put her demons to rest, we'll be able to talk again, and everyone will be happy. I hope. There's nothing more theraputic than blowing shit up when you're trying to think about stuff, I guess. Always puts things in perspective.

So to Pragia we'll go. And hopefully, there shall be many explosions at the end of it.

As there shall be when I finish writing this thing down. Okay... blah blah blah, more words... take away a qualifier... and all that jazz. Okay. Now, we have a completed poem.

Hm... Speaking of poetry and Jack... I wonder what she's written as of late. She hasn't wanted to talk to me about that stuff, so... I can't blame her, but I miss being able to tell her to do this versus doing that because of x, y, and z, so...

Damn it. I just hope the mission goes well down there.

I suddenly hear the door whoosh open, and there... Huh? Ah... Albert Shepard.

Now there's a face I haven't seen in a while.

"Oh, hey Al," I say, waving at him. "I guess you're here to yell at me too."

"Much like the rest of your crowd of admirers," he states sardonically. I chuckle at this, and he simply files into the room, looking over at me as he nods. "I'm just curious... was I ever in the game?"

I shrug. "Hell if I know," I say. "Joc probably wouldn't have had siblings in the game. The Spacer background never really expounded on that, you know?"

Al simply nods at this, frowning. "Spacer background?" he asks.

"Oh yeah," I reply with a nod. "Shepard in the game could have one of three backgrounds. There's your background here with growing up on space ships all her life... and then she could grow up either on Mindoir or on Earth."

"Oh," says Albert, giving a slight cringe as he thinks of this. "Mindoir... I have a family friend who evacuated people for that. He became an alcoholic shortly after."

"Lieutenant Zabaleta..." I add, biting my lower lip. Yeah... that was actually a pretty depressing sidequest. "Imagine if he had rescued Joc from that instead of her being raised on ships her whole life..."

"I know what you mean," says Al. "I guess I wouldn't have survived either..." He shakes his head, biting his lower lip as he sits on the bed. "That's... really hard to think about."

"In many ways, it is," I say, pulling my legs up. "But anyway, that's enough about me. What do _you _think of it?"

Al shrugs. "Honestly, I don't know," he says. "But... I remember that you went out of your way to help Wrex back when you and Joc were still chasing Saren around the galaxy. And you tagged on to her mission in the first place, even knowing how everything was going to happen well before it did. That takes some serious thought, and... well..."

I blink. "So you're okay with it."

"In a certain sense, yes," he says. "I admit... I haven't fully forgiven you for letting Joc die. I just... Why didn't you say anything about that?"

Oh, dear. He _would _bring that up, wouldn't he? I let out a sigh. "I don't know anymore," I say. "I guess it was for the good of the populace, but that explanation is the most heartless explanation mankind ever came up with for something like that. So I don't want to use it."

"I can't blame you there," says Al. "You're a good guy at heart, always trying to help people out. Almost too nice sometimes."

I snort. "Yeah," I agree. "Remind me to tell you about the homeless guy that somehow managed to siphon 400 dollars out of my debit account back when I was still born in the nineties."

He chuckles at this, shifting where he sits. A brief silence takes a hold of the conversation, and then he points a finger at me. "You know, I wanted to ask you something when I came in here," he mentions.

I shrug. "Sure," I say. "What did you want to ask?"

"Not ask," says Al. "Just letting you know stuff. You know Joc's going to ask you to come to Pragia with Jack, Miranda, and I, right?"

...

"No, I didn't," I say. "Why?"

"I just... I wanted to let you know about that, I guess," says the younger Shepard brother. "Jack's still not happy with that little revelation about you, you know. But she'll work with you anyways."

I shrug, looking at the younger Shepard sibling. "I guess that's the best I can ask for," I say. "But I'm not making any active conversation with her, unless she really wants to know what's going on." I look to him. "When we touch down on Pragia, we won't be alone. There'll be Blood Pack there too."

Al simply lets out an annoyed sigh. "Can it ever be as simple as walking into some place and setting it to blow?" asks the infiltrator.

I shake my head, smirking. "Never," I say with a light chuckle. "The law of tension and release states otherwise." I shift in my seat. "But no... I've actually been thinking lately."

"Of what?" asks Al.

I shrug. "Oh... nothing much," I state. "There's something not very many people on this ship know. Last I checked, Shepard was in on it, though, so..."

"Does this have to do with that 'Brotherhood' she might have mentioned once?" he says.

...

She told about the existence of it, didn't she?

Well... it's not like I can fault her for that, I guess. Besides, Al is Joc's brother; he has every right to know about the existence of the Brotherhood. Even if he's not part of the Brotherhood himself. It's not like Magneto made the original Brotherhood a proverbial secret within a small group of people anyhow, so I might as well go full out.

Eh, I'll just see what he thinks. "Something within that, actually," I reply with a shrug. "See... I've been getting this dream for the past two years. It's always the same damn dream, and it's gotten extremely lucid as of late."

"Recurring dreams," says Al, rubbing his hand against his cheek. "Those usually have a meaning. Have you figured it out yet?"

I shrug. "I don't know, but whenever I'm in this dream, it's almost like I'm experiencing it as if it's actually happening," I mention. "And there's something in this dream I have to do, but I don't know what. All I know... is that it involves this briefcase with an apparatus inside. And it's got this wierd yellow button with all these needles that I guess you insert into your bloodstream."

"Like the _Inception_ briefcase?"

...

Huh?

I give Al my most confused expression, looking at him with an arched eyebrow as my mouth hangs agape. "What the hell are you talking about, Al?"

The Alliance marine simply crosses his arms. "You mean you haven't seen _Inception _yet?" he asks.

I bite my lower lip. "No..." I say, shaking my head. "I still haven't seen it. Why?"

Al shrugs. "Well..." he begins. "There's this briefcase in the movie that looks pretty similar to what you just described. It's... you still haven't seen the movie?"

"No," I say. "And the crazy thing is, if I had just waited a few months back home I would've been able to see it all right. But... I haven't even run into it here."

Al nodded, standing up. "Then I think we know what we're going to watch for vid night tonight," he says, walking towards the door. "Maybe that'll offer you some insight into what you might have to do."

Huh? I stand up as well, walking with him as we both walk out. "You mean it's still on for tonight?" I ask.

"Oh, yeah," says Al. "Come on. I'll go pick up the OSD I've got of it. I think you'll like it anyway."

Huh... So apparently I get to watch _Inception _tonight. And vid night is apparently still on.

Hm... I wonder... if it's there, and I'm here... and the tagline is right over where I first found the briefcase... And that briefcase is part of the film... is that what the dream was trying to communicate? If so... how in the name of Jesus Christ on a pikestaff did that work?

Either way... it looked very interesting, so... I'll have to see what goes down with that.

* * *

Ho. Ly. Shit.

The floor... is it...? Holy crap, he is running on the walls! And... Oh my god, Joseph Gordon-Levitt just flew up to the ceiling as if gravity was behaving strangely! Wow... And now they're in some hotel room, having it out as they fight on the wall which is now the floor and...

And the van is spinning out of control, and...

...and holy shit...

Wow. Damn, the whole thing was just... phoo. That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my whole life! In any movie! Ever! That whole sequence was just intense!

Al certainly has good taste in movies, I'll definitely give him that. This movie has done everything in a way that's nothing short of absolutely amazing. And I've been paying attention the whole way as my grip on Tali's hand has tightened at each twist and turn the story has made. I wonder what's gonna happen with Cobb's wife. And everything about the dream world here is just awesome. I mean, subconscious projections that attack you, Penrose steps... all those things... It's just... man, oh man.

And of course, as I'm sitting there, I see the briefcase exactly as I see it in my dreams. And... I think I may understand its function. Now... it takes someone down a dream level, so that it becomes a dream within a dream. And of course, now we're talking about a dream within a dream within another dream. Why do I get the snaking feeling that it's going to go down a dream level before this whole thing is done?

Maybe... maybe that's it. I wonder...

The Fade is supposed to be like a shared dreamspace in the Dragon Age universe. If it exists here, and I'm not there right away... then maybe that's what the briefcase is doing in my dream. Though how the hell Orange knew about the briefcase and what it does is beyond me, but hey, it's an explanation. Maybe... maybe I have to keep on working with dreams within dreams until I eventually hit the Fade. And when I hit the Fade, there'll be something there waiting for me.

I see...

Yeah, I think I understand what the briefcase is for now.

As I sit there and watch Yusuf drive the van backwards and off the bridge, I think about the briefcase in my dream.

I know what I have to do now.


	41. Chapter 39

_A/N: All right. I imagine many of you have been waiting for this chapter for a while. Why?_

_It's because this is the chapter in which we finally get some answers about what the hell is going on with Orange and all those other things. So yes, you finally get some information about that._

_Take heart, though. The events of this chapter won't be anywhere near as confusing as they were in Inception. You'll see why when we get there._

_Oh, and since certain things show up in this chapter... I'll give a disclaimer here._

_Dragon Age does not belong to me: it belongs to the guys at Bioware Edmonton. Similarly, I do not own anything from the God of War franchise: that belongs to the guys at Sony and Redwood Studios. So yeah, crazy times shall be had with that. And lastly, I do not own Inception: it belongs to Chris Nolan and the guys at Warner Brothers._

_Let's get going with the chapter, shall we?_

* * *

Chapter 39: The Ritual

"Art?"

I look up at Tali from my desk. Okay... Yeah, this probably looks wierd.

"Hey, Tali," I say, tilting my head towards the bed. "I'll join you in a minute. I just have to finish something up here."

"What exactly are you doing?" she asks.

I nod to her, pointing something at her. It's the little tool with which I've been boring into a spare piece of rosin I haven't needed to use since I got it. Ironic how it might prove its usefulness now. But... chiseling away at it so that there is something only I would know about is proving to be pretty crazy. So...

"Making myself a totem," I say, going back to work on it. "Tali... you know that briefcase with that device in that movie we were watching?"

"Yeah," says Tali. "What about it?"

"This may seem preposterous to you, but that briefcase has been showing up in my dreams," I say, my thumb gracing along the once-smooth surface of the rosin which has been roughed out incredibly by me chiselling at it for the past ten minutes. "So I think I may have to do something."

"I... I see," says Tali as I nod, satisfied at the chiselling I've done on top. Okay... I place the piece of rosin on the desk, grabbing the thermal clip I'll be using as a hammer as I bring the little tool up to bear with the bottom of the rosin. Okay... "You think it'll work?"

I nod, and then bring the thermal clip down lightly on the piece of rosin. I hammer at it until I see a crack show up from the bottom that stops midway through. Okay... I put down my tools, feeling the crack there. All right, that thing will not be showing up there if I'm in a dream.

"Here's hoping it will," I reply with a shrug.

* * *

_Okay... Let's do this._

_I'm now in the wierd corridor of the dream I've been having for the past two years. I'll call this the apartment level to help me keep track of where I am. Though... I think I should be fine now that I have a totem with me. It can't help me keep track of stuff in this first level, but hey, what can a man do?_

_Okay... I think I know the drill here. I walk down the corridor, get the key from the wierd night table thing at the beginning, outrun the mob just as I get to the door, enter the room, and do stuff. Step six: profit!_

_Right. Let's get going then._

_I walk down the corridor quickly, the key in hand as I feel gravity pull at me. This is actually kind a wierd, how lucid this dream is. Also wierd is what Orange was doing with knowing how the briefcase looked. There's no way that's coincidence, so... I'm promptly asking about it later. Either way, I finally know what it does, so here's hoping we can make it fast._

_I move down the corridor, and before I know it I'm almost at the door. Okay... mind the mob... I hear them come up behind me, but really, does any man with a purpose keep track of that stuff? By now it's just a mild inconvenience. You open the door, stare at them for a second, and then slam it in their face. Right._

_And I do all that._

_Wow... this is turning into a breeze now that I'm in the apartment. So yeah. Let's investigate further, shall we?_

_I enter the apartment, going up to the loft. Going to the drawers, I open them and see the silver briefcase there. Okay... There it is. I have to inject those needle things into my wrist, lay down somewhere, push the button, and before I know it I'll be in a dream within a dream. Hopefully I won't be doing any gravitational pyrotechnics the way Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character was for half the movie. Hopefully, it'll be more like the snow level, where the weather is only reasonable._

_Good thing I didn't drink champagne before going under._

_I pull the case out then and place it on the bed. I open up the device slowly, seeing the intravenous needles. Okay. I take a hold of one of them, looking at the little velcro fasten. Slowly, I watch for the vein on my wrist as I bring it closer. Okay... Damn it, I hate the fact that I don't like needles, but this is something I have to do. Besides, it's not like needles are the worst thing in the world. I got used to them from going on Acutane for so long. Shame I couldn't give blood while I was on that. I would've liked to donate blood while I was still in high school. Okay... into the wrist the needle goes..._

_There. I then grab the velcro thing and wrap it around my wrist. Okay, that should keep it in place. Okay... Now I just have to lay down somewhere... The bed._

_I move the briefcase so it's facing me, and lay down on the bed. All right... I move so that my left hand is lingering over the yellow button. Okay... this is it. Once I hit this button, there's no going back. And when there's no going back... things will spiral out of my control from there._

_Just accept it and move on._

_Okay. I'll see you on the other side, mind._

_With this, my hand depresses on the yellow button. I lay my arms out over my body, and look up, the drowziness setting in..._

* * *

And before I realize what else has happened, I feel a cold wind fly against my bodies.

Huh... I open my eyes, and then...

Okay. I'm standing in a boat. And we're in a sea surrounded by darkness. And off in the distance, I can see little lights... And they're sort of going off... Huh?

I walk to the edge of the boat I'm on, finding it to be incredibly spacious. Huh...? Holy shit! It's almost like the Pirates of the Carribean ride back in Disney World or something like that. And it's exactly the way it used to show up in my little boy dreams. It gives minor illumination, but... this can't be enough... But I can see everything, and the light even shows what I guess are subconscious projections of anamatronics doing their thing...

So I'm here on this boat... looks mechanical or something.

Wait. What's the boat I'm standing in? I move around to the edge, peering over and feeling the boat rock slightly under my movements. I peer below, and then see... yellow on the side of it.

Wait... Yellow...

I follow the yellow stripe over as I make my way to the engine... and sure enough, there on the back of the boat just next to the jet propulsion engine is a sticker of Bumblebee. No, not the insect. The guy from the Transformers franchise. Mostly the Michael Bay Transformers, actually.

This... Oh dear.

I've gone from Boston to this place in the space of a second in the boat my parents got for my younger brother's enjoyment.

Apparently, my dream space has a twisted sense of humor, given the timing of all this.

Okay... this isn't the Fade yet... or Limbo, for that matter, now that I think about it. So I have to go deeper. Meaning that there's another briefcase around here somewhere that's waiting for me to go find it. And find it I shall.

Right. I think I need to stop dwelling on that. There's this darkness around here... And as I look behind me, there's only impenetrable darkness and what sounds like rushing water. Okay, so I don't want to go in that direction.

So therefore, the only thing left to do is move forward. Okay... I move along the boat... Okay... gotta find the thing... I move along, feeling for the keys. Where are those keys... Where-?

Ah. Here we are. And already put into the keyhole. All right. Excellent things are had with that. I turn the keys, and everything starts up. I hear the engine whirr behind me, and I look forward as I see the headlights come forward. They shine into the water... which looks appropriately murky from here. But not in the way I'd expect, oh no... I see all this wierd marine wildlife in there. Like... there's a shark... and a manatee... and a piranha, and- wait.

What the hell?

I lean over the driver's wheel... Holy shit, there are piranhas in the water!

Well... I guess I know how I'm going to kill myself in this level to climb back up the dream. I'll bet that death by a whole group of carnivorous fish is excruciatingly painful.

Ooh. Makes me feel uncomfortable just thinking about it. I sit back, feeling a shiver travel up my arms as I move my hands to the thruster sticks. Okay... let's move.

I push forward slightly, enough to get the boat moving forward, but not enough to stir up a wake. There is wildlife down below, after all. And if there's a lot of wildlife, you're probably better off producing no wake on your boat.

That much, I know at least. It's been forever since I've taken the test for the Florida Boater's license, after all. And also, because it was taken for a class that I don't think had any business teaching us how to drive a friggin' boat, but hey. Personally, I would rather have gotten certified for CPR in that time than when we did it later in the year.

Yeah... I think too much. Especially when I'm at the wheel. And I could definitely do without the distraction. I should keep moving, find where I'm supposed to go and all that other jazz...

So... I move on, looking at the various displays of light. They play off the brown rocks of the cave almost like a light show... and with this I turn the boat according to the contour of the cave walls.

I soon see a sign creeping out of the darkness, and then... Huh? Okay... that's the kind of sign I would expect to see in the Keys, not here. Maybe...

No, don't be silly. It's a friggin' cave. Unless it's in Central America or something, it's not likely to be that tropical! Don't be silly.

I better just get going before my thoughts get the better of me.

So I continue driving through the cave, looking at some other lights around here. Wow... the lights are actually colored. That's pretty strange, but welcome if we're talking about Pirates of the Carribean style caves here. I guess I'd be shit out of luck if it was those kinds of theme park boats, though. It would suck to sit there only to not move an inch without the help of mechanical things stuck on waypoints along the track, as well as various drops and stuff.

Great... and now I'm thinking about Splash Mountain. Damn it Art, focus!

Okay... I see more things. And the light is getting slightly more intense and more colorful. Okay... that means I can get going now. I rev up the engine slightly, and before long I'm piloting the boat at a very fast rate. And as soon as I do this, the darkness gets less constricting.

And then... I see something wierd. I see a bunch of condos with a small little rock beach and a dock. And some of the condos have hurricane shutters on them despite the fact that the entire place is kept under the cover of darkness. And the projections there are all in swimsuits... And they're...

They're doing Keysian things...

No way. This can't be that area in the Florida Keys that we got just before I wound up here! No way!

I bring the boat in closer... Wait... some of them are in swimsuits... and there are a few palm trees growing even despite the darkness... So yes... Yes, this is some kind of cavey version of Islamorada! No way! I thought... No, this is just too flippin' radical! Or wierd. Whichever one it is, this is one hell of a wierd dream level. And the colors around the condo buildings... they're nothing short of a holy shit factor. It's a light blue that seems to shine from beneath the floor... Almost like the Blue Grotto over in Anacapri. Damn...

But hey, familiarity is welcome. So I'll take what I can get with this.

I bring the boat up to bear... Okay, so if I need to go up, I can always drown myself. Now, whether I'll have the nuts to do so... that's an entirely different story. But... we know how it is. Okay... boat is in the dock... Better tie this bitch up.

Grabbing some rope from the sides then, I walk over to where the posts would be... Okay, yeah, they're here. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I really was back home. I mean... I'm sure I started on the boat, right?

...

I better check my totem.

I fish into my pocket, surprised suddenly when I feel a different material of pants than I did when I was in the dream space. Huh... I look down, and then realize exactly what it is.

Oh, boy. I'm wearing some kind of robe right now. No doubt to shield me from the cold; seriously, this cave is damn cold. I never would've believed it would be so damn cold right now, but hey, what can I do? At least I'm wearing suitable clothing. My dream sure knows how to pick out my wardrobe for me.

...

What was I doing?

Oh yeah, the totem. I feel it up, and there's the piece of rosin. Okay... look for cracks, look for cracks...

I find none along the bottom. Also, all the ones at the top are more or less symmetrical.

Okay, so I'm definitely still dreaming. That's what I thought.

Anyway... Let's get moving.

I tie up the boat pretty quickly, and then step off. It's a fairly long walk back, so I might as well chill and look around. Everything... looks more or less the same, only covered in a slight layer of fog. All the buildings are in the right place... the tennis court is over there... the street goes that way... Hm, the subconscious projections seem to be very, very disinterested in what I'm doing. Or what the marine wildlife is doing, given that some of them are in the water and not screaming in agony as they get eaten by piranhas and sharks and whatever else is in there. Most of them are just milling about like it's just a random day at the office. I suspect if I had someone else in my dream with me, that would completely change, though... But they're all going about, in their various Keys wear doing various Keysey things...

Keysey things. I can't believe I just fucking said that.

Well, not much I can do about that, I'm afraid. So...

And before long... we're here.

Okay. Always in front of that stuff. Excellent. We still hadn't really decorated the area, but... this is the right place, for sure. Okay... I never had a key for this place, but... knowing my luck so far the door will probably be unlocked. So... We'll see about that as I walk to the door, test the lock...

...and find that it's unlocked.

Good.

I enter then, looking around. All right, we're in that little property we were in at the Keys. All was good here, I think. So... Yeah. What to do... what to do... I enter, looking at the small little kitchen we kept. Okay... There's the TV over in the living room... and beyond that, the dining table. And next to the rack of fishing poles I don't think we ever used, there's that spiral staircase... And up the spiral staircase are going to be two of the rooms...

Yeah, I think the briefcase for the next level might be there. I nod, looking up at the staircase as I ascend it. Pretty light for a dream, but then the lights are on, so there's not much reason to complain about that.

Okay... so climb up the stairs. Hm... I'll bet anything it's in the master bedroom. Yeah... It's gotta be there. So let's move it. I walk to my left upon exiting the stairway then, and walk forward to the closed door of the master bedroom. Okay... I open the door, and there's the bed and everything as it should be. Okay... And the TV is off to the side... and the little loft...

It's on the loft.

I glance behind me, seeing the moveable ladder there... Okay... I climb up that, and sure enough, there's the briefcase lying out in the open for me to look at. Okay... that briefcase is good to go... I get up onto the loft, pulling it towards me as I bite my lower lip. Okay... That's always a good thing.

So I've found the briefcase. And when I find a briefcase, it means we get to go down another level of the dream. Fun. I wonder how unstable my dreams can get, but of course that's assuming they don't already have Yusuf's compound in these cases. Except that I'm also not taking people with me into my dream, so that would add some stability to my dreams, wouldn't it? Yeah... One would think it would. Especially since there's not that much influence up in the apartment level.

Speaking of which... as I climb down, I just realized something. I need to come up with a name for this level. So... Hm... For some reason, I keep thinking about Cave Story when I think about this cave...

I guess I'll just call it the cave level, then.

I step off the ladder as I think this, and then open the briefcase. Okay... it's the same old procedure here as it was before... inject the thing into your wrist... wrap the velcro band around it... lay down... and press butan.

Step five: more profit!

So I do all this, my hand lingering on the button. Hm... This thing is taking me on a massive trip down memory lane, now that I think about it. Maybe the next place will be another thing from my past? I wouldn't put it past them at this point... But what? They've already gone through my apartment in Boston, and this place here... So where does that leave us...?

Hm... I guess I'll find out.

I press the button again, and feel myself drift off a second time...

* * *

**And now it's a dream within a dream also within a dream. I wonder what-**

**Whoah! Holy shit!**

**When I was thinking about stuff I could recognize from my past, this is _not _what I had in mind!**

**I'm standing here, and the landscape around me looks like I got dropped directly into a game for the Nintendo 64. Like, it literally looks like it would on that system. But not just any game, oh no. This happens to have trees, a small little landscape, and a castle at the far end of it. And it just so happens that the castle has a certain blonde princess in stained glass proudly displayed on the front of it. Oh, yeah, and the moat. Let's not forget the moat.**

**I look behind me then... If my prediction is correct...**

**Yes. There is a warp pipe behind me, the green thing sticking out.**

**This is the furthest from Kansas I think I'll ever get.**

**I shake my head, and begin walking towards the castle. Jeez... I go from the Normandy in the real world to my apartment at the end of a wierd-ass corridor in the apartment level to the really wierd waterways of the cave level. So now that I'm in a level apparently inspired by _Super Mario 64_, things just got a hell of a lot wierder. But hey, it is a place I recognize from my youth, and really, that's better than nothing. So we'll see what happens when we go out and do stuff.**

**Okay. Let's move.**

**I reach the bridge to the castle after following the little dirt pathway that I could've just skipped in favor of some platforming hijinks. Yeah... The moat is still there, and it looks as shallow as it did when Mario last treaded here. Hm... It's around here that the Lakitu camera guy would show up and explain his role as the game's camera. Well... it's more like when we get to the center of the bridge, but I best not dwell on the particulars.**

**Because hey, it's been _years_ since that old N64 that was at Pupa's house broke down.**

**Okay... so if I remember correctly... through the double doors is the hub area of the game. And that had all these doors, either to random paintings that led to the next level, or trapped corridors that led to the next level. Either way, there was a hell of a lot of level hopping to be had. Ah, such was the classic N64 platformer: you go around a hub area and find stuff, find the next level and find the star or the golden banana or the jiggie, use that to unlock a new level, rinse and repeat, and then final boss. Of course, I was never actually good enough to get to the final boss, but hey, it's the journey that counts, and it was one hell of an entertaining journey.**

**I just wish I had known how the fuck I was supposed to free Tiny Kong in _Donkey Kong 64 _before the damn system broke down.**

**Ah, well. That's musing that can be solved by an extranet search. For now...**

**I open the double doors... and find myself somewhere completely different. Okay...**

**The interior of this iteration of Peach's castle looks less... Mario-ish than I remember. Actually, make that not at all like Mario. So the architecture is wierd, all strange... and the projections all look like anime guys. And there's this guy in the corner with long flaming red hair and...**

**...and a pink shirt thing.**

**...**

**Zelos?**

**Okay... so now in addition to finding myself in Peach's Castle, the damn interior of it is the same as the interior of the castle that was on Tethe'alla. So I've gone from an N64 platformer to a Gamecube JRPG in the span of two seconds. Said Gamecube RPG just so happens to be _Tales of Symphonia_, too. So how the hell I jumped across two publishers are beyond me.**

**Dreams. Are. WIEEEEERD!**

**Also, is it me, or is it more than a bit windy in here? Eh, I did always think my copy of _Tales _was cursed. In really, really bad ways.**

**Hm... Well... I don't really know what's going to happen next, so... I might as well figure out where to go from here.**

**With this, I enter the castle, the double doors closing behind me as I enter. Huh... Everything's more or less how I remember it. The NPC's are more or less in place, the throne is... gone, mysteriously, but I'll bet I'll find it somewhere else... and there's not that much else I need to take note of. Okay... Hm... There were a lot of doors here, though. I guess I better start with the one that goes to the princess' bedroom. Yeah, that would be a good idea.**

**I walk up a long flight of stairs, glancing all around me at the light. Hm... Light is pretty prominent around here. As is the cel shading of everyone in the area. It all looks strangely anime-esque from where I stand, and honestly, that's a good thing. Gives me a wierd sense of grounding. Okay...**

**So... I look over to the large doors as I reach the top of the stairs. That's where the princess would be. But if the last door was anything like this one... this one will lead to a completely different place from here.**

**So I glance back at the projection of everyone's favorite pervert. Or not. Heh, everyone's favorite pervert. And now I'm imagining him trying to meet the crew of the Normandy. I imagine he'd piss off every girl on that ship, but Jack? Oh, now she would just tear him apart with her biotics. And poor Zelos would be laughed at by Sheena. Well... at least someone would have the balls to tear him apart. Especially after that fucking betrayal that came towards the end of the game. Damn it all to hell, Zelos!**

**Anyway... where was I going with that? Oh yeah.**

**Going into the room.**

**I look at the doors then, moving quickly. Okay... these doors will lead somewhere... and I have to trust where they will take me. And they will take me to someplace good. My hand hovers over the door... wow, I forgot how futuristic Tethe'alla was when compared to Sylvarant. Sylvarant's chosens kept on dying off for quite a while, didn't they? Bloody Mithos, almost destroying the world to resurrect his sister. That doesn't help anyone, you know.**

**Anyway... I better see what's behind this door.**

**I press into the door, and then it slides open...**

**...**

**And apparently, we're now in the Brecilian Forest. More specifically, that area in the abandoned temple where we found the Lady of the Forest and all those bloody werewolves.**

**Okay, so we've gone from _Super Mario 64 _through _Tales of Symphonia _before finally winding up in _Dragon Age_.**

**I reiterate: dreams are freakin' wierd.**

**So then I walk into the foresty area where the werewolves would be (and where the fight with Zathrian would be if we brought him down here and tried to get him to break the curse), and... well, lo and behold, there's the suitcase, right where the Lady of the Forest would be standing in our first meeting! Yeah... I nod, walking forward and hearing the crunch of the leaves and roots under my feet.**

**Wow... this place is very... naturey. Or something. Either way, we go around doing stuff. I look over there. Hm... That's where Arthur stood whittling away at Zathrian's health. And also where Zevran was probably sneaking up behind him. Ah, Arthur and Zevran. Now that was an interesting romance track. That's quite an offer, especially coming from another man. Unless, of course, you and I are thinking of the same thing.**

**And I suspect we are.**

**Hm. I'm getting all these fond memories of all this gaming back home. And here I was, just learning how to embrace it before I came here. Well... I don't regret a minute of this, now that I think about it.**

**Yeah...**

**I should shut up and deal with the dream case.**

**I walk up to the silver briefcase, lifting it up and opening it. Okay... there's the yellow button, and there's everything else... Okay. Now... where to lay down?**

**Hm... Well, the floor itself isn't a particularly bad place. But then... that leaves the question of how I'm going to kill myself...**

**Wait. There's the moat, and I could drown in that... but that would take to long. Maybe... Maybe I could steal the sword from Zelos. Yeah, and then I stab myself in the heart. It'll be hella painful and really difficult to do on the first try, but hey, what can a man do, you know? I just gotta ride it out and hope for the best in this case.**

**So I do the whole intravenous injection thing, laying down on the ground with my head against a stray root, and placing the briefcase next to me.**

**Okay.**

**Step four: profit!**

**So... the first level is the apartment level... the second is the cave level... and so I shall dub this the video game world level. With all sorts of wierd shit going down. Seriously, if someone came running in with friggin' Einherjar at the moment, I wouldn't actually be that surprised.**

**I know the drill quite well by now... so my hand hovers over the button.**

**And this next level... That's where Limbo would be if this was _Inception_. Seeing as how it's not, though... will I be in Limbo? Or will the Fade take the place of Limbo, thus meaning that this next level of dreaming is going to be the last possible level I can reach? And how will each look. Will Limbo look more like the Fade than it did in _Inception_? Or will it work in the vice-versa kind of way?**

**Hm... I guess I better find out.**

**With this, my finger depresses on the button, and I feel myself drift off again.**

**Well... here's to finding out what waits below...**

* * *

I open my eyes slowly, staring up into a brown sky.

Okay. So already, we're talking about being stuck in the Fade. Excellent.

I sit up then, looking at my surroundings. Yep, this is the Fade, all right. The whole thing is so brown it really can't be any place else. And it's also so damn surreal, just like it was in _Dragon Age_. Yeah... there are all the winding pieces of land, all of them floating around in this wierd void of spinning somethings. And on some of them... pieces of architecture. And they're always surreal down here, since they can get away with impossible structures down here. I also see a few floating doors in some places, and there are all these wierd trees everywhere.

Hm... If I didn't know any better, I'd say the guys at Bioware have some sort of all-seeing mystical eye that lets them do anything. So long as they sing it, of course.

But then, this isn't grand opera, so I can't help it there.

I stand up shortly after, feeling the strange tingly feeling on my skin only then. Huh. This... is kinda strange. Is this how any Warden would feel when being plopped into the Fade midway through that quest in the Circle Tower? Yeah... Fucking Uldred, summoning a sloth demon and making our lives difficult.

Hm... So if this is the Fade... usually, there is something I need in the Fade.

So where should I go...?

I turn then, noticing that I'm at the top of a small little something. Okay... winding path down... yeah. And then there are a whole bunch of portals at the bottom of the piece of land I'm on. So the question is... which one do I take?

Hm... Would I run into anything here? I mean, this is where spirits and demons would hang out in _Dragon Age_, so if it happened here I wouldn't really mind all that much. But... think about it...

Would there be anyone to help me here?

I glance to my left first to see nobody there... Hm... It's almost like the plot is demanding that I don't look in a certain direction. Maybe there's someone to my-

Yep. There is someone to my right. And he looks familiar.

Almost to the point that I want to punch him in the face. Silver armor, black hair, those wildish eyes... and that face. That really angular face.

...

"What the hell is Teryn Loghain doing in my dream?"

The man pushes off of a wierd tree he was leaning against, nodding as he nods. "Well, you're here," he says with a nod. This is all very bloody strange if you ask me."

Oh, dear. I get to deal with _three _people that Simon Templeman voiced now. If there's a fourth person I haven't really gotten in with yet, I'm going to throw a fit in which I shall tear my hair out. Though... admittedly, British accents have always been awesome, so I may not. But still, why did he have to come here in the Fade in the form that makes me most want to punch him. I mean, seriously. I hated Teryn Loghain! He was a freaking nutcase, and unapologetic about it to boot!

"I know," I say, shrugging. "I know that technically, I'm in a shared dreamspace, though."

"It's not just a dream," says Loghain. "I'm dead, you know. It's also an afterlife."

I nod. "I kinda figured that," I say. "So how'd you die?"

"I got myself killed by Teryn Cousland's boy," he says, shaking his head. "Arthur Cousland, his name was."

Huh? I raise my eyebrow. "Hey, that was _my _Warden!" I exclaim, pointing at myself. "I guess he made no secret of the fact that he fell in love with the man that Rendon Howe hired to assassinate him."

"So I heard," says the teryn, a smirk appearing on his face. "I still think the Orlesians would have-"

Oh, God damn it, not _this _again! "No!" I shout, raising my finger at him. "The words 'Orlesian', 'Blight', 'invasion', and any variation therein of those words that appear in the same sentence will _not_ come out of your mouth while I'm here, or so help me God you _will _be nursing a bloody nose for the rest of the time I'm there!"

Loghain frowns at this. "And you think you can just get away with punching me in the face?" he asks.

"Yes!" I say, shaking my head at the Teryn. "Because I can't fucking _stand _it when you go on about the Orlesians and how they were going to invade on the heels of the Blight. There was no such thing going on, damn it! And I also didn't like how you went on and on about how you could defeate a Blight without a Grey Warden there."

"And you were expecting me to know that a Grey Warden's soul ends up in a conflict with an archdemon's soul that destroys both?" asks the teryn. "I could not have known, and you forget that I fought against Orlesians to free Ferelden. It was damn painful sometimes, too..."

"Talk it up all you want," I say, crossing my arms. "I still don't like your madness."

Loghain shakes his head. "Orange was right, it seems," he says. "You can be very unreasonably hostile to people you don't like."

"Yeah, because some people kind of-"

Hey, wait a minute.

"Wait, what was that you said about Orange?" I ask.

The teryn shrugs, walking towards me. "Orange has been inhabiting this piece of the Fade for a long time, and I've been inhabiting it for most of it," he mentions. Huh...? "She's stayed in place, waiting for someone to come and find that object you found. Orange... That may just be the single most absurd name anyone has ever given to what she calls a Prothean I've ever heard. I can't believe she let you give her a name. You!"

"Hey, it makes sense in context," I reply, frowning. "And what the hell do you mean, this piece of the Fade?"

"There is so much more at work here than you could possibly imagine," says Loghain. "Even within the Fade itself." He begins to pace around. "We thought the Circle of Magi knew everything about the Fade. Well... it turns out there's a lot I do not think anyone would understand. I don't understand much of it, but Orange tells me you would be able to understand."

"I see..." I say, uncrossing my arms. "What exactly does this entail?"

"Orange has asked to explain it to you," says Loghain. "I'm here to lead you to her as she refuses to leave her patch of the Fade. She may not be able to find her way back."

"Oh..." Well... I... Yeah, I was unecessarily hostile to my guide, wasn't I? "I see..."

"I feel she should've given me a little more warning about how hostile you can get," he says. "I was not expecting you to threaten to punch me in the face at saying the word Orlesian. I'm almost certain I did nothing to deserve that strong a threat apart from being blind to the Blight."

I blink, letting out a sigh as I shake my head. "She hasn't seen me _really _hate someone," I say. "Trust me. Sometimes I get so hung up on people that annoy the hell out of me that I sometimes feel I'm overdoing it, you know?" I point to him. "Just like you get so hung up on the Orlesians you can't think of anything else."

He nods. "True," he says. "I will admit I was blind to the Blight. But still, you should not hate me for it."

"I don't hate you for that, so much as that you were unapologetic about it most of the time," I say. "Anyway... I guess we should go see Orange now."

"Yes," says Loghain, walking towards the start of the winding path. "Follow me, and follow me exactly. It can be very easy to get lost in this place."

With this, I look at the teryn, blinking in surprise. I don't say much else after that, though, for then I walk over to where he is. And then the two of us are walking with me slightly behind Loghain. We both move along, and I find my eyes wandering around the place looking at everything else the Fade has to offer.

* * *

Wow... the Fade is a very confusing place. Loghain has been doing a pretty good job of leading me around, which I wasn't expecting out of someone who so willingly backstabbed Cailan for what essentially amounts to a thin excuse. Either way... I guess he hasn't tried to kill me yet. Not that it would do much down here, and I'm sure he knows that just as well as I do, but still, it says something about him that he's not doing it even when I treaten him with physical harm. So... yeah. I dunno.

I just wish it could've been someone else leading me there.

We move around in between portals, the nobleman of Ferelden continuing to walk. Hm...

"Hey, can I ask you something?" I ask.

"What?" says Loghain. "What is it?"

I cross my arms as I move forward. "You knew king Maric when you were fighting Orlais," I mention. "I've always been curious... what was he like?"

Loghain continues moving on, but there's something... nostalgic about the way he's waving his arms in gestures. "He was... a good man," he begins. "Noble, and he always looked out for those he was watching over as king. He was also a kind person. Sometimes, I would have said that he was too kind, but in the end that didn't matter."

"He sounds like the kind of man I would like to be around," I say. "Except I'd tell him to hold on to his purse."

"That's... not too far from what I would have said, actually" says Loghain.

Oh, really? Wow... that's actually kinda funny. "I see," I say. "You know... I think you did bad getting Rendon Howe on your side. And for more than the obvious stuff."

"Why do you say that?" asks Loghain.

I shrug. "Well... he was voiced by Tim Curry," I mention, giving him a hand gesture. "And back home, he was a really well-known character actor who tended to voice villains. So there's that bit as well."

"You do get hung up on the sounds of people's voices," mentions the teryn.

Well... Yeah, I totally do, but hey. I shrug, watching as we walk over to a portal. "You learn to get particularly genre savvy when you're as into the kind of things I'm into as I am," I mention. "You know what I mean."

We stop in front of another portal, Loghain turning to me as he gestures to the next portal with a tilt of his head. "Not really," he says. "We have more pressing matters, though. This portal will take us straight to Orange."

I raise an eyebrow at this, leaning slightly on my right foot. "Really?" I ask. "That's all the journeying we have to do?"

"More or less," says Loghain. "Come on. She's been waiting for a long time."

With this, Loghain enters the portal.

She's been waiting for...?

Does that mean... she's been hanging out here for a while now? I... I'm not sure what to say to that. It's kinda creepy on the one hand, but on the other? She must have migrated here when I found the paperweight. Though why she only spoke to me at the Conduit on Ilos, only she can tell me.

Well... I guess it's time to finally meet this voice I've been hearing from the paperweight.

I take a deep breath, and step in through the portal.

Here goes nothing.

I enter the portal, and then feel myself whisked very far away. When I finally find myself not moving again, I see Loghain standing a very short distance away. When I show up, he nods, and then gestures out behind him. He then moves forward, moving out of my field of vision...

...

And... Orange isn't the only one here, apparently. For... there's an asari and a turian. But they're not just any asari or turian. The one... the asari has that wierd headdress thing that I remember from the last time I saw her, as well as that black dress that's impractical for combat. The turian on the other hand... he's got that white skeleton thing, but also... his fringe is a bit wierd. And his mandibles are a bit wide. And... and it looks like there should be cybernetics somewhere, possibly even an artificial arm. And then there's the second human here... who's body is white. Not peach-white, but white-white, like ashes have been bound to his skin. Or something. Either way... there's no mistaking that red lighting bolt over his eye.

So... down in the Fade with Orange are Saren and Benezia, as well as Kratos from the _God of War _franchise.

Okay, the first two I can understand, but Kratos? What the hell is he doing there? This... this doesn't make as much sense as I want it to! Okay, so he apparently died after that cliffhanger at the end of GoW 3, but what the fuck is he doing here? I don't fucking get this shit!

Wait... why didn't you freak out about Loghain being there? If you didn't freak out about him, then Kratos showing up really _shouldn't _be that big a deal. Well... unless he tries to gut me. Note to self: don't piss off the perpetually scowling Greek guy more than he usually is.

Anyway. There, I also see an insectoid being standing there. It's almost like a Collector, but different somehow. I attribute it to the fact that its eyes aren't glowing ominously and that it actually has some form of mouth. Somehow... it looks more real than a Collector, but I'm not sure if it's the dream talking or the fact that the Reapers toyed enough with the protheans to turn them into the Collectors. And there she is, sitting on a throne-like tree thing with the other three at her side.

Loghain approaches her first, and bows in front of her. I stand behind, watching as her eyes drift from me to Loghain. As soon as he stands up, her eyes fall on me. And suddenly, I find my muscles freezing in place, not from fear, but from reverence.

"Keeper," she states simply, her voice grand and deep. "We meet at last."

I nod, daring not to take a step forward. Somehow, that just doesn't seem respectful. "I... wasn't expecting to actually see you in person, I'll admit," I say. "You sure picked out a nice place for yourself. I think." I glance to the side. "I know the Fade isn't all that glamorous, to be honest."

"It is not glamorous, no," agrees the prothean. "But it is what I have. I have been confined to this realm for over fifty millenia. It is good to be able to converse with a living person again."

I glance to the side at the angry Greek guy before turning back to Orange. "Well... you certainly aren't alone right now," I mention. "You picked up some very intersting company."

"Very interesting is... putting it lightly, I think," mentions Benezia as she glances to the others. "It is good to see you again, Art."

I first turn to Benezia, nodding to the matriarch as I bite my lower lip. "Yeah... I wasn't expecting to see you again," I say. "Or Saren, for that matter. And I definitely wasn't betting on seeing angry Greek men here." I turn to Kratos. "Uh... no offense, of course. Because you're cool. And all." Even when you're slaughtering people that have absolutely no business being slaughtered in the first place.

He simply huffs loudly, crossing his arms. "You would be glad that Orange has good persuasion skills," says the former god of war. "You would not be worthy of the glory of Sparta."

Oh, God, is that all he _ever _talks about? I mean, jeez! It's like all he's got in his mind are revenge and glory. Did Ares _really _do that good a job of fucking him up? "Sure, whatever," I say, waving my arm as I shake my head. I turn my attention back to Orange. "Loghain mentioned on the way here that you had something you needed to talk to me about."

"Ah, yes," says the prothean as she stands up from her throne of warped wood. She takes steps towards me, and it's only then that I notice the grace inherent in her posture. "I have no doubt you have many questions."

I nod. "Many questions is kind of understating it," I mention.

"You may be right, keeper," replies the Prothean. "There is much to discuss, now that we have met in person. Or... in the Fade, rather. Let us take a stroll, and I shall explain."

Oh, boy. Looks like it's time for exposition. "All right," I say, finally finding my muscles cooperating with stepping towards her. "So... What is it that we're talking about, exactly?"

"Many things," says the Prothean. "Perhaps now you will find the answers that you seek. Benezia, Loghain, watch over this place while I am gone."

"Of course," says the asari matriarch as Loghain bows his head once again. This happens right as I step up to the prothean. She then turns to me, her six eyes all giving me a once over. Wow... that's actually kinda creepy. But something about this feels alluring, somehow. I don't know how it feels that way, but still...

She nods, and then the two of us begin walking towards a portal, and before I know it, we're out of the throne room thing.

* * *

On the other side of the portal, we find ourselves walking down another winding path as we begin walking.

"So... I guess we better get started," I say. "So to go on the short term, I know what the Fade is. It was in another game developed by Bioware. It's a dream space/afterlife, from what I remember."

"You have earned your knowledge well, then," mentions Orange as we begin to move through all this wierd stuff. "Loghain mentioned that the Fade was much more prevalent in his world. There is much I assume they were unable to cover for you, though."

I nod. "Yeah..." I mention. "You can start with why it wound up here."

Orange nods. "The Fade is present in all universes," she begins. "That is the first thing you should understand. It is also part of the afterlife, as you know."

Huh? "Wait, so..." I gesture. "So basically, I've stumbled across the afterlife and dream space of every single being that's ever lived in any universe ever? Including alternate universe versions of myself?"

"In a sense, yes," says the prothean. "It is not as you would understand it, though. This place is the thread that binds all existence together, and it is the base that makes life possible. If the Fade were ever to be destroyed, existence would cease to exist." Yeah, as if a place like this could ever be destroyed.

Oh... "So it's sort of like Yggdrasil, then."

The oracle turns her head to me, a clearly perplexed look in her eyes. "Yggdrasil?" she asks.

Yeah, she wouldn't know about that stuff, would she? "It's from Norse mythology," I explain. "Yggdrasil is this giant tree that's supposed to hold up the entire universe. If it falls apart, then the universe does to, and everything goes straight to hell. Either way, it sounds very much the same."

"Indeed it does," agrees the prothean as we continue our stroll. "Nobody knows why the Fade is here, or even why it allows existence to continue. I doubt very much that anyone can come up with a suitable answer. In the end, it matters not. We simply are."

"Indeed," I mention, crossing my arms. "How does the Fade generate so much existence, anyway?"

"It is... a long tale," she replies. "And I cannot possibly hope to expound every detail, for there is so much to be seen about this place. It is of little importance, anyhow."

"We simply are, I know," I say. "But still, you have to admit, the curiosity is very, very capable of murder. You know what I mean?"

"I was as curious as you are now when I first came here, I must admit," she says. "The urge to discover that life may have a meaning to something out there... It is a very tempting thing to think of, finding such answers here." She simply shakes her head. "This is not important, though. What matters is that it exists everywhere. The trouble is... some universes are more distant from the Fade than others."

Distance? "That's a factor in the Fade?" I ask.

"Yes," replies Orange. "If a universe is closer to the Fade, it is... more in tune with it, I should say. And it results in the more mystical sides of the Fade manifesting within the universe."

Oh, so the universes that are closer have magic, apparently. I see... "That would make sense," I mention. "Dragon Age sent you to the Fade all the time." And made you do some of the most annoying puzzles ever known to man, but I digress. "Well... that, and there were tears in the veil all over the place where the Fade and the physical world would collide. And that's where many things would converge." I nod. "But since some people aren't that close... that would mean they'd have to get here by climbing down dream layers until you hit the bottom, am I right?"

"Yes," says the Prothean. "This is how we discovered the Fade. The dream share was originally a method of corporate espionage amongst the Protheans."

"Much like it was in _Inception_," I mention.

"Precisely," says Orange. "We had many infamous cases of espionage carried out within dreams. But some wanted to take it further. Some wanted to go further than no soul had ever dreamed of going. So they experimented continually. And they continued experimenting for a long, long time. Eventually, someone found the bottom of the dream world." She gestures out to the Fade, and I look up as she continues. "The discovery was hailed as a major breakthrough of the Prothean empire. Immediately, research into this area of dreams was poured in, with many people volunteering to go down to the Fade for science. Ironically, we would find many things about how science is not alone in this world.

"These brave souls were to become the first of the Oracles," she continues. "And they would do much great work throughout the empire with their art." The alien pauses in her walking, and I stop as well. "I was the last practitioner of this art. And it has died with me."

I shake my head. "Not if I'm standing here," I mention. "If there was a way for you to be able to get me down to this level, then there should be a way to get others down here too."

"It is far too complex," replies Orange. "It was... an anomaly, according to the Reapers. Thus, we may have lost some of the vital steps in the invasion. But if you are here... then there may yet be hope that the dream share and the Fade can return to prominence in this universe."

I shrug. "You have to hope for something," I say. "Besides, if Chris Nolan could dream of something similar to what you did, I'm sure we can find a way to get down to the bottom again." I offer her a smile before gesturing ahead of us. "Come on. We've still got a lot to talk about."

With this, the two of us continue to walk along as Orange looks ahead. "I suppose you have many questions about what happened when you came here," she says, changing the subject. "I imagine it would be quite a shock to wind up in another universe."

I nod, glancing at her. "An explanation would be really nice, yeah," I mention. "I've never known why the hell I wound up in the _Mass Effect _universe. So... what happened?"

"It is... a long story," says Orange. "Did this other game that this Bioware company developed ever make mention of a city in the heart of the Fade?"

Huh? That shows up too? Oh, boy... "Yeah, they did," I say, crossing my arms. "In the game in question, it was mentioned as being the corrupted husk of the Maker's old home in the Fade. It got corrupted when man found its way there, or something. I'll bet that detail isn't that important. They called it the Black City, and it was supposed to be at the center of the Fade." I uncross my arms promptly. "I guess it has something to do with why I'm here?"

"Yes," says Orange. "The Fade is a shared dream-space, yes, but also an afterlife, as you know. There is infinite space in the Fade, as it is all encompassing. Still... dead souls feel the call of the Black City. All souls must make a pilgrimage to the Black City when they have permanently passed into the Fade."

I nod. "I guess it's some kind of life cycle, right?" I ask. "You live for however long you live for in the world, you die and wind up here, you end up in the Black City, and then you get reborn as some other guy in some other universe and some other time."

I see a light come into her eyes that isn't there. A more... playful light. "You truly are a keeper," she states. I swear that's a bit of mirth from the lilt in her voice. "Yes, that is accurate."

Yay, I got stuff right! See, it's good to know some things about Asian religions! So they go on with a rebirth cycle... and... and...

Wait a minute... Something's not right here.

"Hold on," I say. "Where... exactly in the Fade do dead souls get dropped off?"

"Nobody knows." The oracle shifts slightly as we come to another portal. She stops in front of it, looking at me. "The soul can be dropped at any place in the Fade. And from there, they must make their journey to the rebirth. It is entirely possible, however, that one can be dropped at the destination."

...

Oh, no. I think I know where this is going...

"So what happens when a soul gets dropped directly in the Black City?"

She turns to me then, an apologetic look on her face. I see her blink, and there's... there's some kind of sadness in her eyes. Or something.

"A very strange phenomena occurs," she says. "If they are sent to the Black City... there is no time for them to be cleansed of their old selves by the river which surrounds the Black City. Hence, they are sent directly to a different place, without being able to erase their memories."

Oh no...

"It is the same phenomena that sent you to the universe you are in now."

...

What...? You mean...?

No... No, that can't be right! I just blacked out at the end of all that! I still remember that wierd little _Vexations _trip perfectly! I just blacked out after all that! There's... there's no possible _way_ I died at that atrociously out of tune upright piano! It's just not possible! I don't think...

"How are you sure?" I ask. "For all you know, I could be a goddamn vegetable back home!"

Orange looks down in regret, then turns to face the portal.

"Perhaps..." she begins. "Perhaps that is something that words cannot do justice to." She gestures to the portal. "Come. A field of visions awaits."

And with this, she passes through the portal.

Field of visions? I... No...

This is... I'm _dead _back home? I don't think... But I swear I just went unconscious! No... That can't be right.

I've been adventuring around here for two years... and I'm _dead _to every man, woman, and child who ever knew and loved me?

That... I can't believe this... this...

Damn it. There has to be some explanation. And I'll bet Orange will deliver it soon enough.

My gaze averts to the portal. Well, Art, you've only got one way to go for answers. You back out now, you lose all answers. And then you spend the rest of your life, doubting everything.

Damn it... I guess I have no choice.

Taking a deep breath, I step into the portal, and follow Orange into whatever it is she wants to show me.

* * *

When I pass through, I suddenly find myself at a very large expanse of the Fade. It's all very flat, it gets a little tough to see some of the edges... and there are these floating balls of light all over the place too. Well... they're more like floating spheres, really, but that's beside the point. They give off some incredibly pure light from where I stand, and from where I am I can see the slightest flashes of movement on them. And there is Orange near the portal. She nods, and then holds out a hand.

"Follow me," she says. "And do not let go of my hand."

I nod, looking to the Oracle as I blink. I don't know, but... this place is a little wierd. I think she knows what's best here, so I'll just hang on to her hand and let her carry me on this journey.

I then nod, placing my hand firmly within hers. It's only then that she moves, and then we walk through all the myriad spheres. And then I see that there are indeed flashes of movement on all of these spheres. This is... this is really wierd... Especially since they're floating around. I don't know...

"What is this place?" I ask.

Orange continues forward. "It is a field of visions, keeper," she replies. "This is a place most men would lose themselves in. And this is where the work of the oracles would occur."

I frown, looking around. "So these spheres... they're visions?" I ask.

"Visions of things gone, visions of things occurring, and visions of things to come," replies Orange. "This is where I would work in the Fade. And this... is where we attained our visions of what was to come."

I glance around, blinking at all of the floating spheres. "So this place has all kinds of visions?" I ask. "You mean... I could easily foresee the future here?"

"Yes." The oracle pauses, waving her free hand in the air as she seems to be looking for something. "But I would not have you do this, keeper. You must not depend on always knowing what is to come, for you would do this galaxy a grievous error by relying on information which can change."

I blink, nodding as she moves again. "Fine, fine," I say. Damn it, now I can't foresee the future, either. That actually makes me really sad. "So... can you see what occurred to me when I first came here?"

Orange nods, and then stops in front of a sphere. "I have, actually," she states. With this statement, she turns her head to me, her eyes all blinking as she squeezes my hand for good measure. "Do not let go of my hand until I tell you it is safe to do so."

I nod, a small amount of fear beginning to well up in me. Damn it... so this will be where I get to see something. And... and what the hell is-?

She then reaches out and touches the sphere, and before I know what else is up a blinding light takes over everything. I end up having to squeeze Orange's hand to make sure I don't let go, holding my free arm up to shield my eyes from how fucking bright it is. I mean, wow...

It darkens after a few seconds, and when I open my...

...

Holy shit!

"You may let go."

I don't even have to be told to let go to do it anymore. I mean... what the fuck?

"This... this is the hallway where the conservatory's practice rooms were!" I say, looking around as I begin walking, my gaze shifting constantly. "And... and it's night! What the fuck is this?"

"This is the night in which you left your home universe," replies Orange. "As it is in this point in the vision, you have been at the piano for approximately six hours."

I blink, turning back to Orange. "That's when the hallucinations started to kick in!" I say. Okay... which room was I in...? Damn it, I wasn't paying attention to the room number, except that we're certainly on the right floor. Oh, dear... Well, I guess it's up to looking into the window and seeing who was in where. But then, I think that it would probably be kind of empty by this hour... So... I'd just have to-

Ah. Here I am. I lay my hands on the wall, watching through the glass as I see myself playing _Vexations_.

"Hallucinations?" asks Orange. "I could not see that."

I shrug. "Vexations is one of those pieces that gets disorienting," I say. "Someone told me it got to the point where some players started to see elves dancing atop the piano if they tried to do all eighteen hours of what I was playing by themselves. I decided to be one of those unlucky people, you know."

"I... I see..." says Orange as she comes up behind me. "I read the instructions of what you were playing once. I... did not know what to make of it. Thank you for the clarification."

"No problem," I say, nodding. "What happened here?"

"Well... since you were disoriented by hallucinations..." says Orange, indicating me as I'm sitting there playing stuff. "I will let this vision show you."

I blink, watching myself play. Hm... this is around the part where I think I might've seen turians dancing atop the piano. And... Huh... I'm starting to wobble dangerously, and it's only then that I hear some dissonances that Satie didn't actually write. I... What the hell? I don't... did this actually happen?

I watch in fascinated shock for a little while longer, watching as I seem to drift in and out of something. It's like... it's like I was falling asleep or something like that. Why... what in the world...?

It all happens suddenly, too suddenly for my taste. At one pass, I see myself lean so far back that it takes the piano stool with me. And then my hands seem to fly away from the keyboard, the thing stopping as I then see my head smash against the wall opposite the piano, thus causing my body to fall to the ground. The piano bench doesn't fare much better, either, since it slides forward. Thus, the whole thing slides forward, and then my body lays there limply as the crashing sound dies off.

The whole affair takes less than a few seconds, and at the end of it, I recoil. I... No... That can't...

"How do I know you are lying about me?" I ask. "How do you know this isn't some alternate universe version of me?"

"This seems to match everything about you I have been able to see," she says.

I shake my head. "This... this has to be some kind of sick joke!" I say, rubbing my hair. "It has to be!"

"And yet here you are," says Orange as I step away from the practice room door. "You died of a hemorhage in the cerebellum. I suppose it was good fortune that worked in our favor. I have always known that you had died in your universe..." She glances back at me, but there's something almost guilty about the way her gaze settles on me. "I imagine you must have some questions."

Are you... "You imagine?" I ask. "No, you better fucking believe I have some questions for you!" I point at Orange indignantly. "You knew that I was dead in my universe, yet you didn't bother to say anything about it?"

"You would not have believed me," says Orange. "I also hardly think it is becoming of you to complain of being left out of the dark."

"Still, you should've told me!" I say. "I could've at least thought about it, or something! But... Why? Why the hell am I dead? Did you have any fucking thing to do with it?"

"No," states Orange. "That you would think such a thing is preposterous."

"Then explain why you lied about me not needing to know anything about the Mass Effect universe," I say. "Tali would've died if I hadn't known what was going to happen. If Tali had died, there would be no evidence to give to the Council. No evidence, life goes on as usual. And life goes on as usual, Saren would've successfully led to the destruction of the galaxy. So how was I supposed to not know anything about that if I clearly had to?"

Orange moves to reply, but I see it die in her throat. I... No...

"You... you lied about that, didn't you?" I ask.

"Not... exactly, no," she replies. "We are right in saying that the call could have been taken by any one not of this universe... but your knowledge of coming events may have had something to do with it. I have no control over fate, much as you do not either. It was sheer luck that you ended up in the Black City when you arrived here, and even further still that you were the one to come to the universe you are in now."

I frown, shaking my head. "It doesn't matter if I got here through sheer luck!" I say. "Whether you see things or not doesn't pertain to anything. Why did you lie to me about that? And on top of that, you had two years to tell me I had died back home, but you didn't! And I'm still not fully ready to accept that you couldn't talk to me before Virmire to tell me that maybe I'm getting in just a little bit over my head with trying to go home when I couldn't on the count that I was fucking _dead_. I mean... how...?"

I shake my head, banging my hand against the wall as I do so. "I couldn't even... I..." Damn it... I feel my eyes water at this revelation, but damn it, I gotta hold it in. I can't break down now. Not when I'm here. I just... "I just wanted to go home... But I never could have, could I?" I shake my head, feeling Orange place an insectoid hand on my arm and squeezing it comfortingly. "I just... I just don't get it Orange. I..."

Damn it all. I wanted to die on Virmire to go home, but I never had the chance, did I? I just... I wanted to go home, when the way back was barred from me forever. I guess a small part just wanted to be comforted that it was possible... maybe a small part of me always knew that it was impossible. But now... now that I know...

Damn it, what a fool I was. To think that I could go home at the explosion of a nuclear bomb, when really I couldn't return no matter what I did. It wouldn't have mattered: I would either be truly dead or luck would've stricken me down twice and I would find myself in some other god-forsaken fictional conflict. Damn it... just damn it...

I close my eyes to help hold back the tears as Orange shifts behind me. "I have no words of comfort," she states simply. "But you must accept this truth. There is little else to be done until you realize that you cannot go home."

I nod, looking at her as I wipe my eyes. "I just..." I say. "It's so difficult for me to let go of what I used to have... I just don't want to let go of anything. Of my memories, of the hope that maybe I can see them again some day... It's just too hard to let go." I bite my lower lip. "But you're right about that. I do have to let go somehow. I just... I don't know how."

"The answer will come to you, keeper," says Orange encouragingly. "It is not an easy thing to do, but it must be done.

I nod, looking at her as I sniffle one last time. "Why... why couldn't you talk to me before Virmire?"

"I was far away from the plain of your subconscious," she says.

Huh? What? "Plain of my subconscious?" I ask. "What the fuck are you talking about now?"

"There is... more to the Fade than you think," she says. "Come. I shall explain further outside of this vision. Take my hand, and do not let go until I bring you back to the portal we entered from."

I blink, feeling the wetness stain my vision. I steal a final glance at the practice room where... where I _died_...

...

Where I died... That's where I died back home. And now I'm probably laying six feet under somewhere else. Just like poor Tuly. And now that I'm dead... god damn it, why is this so complicated?

Damn it Art, think about that later! You have important stuff to do.

I nod, slowly taking Orange's hand as I look at her sadly.

"I... I think I may need some time alone to think about the fact that I watched myself die..." I say.

The oracle pauses, her gaze averting away from me so that it's towards the wall. She looks at it for a second or two before turning back to me. "I have seen myself die," she says. "If you wish... we can speak about it when we return to the others."

I nod, giving her a soft smile. "Yeah," I say. "I'd like that."

With this, she nods, and before long the overarching darkness of the vision gives way to the familiar landscape of the Fade, now with all the little spheres of light seeming to float about within this field. Field of visions... which can tell everything. Eventualities, the past, the present...

I just... I just can't believe I saw myself die.

So Orange moves along, dragging me behind her. I don't resist, following in her footsteps as we approach the portal that we came from.

"So... you mentioned a plain of my subconscious," I begin as we walk away.

"Yes..." says the woman. "If you are a dreamer... there is a small portion of the Fade that you hold stake to. It is where your subconscious takes root..."

I raise an eyebrow like this. "So it's sort of like dream real estate," I mention. "You own a piece of the Fade for your life, and then someone else moves in when you die, I take it?"

"That is far too cynical a comparison," replies the prothean as we move along. "But it is similar, yes. Your plain of the subconscious was my destination."

"Why?" I ask.

Orange looks at me as we continue on before turning her attention back to what's in front of her. "I... do not think Vigil told Shepard everything about the research at Ilos," she mentions.

"That he did not," I say. "I guess it's a good thing too, considering what I found on the Collector ship. What does Ilos have to do with this?"

"Ilos..." says Orange. "I was at Ilos when the Reapers invaded. I was visiting a very dear friend of mine who has completed his pilgrimage to the Black City. I was swept up, and ended up being placed under cryogenic stasis with many of the other researchers." She nods grimly as she pauses and looks at me. "One of our oracles was a sleeper agent, and he contacted us from the center of the galaxy. He had managed to develop a dream amplifier from what he could gather. Somehow, he had built a resistance to indoctrination."

Huh? "Wait, really?" I ask. "I thought indoctrination was supposed to be absolute!"

"I should not say he was able to completely repel it," says Orange. "But he was able to keep enough semblance of his will that his actions were mostly his own. He assumed it had something to do with his being able to maneuver around the Fade for as long as he did. He did enough that he left an amplifier on a ship."

Wait... amplifier... "You're talking about that cube I picked up on the Collector ship!" I mention.

"Yes," says Orange.

Then... then does that mean...? "That prothean on that wierd little surgical appliance was an oracle!"

"Yes," she says. "You come to correct conclusions faster than I could have hoped. You truly are a keeper."

I shrug, giving her a soft smile. "Hey, I always knew being a nerd would pay off someday," I mention. "So the cube... what does it do?"

"It is the key to the dreamshare," replies the oracle. "It gives whoever has an attunement with the Fade an awareness of the dream that is similar to how one would perceive the upper world. It is vital to the dreamshare..."

"I see..." I mention. "So he left the amplifier on the ship. What did you do about that?"

"In the message he sent, he also imparted details he was able to glean about indoctrination on the most basic level," she says. "It takes root in the Fade, and it manifests as a black mist down here."

Yeah, that would make sense. Indoctrination is a subtle process, and you don't even realize you've been indoctrinated until it's too late. And by then, your every action is being controlled. "So you heard about that... and then decided to do something about it."

"Yes," replies Orange, as she turns and resumes her journey. "We developed a method of fighting indoctrination from his findings. We also developed the device that you hold with you in your pocket."

"The orange thing that Benezia found," I mention, rubbing my chin with my free hand. "So... I take it that it's able to manipulate the Fade."

"That is not terribly far from the truth," replies the oracle. "But it is the other way; it allows me to contact you through the Fade, and vice versa." She steps forward. "The scientists imbued the Conduit with an additional property: if anyone were to pass through the Conduit with the device they made, it would set off a signal in the Fade to the subconscious plain of whoever had the object. It was foolproof; if they did not have the device, I would stay safe in the Fade. But when you passed through the conduit, it gave me a sign... and from there, I finally found your subconscious plain. And from there, I was able to contact you through a disturbance that was left over from the sign."

I frown. "So you were waiting for me to give you a sign?" I ask. "Why not just use one of the field of visions and pay attention to the architecture?"

"It is not so simple," replies Orange, looking to the portals around the edge of the field of visions. "These portals mean that it can be impossible to find a plain of the subconscious without being lost. And even then, I would have know way of knowing I had arrived to the correct plain. When you went through the Conduit, somehow I knew where I had to go. It is difficult to explain."

Okay... So that's why she couldn't be here before Ilos. I still have a tough time believing it, but at least it's an explanation. I'll have to take her word on it. "I see..." I say. "And why did you need to find me?"

She looks directly at me. "You are one of many that has gone directly through the Black City into another universe," she says. "People that have done such are more in tune with the Fade than anybody else in the galaxy they migrate to. It also means that you will be able to pick up quickly on the techniques that I must teach you."

Huh? There's stuff she needs to teach me? "Like what?" I ask.

"We found a way to expel the influence of indoctrination from someone's mind," she states. "It is experimental, but we believe it has a high priority of working. I was left behind to teach it to you. You are the keeper, for you will keep secrets from the Reapers and you will keep the knowledge of how to save a soul from the sway of the Reapers."

... I... I see... No wonder they needed someone from another universe. I've already been through the Fade once, even if I wasn't exactly conscious for it. I would be an ideal candidate for going down here and doing things as well. Yes... I can see why Orange needed me to come down here... Yes... I see another part of my role.

So then... that leaves whoever else gets roped up in this prophecy.

"And what about all the other chosens?" I ask. "They have a role too, right?"

"Their roles have been determined in the field of visions," replies Orange. "You will find out what those roles are as they become relevant. But you know your role. It is now that you must begin preparations for what is to come."

I nod. "Great," I say. "So I get sucked into another universe, fight my way through it, only to find out that the fate of the galaxy could possibly hinge on me learning how to cast magic in a dream within a dream on top of a dream also within a dream. No pressure."

"You may be surprised at how fast you learn," she says. "But for now... you have had much to think about. Let us return to where we first met, and we shall discuss some details further."

And with this, we finally get to the same portal that I walked through when we first came here. Wow... there's so much info here... It's going to make my brain explode... Or maybe not, because I doubt the Fade has _that _much influence on what happens up in a world that takes me three dream layers to get to this point...

Whatever. I'm now in a very odd position, and I'm loving every second of it for some reason.

Except for the fact that I found out I was dead...

Yeah... that really, really sucks.

* * *

When we return, everyone is more or less in the same place they were when we left. Meaning that they haven't moved an inch, actually. It's like they almost turned into statues nailed into a base, except that Kratos' arm is off slightly. But I digress.

Anyway, Orange turns to me, and then I nod as we both step forward. "So you have returned," says Loghain. "Good. I thought you had gotten lost in the Fade."

"You should know by now, my dear Teryn, that I am not so easily lost," says Orange.

"I'm aware of that, oracle," replies the Fereldan with a bow of his head. "I was just concerned."

"You're always concerned," says Saren with a gesture of his claws.

"What's there to be said?" asks Loghain. "I was just concerned about her well-being."

"There is nothing inherently wrong with that, Saren," states Benezia. "We have all had our attachments."

"Even I had them, once." Kratos is abrupt as they all begin to move. "Attachments make you weak, but I knew what it was to lose them once."

Oh, boy. This is going to be a _very _interesting gathering in the future. I nod, looking at all of them. "I know what you mean," I say, shaking my head. "I just found out I died in my home universe. And now... now I can't go back home again." I bite my lower lip, rubbing my chin with a free hand. "I just... I don't know how to take it." I glance at all of them. "How do you come to terms with that?"

Benezia is the first to step up. "In some ways, you never truly do come to terms with it," says Benezia. "You learn to accept things as they are."

I nod, looking over at Orange. "I guess that's something you learned fast," I mention.

"Yes," replies the prothean. "I was the last of our species... And I died last."

"She went to the Citadel as part of that band of Protheans that went through the conduit," continues Saren. "They tampered with the keepers... and they slowly died of starvation from there."

"And now my presence on the Citadel is nothing more than a memory now," says Orange. "There may have been other oracles that could resist indoctrination. But I scarcely think it matters now. Fifty millenia have passed since the extenction of my race. There is nothing left but my legacy..."

...

Hold on, though. The little object I kept... didn't that...?

It led me right to the amplifier... So theoretically, it would lead me to other things, right?

So... no, there has to be more than Orange knows. She doesn't know everything. She can't. I've gotta hang on to the hope that maybe, somewhere, the Protheans left _something _behind. They left the beacons behind. So naturally, there has to be more information. Maybe Orange just doesn't know about the last part of it.

No. I'm hanging on to the hope that the Protheans may have left a final clue at the Collector base. Now that I know that someone found a way to resist indoctrination with some success, that only increases the chance of finding something at the Collector base. Especially since there seem to have been more than one oracle. Maybe they were able to do something else without being able to alert the other. That's entirely possible too.

I'll hang on to that hope. Because if she won't, then someone has to do it.

But I won't say it now. I can't get her hopes up after fifty thousand years spent coming to terms with it. That would be cruel. So if I find something and it turns out bearing fruit, I'll report it back to Orange.

"So you just accept it," I say, shaking my head. "I don't know if I can accept that I'm dead in my home universe and never had a chance at going home to begin with."

"You will accept it eventually," says Orange.

I nod, biting my lower lip. "I think I'm very afraid of that day, to be honest."

"We all are," says Loghain. "Is there... anything else that needs addressing?"

"No," says Orange. "I guess... this is the point in which you return to the space in between this world and the one you are in."

I nod. "I guess so," I say, crossing my arms. "So I'm guessing I get to be killed off to go upstairs and take part in a wedding."

I'm given confused looks all around. "Go upstairs?" asks Kratos. "I see no stairs."

... "It's a reference," I say, shaking my head. "Egh, never mind."

"You are correct in that you must be killed to return, however," says Orange. "It is how it works in the dream world, as it works with the Fade. You must be... killed, for lack of a better term, to return."

I nod, looking at the others. "So... anyone got a killing implement?"

Kratos is all too willing to unsheath his sword at this. "We all have some," mentions the Spartan. "But I think you will like the taste of mine best."

"Of... Right..." I say. "Is there anything else?"

"When you wake up, you would do well to look at the device in greater detail," says Orange. "We left some traces of the chemicals needed to perform the dreamshare in that device. You may use it to share a dream with someone once, and only once. You can only find it if you look, though."

I nod. Hm... So the chemical is in there, huh? "Okay," I say. "You sure it works with dextro species?"

"Yes," replies Orange. "Do _you _have any questions?"

I nod. "You... did you construct my dream spaces?" I asked.

"Not... completely," says Orange. "I did construct them, yes, but from elements that already existed in your mind. The only elements that were introduced were those briefcases."

"You got the idea from watching _Inception _through the field of visions, didn't you?" I ask, smirking.

"Perhaps," says Orange. "It is not important. But while here, I have learned how to constuct dreams from the Fade, and I have constructed them for you from elements that are familiar. You no doubt understand why."

I lick my upper lip briefly as I nod my agreement. "Yeah," I say. "That would suck if I lost track of where I was. Just in case, though, I made a totem, almost like the movie."

"Then can I see it?" asks Orange.

I smirk. "That would kinda kill the point of a totem, wouldn't it?" I ask.

With a bemused expression, Orange nods. "You surprise me yet again, keeper," replies the oracle. "This is all..." With this, she turns to the Spartan. "Now... Kratos. I believe your blade may be needed."

"Of course," replies the one-time god of war.

I then feel a sharp pain at my neck as my head and body are separated-

* * *

**And then I open my eyes, blinking up at the ceiling of the little abode where the Lady of the Forest would be.**

**I sit up, looking at the dreamshare briefcase as I ponder what I've just seen. So... so I have stuff to do in the Fade too as part of my role as the Keeper. And the others have predetermined roles that only Orange knows about right now. Hm... I can't help but feel a little pressured right now. Yeah, I have to stop the Reapers, invade people's dreams to do so, and find out how to do it, not necessarily in that order. And then I have to worry about having all the other chosens, though given how prophecies tend to work I imagine they'll all be in place when the shit hits the fan.**

**Either way, I've got a lot to think about.**

**At least it's about answers and not questions this time.**

**Right... I think I better start climbing back up the dream layers. So... let's get started by running myself through Zelos' sword.**

* * *

A few dream-hours later, I wake up to find that everything is in more or less its right place. The blue light of the drive core is still shining dimly, Tali is still asleep by my side, and it's reasonably warm here. Okay.

I think I'm in good hands right now. Except that now I imagine I might find myself getting much less sleep than I used to.

Oh, well. It's a small price to pay.

Hm... Orange mentioned I should look at the device. I should probably get to that. I take out the device from my pocket, examining it in the light of the drive core.

It's only now that I notice that there's a small line running through the bottom of it... almost like there's space in there. Like there's some kind of clasp keeping something inside. Hm... Could it be that there's something in there? I frown, working one of my fingernails into the small little thing I can see. My upper lip instinctually finds itself between my teeth as I sit up to do this, taking care to make sure that Tali isn't disturbed from her slumber. Okay... and... pull!

I pull, and from inside, I see two of the intravenous injection things inside. Hm... it doesn't look like it can extend very far. Maybe only two feet or something insane like that. Either way, it's not much. But it seems to be better than nothing. I can't see the chemical, but... it's probably a small amount. Like, a really small amount. And it would be very specific chemicals.

Hm...

This sounds like a job for Mordin. I doubt he can tamper with this without there being severe consequences on trying to find stuff in the Collector base, but I can always pull him into a dream. And from there, he can work his sciency magic on the _Inception _briefcase as I imagine it would probably have the compounds inside.

Okay. I think I know what I'm going to do.

With this, I store Orange back into my pocket, and then turn my attention to Tali as she lays on her side, sleeping peacefully and with a smile seeming to shine from beneath the helmet. I bring my hand close to hers, and then smile in turn.


	42. Chapter 40

_A/N: So now, we have our answers on the Fade. So what will happen with that?_

_Plenty of things that will affect MV3. You'll see that chiefly in action when we hit part three, so brace yourselves!_

_Other than that... this story passed the 800 review mark last chapter. I cannot tell you how honored it feels to know that I have this many readers doing this much stuff. So thank you all._

_Also... I think I need to issue a warning to people. Be careful with your personal information on this website. Please. You would have no idea how anyone can work around the internet to find information about you if you aren't careful with this kind of thing. So please. Be careful._

_Anyway... for now, we have other things, and everything occurs._

* * *

Chapter 40: The Top Places to Blow Up In The Galaxy

I sit in the shuttle now, Jenny not even daring to spare a glance at me as she manipulates the shuttle controls with a little more anger than usual. Not like I'd respond to anything she says, anyway. I'm still thinking about what I saw in my dream last night.

I mean... all that stuff about Orange and the Fade and the field of visions... and then seeing myself die on top of all that. This is some of the heaviest stuff I've ever had to put up with in my life. And trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm officially dead now to everyone I ever loved in the old universe...

So now I died... and I had no chance to say goodbye to anyone. Damn it... if I had known I would die from playing Vexations... Damn, I hope it didn't get Jimmy D. fired. That would really, really suck if it did. And it would also piss him off, just like the MBTA did on a regular basis. I wonder how my family coped with it... And especially Pupa. Damn... thinking about all this...

I wish I didn't have to find out about it the way I did. But then, Orange has a point: there would be no other way I could find out about that stuff without me not believing it...

That knowledge actually kinda sucks. And the worst part is, I can't blab this. It's tough to explain, and people really wouldn't believe. I've sort of said nothing about it in the hope that Shepard won't pressure me to talk about it. And I also imagine she would have a tough time believing it unless I took her down the dreamshare. And I can't do that just yet, because I'm saving the one dream-share use I have to use it on Mordin so he can do science with whatever the hell it is that lets us share the dream. Wasting it on Shepard would be counter-intuitive, I think.

Speaking of which... I have to figure out when he starts his sleep cycle so I can have EDI alert me to it. Maybe I can ask EDI for some help with that. Salarian sleep cycles make everything so much more complicated, especially since they only sleep for an hour at the most. So... if five minutes is equal to an hour within dreams... then an hour in the real world is equal to about twelve hours. So we have twelve hours to do sciency stuff. For a salarian? Piece of cake.

But of course... there's the matter of the subconscious projections. No doubt they're going to start attacking me when I tell Mordin it's a dream, and let's face it, I'm going to have to tell him that for him to start doing sciencey stuff with it. Thankfully, I'm the first person to ever go through a dreamshare, so we haven't had time to teach people how to militarize their subconscious. So on that... I have a little bit more leeway with how I construct stuff.

And now, I'm rambling. There's Jack and Al sitting on one side of the shuttle, with Miranda and Shepard sitting on the other. I shrug, leaning against the bulkhead as I nod off slightly. Well... now's not the time to concentrate on that stuff.

We're touching down on Pragia, and my is it raining and pouring outside. Nobody is daring to say anything as we go down, and I imagine that Miranda is trying to keep her mouth shut so she doesn't have to piss Jack off. Can't say I blame her, really.

I frown... Hm... EDI should be making a comment about the heat signatures soon... When-

"Shepard, I am picking up heat signatures everywhere," EDI's voice rings out in the shuttle. "Except your landing zone." We all look up.

Ah, there we are. I see Jack frown in confusion. But it's Shepard who speaks. "Something's distorting the sensors," she says.

I bite my lower lip. "No," I reply. "It's not the sensors."

She glances right towards me. "This has got somethin' to do with that stupid bullshit game you played?" asks Jack.

I nod. "Yeah..." I say. "If I remember correctly, we ran into Blood Pack before we could get to your cell."

"Blood Pack?" asks Miranda, a confused expression on her face. "What use would they have for an abandoned Cerberus facility?"

"Someone hired them," I reply. "And he came back here with them."

"It doesn't matter anyway," replies Jack. "If they get in the way, we'll kill 'em. They tell us why they're here, we kill 'em. Either way, we kill 'em."

Actually, you'd be surprised how much it matters, Jack. "You will find out why when we get to your cell anyway," I say. "But I don't think I should tell you just yet. This is something you're better off with dealing when we run into it."

"Whatever you say," says Jack. She then shifts, shaking her head. "Shit, this was a bad idea." She leans forward, looking over to the rest of us.

Al shifts nervously as his gaze settles on the biotic. "Hey, whatever happens, we'll be there, all right?" says the infiltrator reassuringly. "And we'll give you as much time as you need."

Jack nods. "Yeah. Okay," she says. With this, the shuttle lands, Jenny not even bothering to look behind her. "Let's just get this over with."

And with this, the shuttle door opens. We step off the shuttle, and I feel the rain impact against my armor. Okay... Yeah, it's as rainy as I remember. If only it would go away. I guess I should be relieved that Thane's not tagging along, because this would be really bad for his disease.

And heavy times were had. Here we go...

We walk away from the shuttle, down the stairs, and we enter the Pragia facility shortly after.

* * *

It's a rather short walk down when we come start to see Jack looking at everything around her. The sound of the rain outside slowly dies away, and she looks around. I can see some kind of nostalgia cloud over her eyes, and even if Al is hovering pretty close to where she is she doesn't seem to care all that much that he's there. I imagine it would be when you return to your childhood home.

I better keep my mouth shut. It's better to let her let most of this stuff out. So I look to her as we move around the facility's first room. She glances at everything, but we find ourselves moving on pretty quickly. So we enter the next area where the varren would've shown up in the game. It all looks run-down, and I briefly catch sight of Miranda looking around the facility. As run-down as it is... yeah. It actually looks kinda nice.

Though how one guy with a bunch of krogan and vorcha mercenaries thought he could resuscitate this whole place, I have no bloody idea.

So I watch this as Jack remains pretty quiet. She and Al both seem lost in thought, the younger Shepard sibling not saying anything. Nobody is really saying anything as we walk through. First, though... we come across an old bloodstain that's been rusted all to hell. Hm... I'm using rusted to describe a bloodstain that's black. I don't think I can use rust for that anymore, now that I think about it. The blood stain looks like it covered the wall and part of the steel floor as well, though some of the fauna seems to have grown over it.

"This... this I remember," says the biotic, kneeling down by the bloodstain on the ground. "This was the last man who died here. He was the last thing standing between me and freedom. He was begging for his life." She stands up, shaking her head. "I think you know what happened to him."

Al nods at this, gesturing to the pathway beyond. "Come on," he says. "Let's go."

And with this, we continue on. So... yeah. There are steel walls everywhere, with vegetation growing out of it from being abandoned for so long. There are a few cracks in the roof, and in those cracks I can see some rain pouring into the place.

Great. Another reminder of home. That's _exactly _what I needed right now.

Anyway, we move on, following a path as our eyes gloss over all the dilapidated stuff that's all around us. Hm... this place really fell into disrepair. But hey, it's been untended for years, it's not really that surprising, I think. What is surprising? Seeing it all in detail. There's just something about the way that the steel walls seem to shine on despite all the decay that's going on here. Really, seeing it from another dimension doesn't do this place any justice, whatsoever. It's only when you go in that you realize just how much beauty there really is to be had in something falling apart. It's so oddly beautiful... and from a certain place terrifying.

...

There I go philosophising about the end of the world again.

I need to stop that.

Finally, though, we come across the arena-like place that would have been buffered off if this base were still running. I raise my eyebrows at this, looking on as I cross my arms. Joc, Al, and Jack all move so that the two Shepards can get a good look at the place. Yeah... all these barriers are strewn about for no particular reason. Well... they were there for a reason, but the placement of some of them seems random.

But then, a fight broke out here, and people haven't touched this place since then.

"This looks like an arena," says Al, brushing an armored hand over one of the barriers.

"That's right," says Jack. "They used to stage fights here. Pit me against other kids." She nods. "I loved it. Only time I was ever out of my cell."

"Wait, they had _children _fight here?" asks Jocelyn as she steps forward.

"Yeah," says Jack.

"That's... did any children die?" asks Al.

"I was a kid filled with drugs," Jack recounts. God, it's like she's recounting Thursday lunch! "I got shocked when I hesitated. Narcotics flooded my veins when I attacked."

"And you loved every minute of it," I say, looking there.

The former test subject chuckles bitterly at this. "I still get warm feelings during a fight." Yeesh...

"My God... What were they studying?" asks Al, his expression furrowing into an appalled frown.

"Hell if I know," says the biotic with a shrug. "Probably just for kicks. I never understood what happened here."

"And... how often did they do this?" asks Al.

"I was in a cell my whole life," replies the woman. "Sometimes they took me out and made me fight. Filled me with drugs, other stuff. Time gets funny in a cell."

The younger Shepard sibling shakes his head, kneeling down by the distended barriers. "I can't..." he mutters, frowning in disbelief. "These people were sick."

"You can say that again," says the biotic. "Makes me glad they're all dead."

I glance to Miranda, raising an eyebrow at her. I gesture to the area in front of me, but if it registers, she doesn't say a word. Either way, I imagine she won't be saying much about it until later, when Jack gets pissed off and storms her way into her office after all this is said and done. But then, we'll know how she feels on this by then.

Either way, I can see something in her eyes that is breaking. Disillusionment, go!

Joc steps forward as she looks at them. "Let's keep moving," she says. "We've got a long ways to go."

I'm only more than happy to move along. I watch Jack as her gaze lingers on the arena in a way it never did in the game.

* * *

Okay... we come across the security guy's terminal. Okay... yeah, this is where he was making the final log about the stuff as the kids were all breaking out.

"_Security Officer Zintel, Teltin Facility. The subjects are out of their cells_," it starts. Yeah... They're out of their cells, starting a riot, and it'll get to the point where Jack gets out of there. Yeah... This would be stuff Jack wouldn't know about. But hey, unreliable narrators are... well... unreliable like that. With this, Jack listens to the transmission a little further, and then starts shaking her head before walking over and shutting the log off.

"That's not right," says Jack. "I broke out when my guards disappeared. I started that riot."

Al looks at the console, his gaze turning back to the biotic soon after. "Maybe there's more to it than you understand."

Jack frowns at the younger Shepard sibling. "The kids attacked me. The guards attacked me. The automated defense systems attacked me." She leans close to Al. "That doesn't leave lots of room for interpretation." Well, that, and you were a scared kid fighting for your life.

"I don't know, Jack," says Al. "Maybe there'll be something else here."

"I don't think so," replies the biotic.

I shake my head. "Let's just keep moving," I say. "You'll find other terminals along the way."

Jack's head moves along.

So... we continue on after watching that unfold... So we go down the corridor...

"Who the fuck shot that varren? It's a fresh kill!"

Yep, there's the freshly killed varren. With the pool of blood there and everything. I nod, gesturing to it. "Blood Pack," I mention. "If I remember correctly... we face off against some vorcha in the next room. And then in most of the rooms after that. Look for chest-high walls, you'll know where the firefights take place almost instantly if you keep your eyes out for that."

"Chest-high walls?" asks Miranda, a clearly confused expression on her face. "That's a rather... odd choice of scenery to look out for."

"For once, I agree with the cheerleader," adds Jack. "Why the fuck should we look for that?"

...

Did I just get Jack to agree with Miranda about something?

...

I'm now fairly certain that somewhere, somehow, the world has come to an end.

"Well, the developers had to find _somewhere _to give us cover in the almost always likely event of a firefight," I reply. "Make of that what you will."

And with this, I move on past the dead varren into...

Wait, I'm pretty sure that bypassed door had some important upgrades for us. Well... It's not like Shepard won't get them anyway. Credits and medigel are something that are coming in rather quickly from the Illusive Man, I think. I mean, seriously, he must have bottomless pockets or something like that!

Well, he _is _the Illusive Man, so I imagine he would be able to scare up quite a few funds like that. So yeah. Fun times are had with that.

Either way... let's go kill some vorcha!

* * *

We pass through the door, and sure enough, there's a group of vorcha just standing their with their asses hanging out and open. Well, there aren't that many of them actually. They're just standing there, not doing a whole lot. All they have are assault rifles, and all that jazz...

Cake.

I look to Jack, shrugging as she looks at them. With this, I simply pull out my assault rifle (good thing we always bring weapons, I think), and then aim it at one of the vorcha.

Of course, Miranda's already beaten me to getting some of the vorcha first, as she's already biotically lifted one of them in preparation for a slam. This catches most of the vorcha off guard, leaving them wondering what's going on as Al sidles into cover, preparing his sniper rifle as he peers through the scope.

Right. Let's kill some vorcha! I raise my assault rifle, moving along to where I can find some cover as I unleash a few rounds at one of the more unlucky vorcha. Jeez... these things just hang with their asses out, waiting for us to shoot them. It's no wonder everyone thinks they're stupid: in a way, they actually kind of are. So that makes it easy to kill them. I see the vorcha that Miranda lifted get slammed back to earth, and a sniper rifle shot ends his tenure rather early. I don't take the time to look as another vorcha gets pulled towards me. I fire at it with my assault rifle, nodding as I look up and see the thing float towards me.

It's only then that the vorcha finally get what's going on, but by then, Jack's unleashed quite a shockwave. It sends them flying about like ragdolls, and honestly it's actually kinda funny to watch them fly about like that. I watch as Shepard unleashes some submachine gun fire at one of the vorcha, and Miranda lets off a few pistol shots.

It's then that some more vorcha filter in through the door close to where the others were. Oh, boy... So there's a real life spawn point there. Hm...

Well, it won't really complicate that much. Last I checked, vorcha were still stupid regardless of how many there were.

So I come out of cover and fire my assault rifle at the latest back, getting one right as I see it get biotically tossed back to the door. Yep... that's Jack, all right. I turn to the other one, but a shot through the head puts it out of commission before I can ever get to it. Hm... That looks like Al's doing, judging from the angle. I think, anyway.

Hm... nothing really noteworthy about these vorcha. Except how hard we've been kicking their asses!

Right as I think this, some more come out from the door they were hiding behind... Well, not that many, really. I glance up and see a smaller shockwave, this time followed by submachine gun fire as Shepard unleashes some at the people tossed about like ragdolls again. I lean out of cover to shoot a vorcha when suddenly, I see Jack vault right up to some vorcha, glowing biotically blue as she raises a shotgun with one hand.

Oh, boy... I guess this is where cutscene power would come in.

And indeed it is, as I see the convict blast one of the falling ragdoll vorcha, sending him falling back briefly. Nothing more really gets done before I see Jack biotically punch a vorcha off to the side. Whoah... Any more force and I swear his head would've been vaporised. One of the vorcha tries firing on her, but I see him go down without Jack's help. Hm... Must be fire cover.

The convict pays no notice, bending down to the ground and punching it. This sends out a stranger form of biotic shockwave that affects the vorcha around her. Some just jolt slightly, but those don't count because they're already dead. A few others are sent reeling back, quite clearly stuned at this. One of them doesn't get any time to move, though, as he takes the full force of a shotgun blast to the torso. This sends him flying through a conveniently placed window.

Why? Why not? That would be a great place for a slo-mo shot, actually.

But... this little thing could probably get Jack killed, so... I raise my assault rifle at one of the vorcha, sending it falling back as it gets peppered with bullets. And apparently, Al had the same idea from whatever perch he was working behind, as another one sort of stumbles back with a bullet hole torn through its head. Miranda and Jocelyn join in with cover fire of their own, and the remaining vorcha find themselves dying shortly after.

Okay... That takes care of-

And the door opens again.

...

There is a brief silence right as a final vorcha walks in. He sort of just looks at us, seeing the situation there. Okay... Yeah. This is really random. All these vorcha go to get themselves killed, and this one guy just stands there looking right at us. And it just so happens that he has the wierd little flamethrower apparatus on his back that does stuff. It's the flamethrower tank that, when shot, causes him to flail about like he's on fire. Which isn't the case, as then he tends to explode.

As happens when Miranda shot a pistol round into the tank in question. I blink in surprise as the jet of fire screams out of his little thing. Hm... I then watch him blow up, and I flinch slightly as I see him fly everywhere. Well, bits of him, anyway. I don't know; it's always satisfying to see that happen, if a little wierd that it's actually happening and not some form of prosthetic rig.

Also, if not slightly disturbing that I actually don't mind this kind of thing happening now.

I stow away my assault rifle. I don't think we'll need it for a while. I approach the convict as Al and Jocelyn both rush up to her, the younger Shepard sibling looking rather surprised as Jack smirks...

... while staring right into Albert Shepard's eyes. There's some disapproval there, but... it's not that much. And it looks almost... playful...

...

Oh my God, she's giving Al _that _kind of look.

Oh, man. They're gonna be fuckin' like rabbits by the time we get to the Reaper invasion, I _know _it. Because the day that Bioware gives us a romance without even so much as a kiss in a game of theirs is the day that I will stop having random trains of thought that lead in these kinds of directions when they have no business going there. Because they can't possibly be such terrible cock-teases, can they?

Right... That's not actually important. What is important, though, is the crowd of dead vorcha that she's turning her attention to. With this, I gesture towards the bodies with my left hand.

"See?" I ask. "Blood Pack."

"Yeah, I get it," says Jack as she herself stands up, placing her shotgun behind her back. "No need to hammer that shit in."

"Of course," I say with a shrug. I nod, and then we all come forward, converging in the center of the room as stuff.

She's silent after that, and then I watch her take a glance around. Hm... it must be triggering something.

You know... it must be crazy to walk through your past like it's some kind of open book or something. You look on everything completely differently when you reflect back on it. And honestly... it's something Jack has been doing a lot of lately.

Makes me think to back home, sometimes... I wish I could just let go of my past in as spectacular a fashion as Jack undoubtedly can. I just... I walk around, always thinking about everything. About Augie, about the rest of my family...

I don't know how Jack has managed to think about her past like this for so long. I'd probably lose my mind if I were to be a total jerk to everyone I know because of my past. But... she's managed to stay relatively sane, for being a criminal. I wonder how she deals with her past. If I could deal with my past by blowing it right the fuck up, I... probably wouldn't take it. But still, it's a form of resolution I've been denied.

I mean... I've been cut off from my family and friends forever, with the exception of Sturge. It's not just a matter of blowing up a place like Jack, because I actually came from somewhere that's pretty happy. And... I would have a hell of a lot of goodbyes to say.

Damn it... now I'm thinking of that scene from close to the end of _Carousel _where Gordon MacRae's character talks to his family after having died. You'll never walk alone indeed... Yeah, that's a truism to keep in mind for all this.

But yeah, I would have a lot of people that I would have to say my peace to. And the worst part is, I would have no way of communicating with them, so my words would fall on deaf ears. And... Yeah. I guess I just hang on to my memories of them, because that's all I have left to remember them by. And even if not all of them are great memories... they're better than nothing.

And here's Jack, blowing up memories. But then... hers are angrier, more bitter memories. So I can understand why she'd want to get rid of this place.

Well... I'm thinking too hard as we go down hallways and shoot down some vorcha. This is more of the same old thing... same old thing...

Right.

* * *

Okay... We just passed the cells where the children were kept. Needless to say, Miranda was pretty shocked about that, letting that get known pretty fast. The fact that when we walked through the next room there was a two-way mirror there...

I wonder where the next terminal is...

Ah. There it is. And...

Wait, didn't this room only have one terminal? I blink, looking around. Hm... Maybe one of the terminals moved to an earlier room. It's the best explanation, anyhow. I guess here we'll get to watch something go down. Hm... I wonder how Jack will hold up with one of the terminals in this room. She goes into denial about just about everything. She had a tough time believing that her cell's window was a two-way mirror, and she had a harder one believing that the kids started the riot and she didn't, so...

Denial, denial, denial. I just hope she comes to terms with everything that's going down.

I watch Jack approach the first terminal then, switching it on as one of the directors of the Teltin facility goes on and talks about stuff. Hm... He's standing there...

Yes, it's the one where he brings up the Grissom Academy. I don't know what the hell it's doing here instead of in the next room we enter, but... There you have it. The transmission is played through all the way this time, and then it does on Jack as she turns to Al.

"Bullshit," she says. "I don't think he would have taken them to that school. It looked too nice for a bunch of kids who were here."

"It would have been good to see any of these kids end up there, though," replies Al, looking at the terminal. "The Ascension program takes in any children in need. They could have helped all of the children here."

Jack nods. "Too bad for them, they're all dead," she says, looking around the room. "And too bad for them, I became an all-powerful bitch." I shake my head, biting my lower lip as hard as I can to keep myself from bursting out laughing. "But... they did start the riot, didn't they...?"

She turns to me then, looking at me as... Oh, dear, she has a question, doesn't she? "Do you know why they did that?" she asks. "A lot of this..."

"Isn't how you remember it?" I ask, my eyes falling on the last terminal. "I don't think you've seen the worst of it yet, Jack."

With this, I walk to the only other terminal in the room, looking right at it as I take in a deep breath. Don't worry, Art, Jack won't go berserk on you for something like that. Besides... it's time for her to realize something like that. You know how it is...

I walk up to the Terminal then, and then look down as I activate it. There's the hologram of the scientist...

And here we go.

"_Log 1054, Teltin Facility. The latest iteration of PergNim went poorly. Subjects One, Four, and Six died. No biotic change among the survivors. We lowered core temperatures of surviving subjects, but no biotically beneficial reactions occurred. As a side effect, all subjects died. So we'll not try that on Zero. I hope our supply of biotic potential subjects holds up. We are going through them fast._"

The feed cuts out soon after, leaving Jack standing there, shaking her head in disbelief as she begins pacing away from the terminal. "Bullshit," she says. "They weren't experimenting on other kids to keep me safe!" she says, hardening her glance as Al slowly walks over. "I survived because I was tougher than the rest of them! Not because they made sure of it!"

Al comes up to her then. "Don't blame yourself for what they did to other children," says Al. I can see he's resisting the temptation to lay a hand on Jack's shoulder for some reason. I think Jack would appreciate that.

"This just... none of this makes any sense," says the convict. "It's not how I remember it..."

Just like my death in my previous world isn't how I remember it. I step up to Jack then, looking at her as both of their attentions turn to me. "There are some things that we can't have known," I say, holding my hand behind my back as I say this. "Even with all the knowledge of the world at our fingertips, there's always something that's going to escape your notice."

"Maybe," she says, nodding in agreement. "I guess you'd know about shit like that?"

Yeah... I would. Now I would, honestly. I just can't believe that I'm dead back home, and had no way of knowing it until Orange came in and showed me through the field of visions. It's just... It's wierd. Now I'm thinking about it in a completely different way. I just...

I better not think about it. Besides, we still have a few more Blood Pack units to deal with. I've gotta keep a clear head for that stuff.

"Maybe," I supply. "Either way... you have a few answers..."

She nods. "But I don't get why someone would want to come here with the Blood Pack," she states.

I shrug. "We'll find the answer to that question soon," I supply, pulling out my pistol as I move to the door. "Come on. The last unit of Blood Pack guys is waiting."

The rest of us nod our agreement, and then we draw our weapons as I approach the door.

* * *

We venture a little bit further before we come across a spacious room with plenty of chest-high walls about. No sooner do we step in than the door opens on the other side of the room. We then see quite a few vorcha pile out, followed by two krogan and such.

All right. Looks like it's action time!

I see Al draw a sniper rifle, watching as Joc, Jack, and Miranda all simply look at the krogan coming in. The chief krogan of the group shouts something at us, but seriously? I can't be bothered to care right now. Because this just means we get more dudes to kill.

And if a minute goes by without a dude and a murder, you're playing it wrong.

...

Wait, this isn't _Painkiller_. Maybe I should find a gun that has tits and is on fire before I can go there...

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, committing mass murder on the last contingent of Blood Pack we'll probably run into in this whole entire galaxy.

Of course. Let's get right to it.

I raise my pistol quickly, looking for peeps to kill as they start charging us. I see Miranda lift one of the unlucky vorcha up, and no sooner do I see this when it promptly slams back in. Hm... I raise my pistol, sidling along as soon as my back hits cover. Okay... I wait for a few seconds, hoping that he will come back up. I'm pretty sure he will, I mean, a slam from Miranda doesn't kill guys like that.

So after a few seconds of waiting, I do quickly come out of cover. And sure enough, there he is, just getting up. Thinking quickly, I fire my pistol at him a couple of times, and he goes down very quickly after that. See? Slams don't kill people unless they've already been shot.

Shame. I could see Miranda making a hell of a fine Fatality out of that.

I glance over to the side then, right as another vorcha comes along. I fire exactly once before I see a streak of blue fly by, with Jocelyn suddenly appearing right in front of the vorcha. I blink when I see her rushing away, a shotgun blast being embedded into the vorcha.

...

Damn it, Shepard! You're stealing my kills! I don't give a shit so long as I'm not one of the kills, but still!

I shake my head, plopping right back into cover as I feel some assault rifle rounds impact against my shields. I hear the sharp report of a sniper rifle go off close to where I am soon after, and then I look over to see Al reloading his rifle quickly. Hm... He probably felled a vorcha with that shot. It's the only really logical thing I can think of, really. But that's speculation for another day.

I pop out of cover again, looking down at the area below us as I see a vorcha with a flamethrower come right up, followed by one of the krogan. I see a biotic shockwave head towards the krogan, but it's not even dazed as it just passes right under him. The vorcha, though, is quick to get out of the way.

Hm... it's got a flamethrower! So that makes it a prime target for going kablooey, right? Yeah, that's what I thought.

I come out of cover then, aiming my pistol as quickly as I can. Okay... body part... body part... tank! My finger squeezes the trigger, but I see the round impact against the ground. Damn it, my aim was off! Okay, let's try this again... Tank! I pull it again, and this time, I'm greated with a hiss of gas escaping as the vorcha looks back in shock. Yes! Direct hit on the tank, motherfucker!

I see him flail around right as the krogan comes around. Wait for it... wait for it...

We're rewarded with the gas tanks on the vorcha's back, causing the little fucker to blow up as well. But the blast manages to catch the krogan, too, whose armor is lit on fire shortly afterwards. This causes the krogan in question to stop concentrating on the fight and start thinking about other, slightly more important things. Though why stop, drop, and roll hasn't occurred to him yet is anybody's guess. But still, it just means he's easier to deal with.

Especially since he dropped his shotgun.

I think Shepard takes this as a good time to go after the krogan in question, as I then see her rush right at the krogan in the biotic punch thing. This sends the guy reeling back, and before he can even shout about it, he takes a shotgun round to the face. He goes pretty quiet after Shepard shoots him again for good measure, and the fire still kind of blazes there. The rain leaking through the roof is probably going to change that soon, and if that doesn't, then the nuclear explosion most certainly will.

Anyway.

Wait... I've seen Miranda, Al, and Joc all contribute to the fight. So where the hell is-

Ah, okay, I think that answered my question.

I see the second krogan fly over a whole bunch of cover, landing with a loud booming noise right in front of where Shepard is. Holy shit, this is a warlord we're talking about here and he just got tossed like a ragdoll! Barely a second later, I see Jack jumping from where the warlord came from, a biotic blue glow surrounding her as a trail of orange blood seems to be following her movements. Oh, boy, this got physical, didn't it?

I see the biotic land where the krogan is right as he's starting to get up. Oh, boy. This is gonna be a doozy.

The impact of her landing sends a small shockwave that's enough to knock Shepard onto her ass. But Jack doesn't look like she's done, oh no. She kneels down, and then starts giving the krogan warlord a smackdown with biotically-powered punches. Jesus Christ... That looks like it's doing serious damage to the guy! I mean... for christ's sake, she's drawing blood! And that's with punches. Granted, she's got biotic power on her side, but I'm pretty sure a knife couldn't do that kind of thing!

Well, unless you're trying to pry a headplate off. Any other place a knife can go in a krogan and it would probably snap. I mean, having a krogan get successfully stabbed in the ribcage with an average combat knife would just be silly!

Right... I think too much.

I see Jack lay down the punches, her hands getting progressively bloodier as she lays the smackdown on the krogan in question. Oh, dear, that's one dead-ass krogan. And slowly, I see the warlord still slightly, with Jack eventually getting off and lifting him.

Oh, man... I'm so tempted to pull a Shao Khan on this guy's ass and just shout 'Finish Him'... But that wouldn't be appropriate, so I just watch as Jack biotically lifts him and throws the warlord quite a distance away. When Al plugs a sniper rifle round into him for good measure, I'm just looking at the biotic.

And after Al does that, we all look at her in shock. Okay... Uh... She simply stands there... nonchalantly. Like she just went out to get groceries. I mean, think about it: she just took down a freaking krogan _warlord_! With her bare hands! And she's just standing there casually!

Am I the only one who finds that more than a little creepy?

Eh, it's probably not really that important. Well, unless Shepard says so.

Speaking of her, I watch her get up, walking towards Jack. The convict just looks at her non-plussed, not seeming to notice just how flabberghasted Shepard looks.

"What?" she asks.

I see Joc fidget slightly, glancing down at the ground before turning her gaze back to the biotic.

"Jack... you and I need to talk about your psychotic tendencies towards people."

* * *

Okay, so now with the Blood Pack taken care of... we only have Jack's cell to go to. So we head over there, we round the corner where Jack looks at some old bloodstain briefly, and then we enter the cell.

I blink. Hm... This is a plain cell. It's just white, and kind of in disrepair. That's not saying a whole lot, though: it still looks like a place someone could theoretically make a living in. Somehow. Even though being in a facility that's falling apart probably isn't prime real estate for a lot of people. Especially not when it's on a planet where the only real food you can eat is varren steaks. I imagine that would be fattening after a while.

And there's the bed... and the table... and the window/two-way mirror. Yeah, everything is more or less how it was in the game. So that would mean...

I cross my arms as I frown. "Come out," I say. "We've already killed your Blood Pack hirelings, so we know you're in here."

At first, it's relatively silent as Jack enters the cell with Al following quickly. And then, we see someone come out from behind the bed... Yep, it's Aresh all right. He's in that wierd little service uniform, complete with the facial hair that's around his mouth and under his chin. Also, there's that look in his eyes, that speaks of some kind of determination marred by a really, really bad childhood experience. Jack looks down, grabbing her pistol soon after this just in case. When the man rises, we all look to the new stranger there as he raises his arms.

"All right, all right," he says. "I'm coming out now."

Jack nods, taking a step forward. "Who the hell are you?" asks the convict. "And what the fuck do you want with this place?"

But the other man simply stands in the shadows as Jack prepares her pistol. "My name is Aresh," he says. "And you're breaking into my home."

"Shitty place ya got," I quip soon after. "I'm surprised you haven't called someone in to take a look at that roof of yours."

"I don't need that," says the former subject. This is all he addresses of my quip before he looks to Jack. "I know who you are, Subject Zero." With this, he comes out of the shadows, revealing himself to the rest of us. And then... we get that. So I watch as Jack raises her pistol in alarm as the man approaches. Aresh, however, isn't fazed in the slightest. "So many years have passed, and I thought I was the only survivor."

"My name is Jack," says the biotic convict. "How the hell do you know me?"

"We all knew your face, Jack," replies Aresh. "They inflicted horrors on us so their experiments wouldn't kill you." See, Jack? "You were the question, and I'm still looking for the answer."

I shake my head. "Some questions were never meant to be answered," I supply. "If you're here to restart this facility-" which I know you are "-then it might not be the best idea anyone's ever had."

"I'm going to find out what they knew," says Aresh. "Everything they did to us... they did for a reason. I'm going to find out what it is. I'm restarting the Teltin facility."

And to the surprise of absolutely nobody, Jack isn't amused. "I wanted a hole in the ground!" she says. "He's trying to justify what happened by using it?"

See, Jack? This is why I abstained on telling you about this. That way you don't freak out with stuff like-

"Why the hell didn't you say anything?"

...

Or... you can still freak out and nearly reveal my secret to someone who has absolutely no business knowing whatsoever. That works too.

I glance to the biotic, feeling her glare penetrate my skull, but before I can reply, the other man starts. "What are you talking about?" he asks.

"He-"

"-doesn't have anything to add!" I shout over Jack's trying to tell Aresh exactly why she's yelling at me. "Contrary to what you might think, I have nothing to do with this! I'm just here for the ride!"

She moves to reply when Al places a tentative hand on her shoulder. The convict stops, and then I see one of her hands clench into a fist. But Al simply looks right at her, saying absolutely nothing.

"That sounds... oddly specific," mentions Aresh.

I shake my head. "Trust me, you don't want to know," I say. "Remember what I was saying about some questions going better unanswered? That falls in there. And this is kind of like that."

"They must have tortured us for a reason!" says Aresh.

"And what, you plan on getting there by doing the same damn thing the scientists did to you?" I ask. "They were having _children_ fight to the death, damn it. _Children_. There's nothing that can justify that shit, no matter how many times you restart Teltin."

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't try," says the man. Oh, Jesus Christ, he's not budging on that at all. He really is kind of insane in so many ways.

"But you lived it!" I say. "You want to do the same thing to other children?"

"They did horrible things to us," says Aresh. "They must have had good reason."

"No," says Jack, turning back to Aresh. "There's no reason good enough for what they did." Oh, boy... "You have no idea what they put me through. That's not something I'm going to let anyone else go through. You're messed. And because of that, I'm not letting you restart this place again. I wanted a hole in the ground, and that's what I'm getting."

Ah, there's the Jack I know. Getting all sassy about stuff that happened in the facility. So now... we get to blow the place up. Well, not yet, because I think we still have one thing to take care of that we probably should take care of soon...

"We can still blow the place up. That leaves him, though," says Al. "What do you do with another you?"

"What do I do with him?" asks Jack. "That's easy."

"Just leave me here," says Aresh, almost pleadingly. "This is where I belong."

Of course, knowing Jack, she doesn't buy it as she biotically sends him to his knees. "Fuck that," she states. She then raises the handgun again, pointing it right at the temple.

Oh, boy. Crisis point. So does Aresh live, or does he die?

I think I'll let Al handle this one.

And indeed, the younger Shepard sibling looks to the biotic woman. "Jack, he's trapped in his past," he states. "You need to move on from yours."

The convict looks up in surprise, her finger paused on the trigger. "He wants to restart this place!" she says. Hm... That came out almost too quickly. "He needs to die."

Al simply shakes his head. "Jack, he's crazy," he states. "He doesn't have anything necessary to restart the facility. And he'll have even less when we plant the bomb and blow this place apart. You need to let it go." He blinks then, before nodding to Jack. "Your past doesn't have to control you, Jack. It doesn't have to control anything about you."

The biotic woman then looks at Al, an unreadable expression on her face. I can see her hands start shaking... Wow, is this the first time she's hesitated to kill someone in cold blood? Wow... Al really is rubbing off on our favorite angry biotic. But... She blinks once, and finds herself unable to pull the trigger.

"Fuck!" she lets out in a half-curse, half-shout, and then pulls the gun away from Aresh. "Get out of here. Go!"

I see Aresh pause as Jack steps back from the crazy son of a bitch who tried to restart Teltin. With a bit of trepidation, he stands up. No sooner does he see that Jack has no intention of shooting him then he bolts out of the room past Jocelyn and Miranda. I blink. Well... that was slightly different. But the outcome is still the same, so... yeah.

Jack shakes his head. "He's not worth chasing," she says. "None of it is."

Al simply steps forward, nodding to the angry biotic as he stops to maintain some distance. "You did the right thing, Jack," he says. "Trust me."

"Maybe," says the convict. "I don't know." She shakes her head, uncertain. "Fuck, I haven't let anyone go that easily since... well, never really." She turns right to me. "And why the hell didn't you say anything?"

I shrug. "You have to deal with your past yourself," I say, shaking my head. "I can't tell you how to deal with it. Nobody can. You had to see Aresh here yourself, hear him say things. It wouldn't be the same if I just told you before.

The convict looks extremely lost in thought. "I don't know," she says. "I... I guess you've got a point, but... Shit, I'm bad with this soft stuff."

I wouldn't have expected any less of you, Jack. I don't say anything after that, instead putting my hands behind my back as I watch Jack. She stands there, and before long she finds herself looking around at the room that we're in. "This room was my whole childhood. Before I blow this place up, I want a minute to look around."

Al looks back to Jocelyn, nodding as she and Miranda raise a thumb. "We have to backtrack to the shuttle to get the bomb anyway," she says. "Take as much time as you need."

The biotic nods gratefully, and then Miranda and Jocelyn both leave. Hm... I'll bet they just need to leave the three of us alone in Jack's cell so we can help her come to terms with it. Makes sense, I guess; we're the two closest people to the convict, and she won't let anyone else hear her gush out about her past and all that beautiful jazz. So... it makes sense. Though I wonder if it also means that Jack and I can make up over the ground we lost when I hid stuff from her.

We'll see.

As the two leave, my gaze turns back to Jack. I cross my arms then, biting my lower lip as she begins to move around the room.

I watch her walk over to that old desk of hers, and she looks at it wistfully as she runs a hand across the length of it. "I used this table for everything," she says. "It was like my best friend. I'd crawl under it to cry." She walks past it, lifting a hand up and shaking her head. "I was pathetic."

"I doubt that, Jack," says Al, shaking his head. "If I were in your position, I think I'd do that too."

The biotic chuckles darkly at this. "Somehow, I can't see _you _crawling under here and crying," she says.

"Maybe not," says Al. "But I would've been scared too if I were here."

I nod, looking out the window as I approach it. I wipe some of the stuff that's built-up over the years, and look through the window into the area below. "At least the view was nice," I say.

Jack turns to the window then, and slowly I hear footsteps approach me. I glance to the side to see the convict walking right up to the window, a hand hesitantly laying on the little film that's built up. "I used to think that room was the rest of the world," she says. "I'd pound and yell."

"And yet they'd never even acknowledge you were there," I mention.

"Pretty much," she replies.

I nod. "I don't know how you managed to survive all this, Jack," I say honestly.

"Shit, I don't know either," admits the biotic, walking over to the bed that's over to the side of where we are. "Sometimes I dream about being back in this bed, tortured." She gestures right to it, and Al walks over to where the biotic is standing. "I used to tie the sheets around my wrists and try to tear them off." I blink at this, watching as she shakes her head. "I want to stop coming back here."

Al nods. "Don't worry," says Al. "Soon, this place will be nothing but radioactive dust."

"Yeah," says Jack, rubbing one of her arms. "I can't fuckin' wait. Where's Shepard and the cheerleader?"

I shrug. "Probably still getting the bomb," I mention. "You got any other place to think about?"

"Yeah," says the convict. "Come on. I noticed a blood stain as we were coming in. I think it's where I killed my first man."

I nod, following Jack out as she moves. Al isn't far behind, and then we're all exiting Jack's little cell... which was actually pretty spacious for a cell, now that I think about it. To think that Jack got the best treatment out of everyone in this facility and it still sucked for her. Yeah... that actually really, really sucks. Somehow. I don't know why some random people would just do shit like that, really. But, it happened...

Hm... While I'm here.

"Say, Jack," I say, making sure that it's loud enough that Albert can't here. "When we blow this place up... I think we need to talk about stuff."

The convict simply shrugs at this. "Sure," she says. "I guess."

And she leaves it at that as we walk over to the old bloodstain where she killed her first man.

* * *

On the shuttle, Al is sitting next to Jack. Okay... the bomb's been planted there, and as Joc and Miranda sit right in front of where Jenny is busy piloting the shuttle, I look to Jack. She's got the little button that'll make this place go kablooey. And she's flicking the cover open and closed, open and closed. She looks hesitant, like there's a part of her that doesn't want to bury this final place of her past so resolutely.

But... From where I sit on the ground, I simply nod to Jack as she looks to the rest of us for support. We're all giving her the best looks of 'we're with you to the end' kind of deal... even Miranda, shockingly. Which is strange, because last I checked the cheerleader didn't really like the test subject and vice versa. But... she's just sitting there as the shuttle flies away.

And we all know what Jack has to do. So...

Joc nods, and then Jack flips the detonator open. Without so much as a single flinch, Shepard bangs on the shuttle's cockpit door. I feel a sudden burst of speed from the Kodiak as Jenny drives as far away as she can as quickly as she can. I look back to Jack, whose gaze falls on us without any sense of hesitation.

One second later, her finger presses down on the button.

I hear a loud boom sounding from behind the shuttle, and there's a shockwave as well. The shuttle bucks up for a little bit, nearly throwing everyone out of our seats as we get moved along by a very sudden burst of speed. I see one of the lights flicker, but that particular flicker doesn't really last all that long before it returns back to normal.

Doesn't mean it's scary as hell, though. The shuttle falls apart here, we'll be reliving that part of that one _Call of Duty _game that I will forever be more or less apathetic to... well, except for that one part with the nuclear bomb, anyway. Because that part is actually pretty riveting.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah.

I look back to Jack, who has let out a huge sigh of relief. It's only then that I realize that her body has been pretty tense, as she leans back against the surface immediately behind her seat.

Relief. Yeah, she's finally on track to letting go of her past. It was one hell of a send-off, too.

I only wish I could do something similar with my own past...


	43. Chapter 41

_A/N: All right__. Jesus Christ, this chapter took a while to write. Almost too long, I think, but hey, IRL issues are weird like that._

_So Jack's loyalty mission occurred last chapter, and everything was good with that. So fun times are had for all, everyone is happy now that Jack's past can finally be laid to rest..._

_And an issue IRL has ended. Ladies and gentlemen... I am no longer near sighted IRL. Yep. I got the LASIK eye surgery this past Wednesday, so now I can see everything so incredibly clearly it's surreal. I never thought I'd be able to see this clearly, and yet, here we are. No more glasses until I become a middle-aged man!_

_So yeah. Oh, and if you're looking for reading material... go check out _Changing Fate _by Made Nightwing. It's an incredibly fascinating little AU piece that addresses one hell of a question: what would go down if Jack and Miranda traded places in their opinions on Cerberus? The answer: a lot of shit would change. Like what? Well... I won't spoil it for you. So go read it. It's one hell of an interesting fanfic, and a hell of a joy to read._

_And now, we move on to a chapter where things really calm down. So let's get going, shall we?_

* * *

Chapter 41: Solving a Problem Like Maria

And now... the catfight.

I hear Joker warning Shepard about Jack and Miranda's little disagreement right as I plop down for dinner after a long day's mission. Madison and Garrus have both sat down at the same table I'm going to be eating at, and Sturge has just served me stuff. He's off to get himself fed, but as I sat down, the announcement came over the loudspeakers, right as Shepard was walking to Life Support. I didn't see Jack enter the room, but there we have it. I look up as Shepard shakes her head, walking over to Miranda's office.

"Touch me, and I'll smear the-!" Jack's yell is cut off by the opening and closing of Miranda's office door.

I see Madison raise an eyebrow at this. "Jack doesn't look too happy," she mentions.

"She's not." I shake my head with this statement. "Looks like people still have loyalty arguments."

"Loyalty arguments?" asks Garrus.

I shrug. "Sometimes, when two people complete a loyalty mission, it results in an argument between them," I mention, shrugging. "And then it's up to Shepard to take sides on an argument." I gesture with a thumb to Miranda's office. "This one is Jack being pissy at Miranda not seeing Cerberus for what it is."

The journalist frowns at this. "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, though," she comments. "I mean, she was on the ground team at Pragia, right? She got to see first hand what they put her through!"

"I know." Yeah, that never did make much sense, did it? I think about this, before shrugging as Sturge takes his meal and takes a seat next to me. I begin to speak as he does this. "But then, Cerberus saved Miranda, so she feels indebted to them."

"There... is a way Shepard can get them to see eye to eye, right?" asks Garrus.

I nod. "I probably wouldn't put it like that, but yeah," I reply. "I would probably put it so that we have a cease-fire until we deal with the Collectors. But I'm sure Shepard has more than enough charisma to make sure that the two of them don't tear each other apart right now."

Sturge nods as all of our attentions turn back to the door to Miranda's office, with Jack walking out. We all give her a glance as she shrugs, looking at the door to Miranda's office briefly. Then, she moves on, and her posture... doesn't seem all that pissy. Okay. She's not absolutely hateful right now... I nod, turning to the others.

"Okay," I say, gesturing to Jack. "She doesn't look supremely pissed off. That's a good sign. I think."

"I guess Shepard either sided with her or got them to see more or less eye to eye?" asks Madison.

I nod. "Pretty much," I say. "Now we just need to wait to see Miranda's reaction and we'll have a good judge on that."

"I thought Miranda was supposed to be hard to read," says Sturge, a slight frown setting on his face. "Hell, I have a difficult time reading her."

Really? Hm... "I don't," I reply, looking back down at my meal as I say this. "But we'll see what happens. I'm sure Shepard got them to see eye to eye, though. It's what I would do."

No sooner do I say this then Shepard comes out, nodding to herself. Okay... Well, she seems a little relieved about stuff. I'll take that as a good sign, as she's still going straight to Life Support, where Thane is undoubtedly hanging out around this time. I shrug, looking back to the other people I'm eating with.

"So that takes care of that," I say, returning to my business with eating stuff. "So... how's everybody doing here?"

"We're fine," says Madison. "I wonder, though: there's something I noticed about you lately. You seem to be... planning something."

Well, you may be right. "Indeed," I say, biting my lower lip. "I was just thinking about how to resurrect a dead sister with chosen ones."

Madison raises her eyebrows at this, but it's Garrus who picks up on it. "It doesn't happen to involve splitting the world in two, does it?" he asks.

I nod, smirking. "Possibly a little more," I reply. "Up to and including creating an entire church around the concept."

"Then we'll just have to destroy the people's belief in the church," finishes Madison, who has also started smirking. "You have anything you want to take care of?"

"Yeah," I say. "I have to take care of some things with Jack and Mordin. You two can gather the rest of them while I'm taking care of that. But it's going to take a bit with Mordin, so..."

"Got it," says Madison. "I wonder what you're going to talk to us about..."

I smirk. Oh, boy, she is in for quite an adventure, I think. Finding out that elements of _Inception _were actually existing during the time of the Protheans. But yeah... fun times will be had with that, no doubt. So we shall see what happens when I tell them that one actually can be made hyper-aware of their dream space. Of course, I have to see Mordin about the chemicals in the briefcase, but otherwise we'll be good to go with that.

"You'll see," I say, cutting into the piece of chicken that Sturge grilled for today. "Let's just say you may have to sleep on it a little bit."

* * *

After finishing my dinner, I took the elevator over to the CIC deck. I really need to go speak with Mordin right about now. After all, we do have a lot of ground to cover before I have to meet with the Brotherhood. So I have to enter his dreams, get him to look at the stuff, and-

"Ah, Art. There you are."

...

Or... I can let Kelly Chambers distract me first with some psychological bits, and then we can move on and do stuff.

Damn it, I should've seen this coming sooner or later.

"Hello, Kelly," I say, taking in a deep breath as I turn to face her where she stands in front of the console. "What do you want now?"

"I... I've been meaning to talk to you for a long time now," she says. "About... well... you know." The fact that she says _that _of all things means that she's talking about my secret. I just know it. Oh, dear, now it's her turn to give me shit about it.

I sigh, shaking my head. "Kelly, I know you probably feel betrayed that I lied to you and the rest of the crew of the Normandy," I begin. "But trust me, I had my reasons. And I kicked myself over it so much more than you could possibly hope to. I've shed tears, I've hit myself, hell I even bit my forearm once. So trust me, it's as hard on me as it is on you." Okay, that was quite a doozy to take in. But hey, I'm getting it all out now so that we can spare arguing for hours. I look up at her, shrugging. "Okay. Now that we have that out of the way, I'm going to continue on with my daily life. Unless, of course, you have any objections...?"

...

Why's she blinking at me like that?

"That's... not what I wanted to ask, actually..."

...

God damn it. The one time I decide to end the argument before it starts, and it's not even the topic she wants to touch on. Thanks, Kelly Chambers.

I close my eyes, shaking my head. "Then what did you want to ask?"

Kelly looks right at me. "The fact that you lied changes your psych report a little bit," she says. "So... I have to know some things. Did... did you lie about anything you told me about?"

Ah.

Now _that's _a good question. Now suddenly I feel like Belleza to Kelly's Vyse in that one part of _Skies of Arcadia._ Man, I miss that game. It was such a great RPG, and it's a shame it was so underrated. But... hey.

I look to her. "If it involved my history before I came up here..." I say, shrugging. "It varies, really. That story I told you about the bully and humming the Verdi Requiem excerpt on the way home? That really did happen to me. It sort of helped me realize what my real calling in life is." I shrug. "But it's been a hell of a two years, Kelly. You wouldn't know how often I think about my family."

"No doubt you would," says the ship's psychologist. "You can't go home again, right?"

I nod, glancing to the side. "Yeah, I can't," I say. Oh, damn it... My gaze turns to the floor. "And now I'm sure they all think I'm dead. It's not easy dealing with never being able to go home again... Especially not like this..." I take in a deep breath. "There's so much about my old life I wish I could take back, Kelly. You have absolutely no idea how much I would do differently if I had known I would find myself here smack dab in the middle of college, you know?"

"And yet we never do," says the ship's Yeoman. "Are you sure you're all right, Art?"

I look down, crossing my arms. "It's been wierd, losing some of my friends," I say. "And honestly, I know a part of me deserves it for not saying anything sooner. But a lot of people are taking it better than I could've hoped. They've been okay with it, and if not... then they usually warm up by the time the day ends. It's kinda wierd that way, but... I'm just thankful I haven't lost the friendship of everyone here. I think I'll be all right, Kelly."

The yeoman nods at this. "You've got quite a few people who care about you on the ship," she mentions. "I think you'll be fine too."

I nod, looking at her. "I... guess that solves all your questions?" I ask.

"Well... not really," replies the yeoman. "You know... I talked to Shepard about it briefly before we went down to Pragia." Oh, she did? "She mentioned that some people didn't entirely believe your cover story when you came onto the first Normandy. Some had come not to question it after a while, though... You're a good person at heart. You knew what you were up against, and yet you tagged along anyway."

"I needed a purpose," I say, rubbing the back of my head. "But I guess you have a point there. I couldn't muster up the courage to tell the truth, though. That would've saved us a lot of grief, let me tell you."

"True," says Kelly. "I can tell you that people would have thought you insane, and justifiably so. I guess if you had said something privately to Shepard, though..."

"Yeah," I say, letting out a sigh. "But it's no use wondering about that. I think I'll be fine." I nod, looking at her. "Thanks for asking."

Kelly nods. "I should probably ask you one more thing," she says. "You mentioned that the crew would be taken..." She glances down. Oh... Yeah. That.

"Including you," I say, grimly. Damn it... I _knew _this would come up sooner or later. "I guess you want some kind of warning about that."

"Yeah," says Kelly. "It's just... now that we know about it... You're just going to let it happen?"

"It ends with EDI being unshackled," I mention. "It's the only way to save the ship, and I think it would have massive consequences later against the Reapers. It has to happen, Kelly."

"But... you can save the crew, right? They can be saved and it won't have an effect on EDI being unshackled, right?"

...

I...

You know, I've never really thought about it like that. All this time I've been thinking that Joker needed to be alone on the ship. But... Damn it, Kelly's right! Maybe... Maybe there's a way to unshackle the AI without losing all of the crew...

Yes...

I can see how that could work. If EDI... And if... Yes...

Oh my god.

No. There is _definitely _a way I can save the crew of the Normandy. Nothing definitive, but... After we get the IFF, I can bounce ideas off of the Brotherhood. And then we could work out a way to save as much of the crew of the Normandy as we can. Yes...

I can do something about it! And she's totally right.

Kelly Chambers, I could fucking _kiss _you right now.

I'll drop a warning now...

"If you do get captured anyway... don't be afraid," I mention. "Shepard's done all the loyalty missions except for one, so... you should be safe if you get captured. When Shepard comes in fast, we get to save the whole crew of the Normandy. If you don't want to be caught, though..." I glance to the side. "Then you would probably be best off camping out in the AI Core after we take the shuttle to the next mission while EDI is testing the Reaper IFF."

"But what about the rest of the crew?" asks Kelly.

I bite my lower lip. "I'll think of something," I say, biting my lower lip. "But you know... You just made me think that there may be a way to save the crew. I'll bounce some ideas off of my friends and... hopefully I'll have something before we hit that plot development."

Kelly nods, brushing some hair back. "Just... let me know when we have something," she says. "That's all I wanted to ask. I... hope you'll be all right."

I smile, nodding to her. "Thanks for asking," I mention. "And... take care of yourself, Kelly. For everyone's sake."

She nods, and then I turn towards Mordin's office.

Well... that certainly went better than expected. I never figured I'd have to talk to Kelly about that kinda thing, though. I always figured she would keep her mouth shut about it. You'd think that would be the case, but I guess I should know a gossip much better than that. So yeah...

I shrug, walking right into the tech lab as I think about this. Okay... there's Mordin, typing away at that console of his that's on the table. Okay, good, he's awake. That means I won't have to infiltrate his dream. And I can just ask him to do something, thus saving valuable dream time. Not like he'll need the extra time, but hey, you can never plan things too much. So... yeah. I just have to get EDI to lock the door, and we'll be good.

Okay. Let's do this.

I walk up to Mordin's console, looking right at the salarian doctor. "Hey, Mordin," I say. "You doing all right?"

"Ah, Serviceman," says Mordin. "Doing all right. Received call from favorite nephew."

"Lemme guess," I say. "It's the nephew that's about to go to university while doing tenure at the age of sixteen?"

"Yes," says Mordin. "Am very proud of nephew. Good man."

"I imagine so," I mention. "He seems like a really bright guy, getting full tenure at university."

"Of course," says Mordin. "Did not bring up Collector mission. Still, good to see his face one last time." Here, he sniffed rather harshly again. "Good for closure."

Yeah, I wouldn't want to scare my loved ones like that... okay, ow. "Yeah..." I say, nodding. I look right up at Mordin, biting my lower lip. "At least you got a chance to say goodbye to your close family."

"Would not call it goodbye," replies Mordin. "Still, understand your frustrations with this." He looks at me, taking his hands away from the console. "Get the feeling you're here to talk about other things."

Okay, now we can get the topic on track here! I nod, smirking. "Ya read my mind, Mordin," I say. "I have something I need to talk to you about, and that I need to do with you. And it's all sciency and stuff."

"Science?" asks Mordin, leaning over. "What kind of science? Biochemistry? Nuclear physics? Can do many types."

Oh, boy... That's definitely not what I was thinking, but whatever. Hm... Now it's time to take out the device. And it's time to get this show on the road.

I take out the orange paperweight turned dreamshare thingamabob out so that Mordin can see it, placing it on the table where his console is. I gesture to it then, shaking my head.

"Not exactly," I say. "It's an extremely long story. Let's just say that it starts with something that no species has really seen."

Mordin takes one look at the object on the table, not daring to touch it. For some reason. I'd think he would have his hands all over the damn thing! But... He just looks at me. "Orange paperweight?" he asks, pacing around as he shakes his head. "Possible dark energy source? No, no, much to small for that. What then? Can't be volatile chemical. Came into contact with skin without explosion. Much science already uncovered, what could this mean? Ah, a question. Exciting hunt for answers! Must study further!"

I blink as he comes to a stop in front of... okay... uh...

I don't...

Uh...

"Expression shows perturbed reaction," says Mordin. "Have something to add?"

...

"Uh, yeah..." I say, raising my hand as I feel something equating a sweatdrop. Wait... I haven't seen an anime sweatdrop in years! So why am I thinking of it like that? Hm... "I... kind of already know what it does."

"Oh!" The doctor's hand raises, one of his fingers pointing straight up at the ceiling. "Better for science!" he says.

"Yeah, but..." I bite my lower lip. Okay... "It's something very specific." I lean forward then. "See, this device specializes in a very specific kind of science. Subconscious science. Like... dreams. And sharing them."

Mordin frowns. "_Inception _science?" he asks, confused. Hm... He figured out the reference. "No, no, no... not right. Can't be possible. Science involved too preposterous! Awareness of dreams too acute!" He sniffs rather loudly. "Not possible."

I shake my head, taking the orange device. "Well, I found a way to make it possible," I say. "But it's not of my own doing. It's a long story..."

"Have all day," says Mordin. "Can recount all you know here."

Hm... That _is _a good point... "I think you have to share a dream for yourself first, though," I say, carefully opening the device as I pull out the needles. "What say you and I share a dream, right now?"

I can see the salarian is just a little shocked at this. Well... I think, anyway. Damn salarian facial expressions can be hard to read sometimes since they're so quickly processed! Oh, well... not like there's much he can do about it.

But he simply shakes his head. "Share dream?" he asks. "Not possible, though. What...?"

I point to the device. "This thing has what we need," I mention. "There's a specific chemical in the object, but we can't tamper with it because it serves another function. I can't risk it breaking because of that. But I've been seeing a larger quantity of the stuff in briefcases in my dreams as of late." I pull out one of the needles, placing the thing back on the work table as I place the needle into my wrist.

"Share dream, and find out what chemicals there are?" asks Mordin. "Hm... Could prove a challenge. Fascinating..." He rubs his chin in curiosity at this turn of events, and he narrows his eyes as he thinks about it. "Still... must keep in mind dangers."

I nod. "Trust me, Mordin," I tell him. "I won't do anything to you that I won't do to myself first," I reassure him. "And I wouldn't have come to you if I didn't think you could help me with this. I know most of what I'm doing, and I'm coming to you because I know you're the best person to help me. So trust me on this. Take a leap of faith."

But the scientist is already nodding before I even finish that last sentence. "Science could be interesting," he says. "Also, fascinating to see dream." He takes in a sharp inhale again. "Very well. Will trust you with this. "Science could be interesting."

...

All right!

"Great!" I say. With this, I walk closer to him, extending a dreamshare needle from Orange. The doctor takes it, and then attaches the set-up to his wrist. Okay... now that that's taken care of...

I just have one last thing to ask.

"So... where are we going to lie down?"

* * *

_I open my eyes soon after..._

_And it's raining. On Omega._

_I blink, looking over to where Mordin is standing. The streets are pretty much empty, and we're both getting pretty soaked out here. So yeah, it's pretty easy to see where we are._

_"Rain on Omega?" asks the doctor as I walk over there. "No, no capacity for precipitation. Impossible." He then looks right at me. "Must be an effect of dream."_

_Yeah, because-_

_Wait._

_Hold up._

_"Mordin?" I ask. "How the hell did you know that so quickly?"_

_"Rain on Omega," he mentions. "Also, last memory is of speaking with you about dream science. So... only logical conclusion."_

_Oh, dear. I shake my head, biting my lower lip. "Great," I say. "The subconscious projections are going to come rushing in any second now..."_

_"Ah, but projections not militarized," points out Mordin. "Not all science correct, but... that should hold true, if you're here."_

_I frown at this. What...? "Mordin...?" I ask. "You're kind of creeping me out here."_

_"Science of _Inception _not completely correct," he states. "Doesn't mean it wasn't fascinating."_

_... Oh, God. Mordin, turning into a sci-fi nerd. What has this world come to? "Right..." I say, glancing around. "Okay... so you know what we need to do, right?"_

_"Yes," says Mordin. "Find a briefcase, open it, examine chemicals..." Here, he sniffs again. "Should be interesting."_

_I nod, looking around... Hm... where to go from here... where to go...?_

_"Let's go," I say, pointing over to a door. "That way."_

_The doctor nods, and then we both go on our way. Okay... so we walk through the rather large doors... and the rain more or less stops as soon as we enter. Okay... I look around, seeing some LOKI mechs off to the side. Hm... Something's odd about this, really. I look around, and then see some guards hanging around._

_Hey... could it be? The two of us travel further in to see some subconscious projections of injured patients._

_"Oh, dear..." I say. "Mordin, I think we're in your clinic."_

_"Would appear so," says the doctor as he moves around the patients. "Never had this many patients, though. Crowded. Not good environment for those recovering."_

_I nod, looking at the salarian as I ponder this. "Yeah, that would be a bad thing," I agree, nodding as I cross my arms. "You think the briefcase will be here?"_

_"Maybe," says Mordin, looking around. "Projections seem... docile."_

_I turn to the scientist, shrugging as I do. "I imagine that would happen to projections that are ill and unmilitarized," I mention. "Come on. Let's go find that briefcase."_

_So then Mordin and I work our way through the clinic. Okay... if I remember correctly, then the briefcase will probably be in the area where Mordin would treat his patients with Daniel. So we wouldn't keep going straight along here. We'd turn left, and then we'd find it in one of the rooms. Yeah... So I do that, walking over to where Mordin would treat his patients, along with that little store-room that just so happens to be close by._

_Hm..._

_Could the case be in the store room?_

_"I'll go check the store room," I say. "If it's not there, I'll go right to you."_

_"Can set up work space at clinic berth," says Mordin. "Give me moment."_

_Right... We walk over to the two rooms, and it's there that Mordin and I split. Okay... So here's the store room, with plenty of things in it. There are boxes more or less everywhere. Boxes of medical equipment, boxes used for holding LOKI mechs, boxes for berths, boxes for weapons... Wow, Mordin really did come to Omega more than prepared. This is honestly a little unsettling. But hey, Mordin has experience with STG, so I'm not going to question any of this stuff._

_Okay... so where would a conspicious silver briefcase be...?_

_Hm... I bend over, looking into one of the crates that would have had ammo in a past life. Okay... wow, there are a lot of thermal clips here... Well, the suitcase would be easy to hide, so... Hm... I reach into the thermal clips, sifting them around with my hands as I-_

_Aha! There we are!_

_I sift through the termal clips, and then it reveals a silver briefcase. Excellent! Just the thing I'm looking for!_

_I grab the briefcase out from underneath the thermal clips, and then nod as I turn over to Mordin's work area. I walk out of the supply room shortly afterwards, walking towards the medical area where Mordin would work his medical magic. When I enter, the doctor is busy putting on the last of some equipment there, nodding as he checks it all while putting on some gloves._

_Okay. I nod, placing the briefcase quickly on the birth and opening it. Okay... there's the button, along with the syringes and all that beautiful jazz._

_"Ah, have briefcase," says Mordin as he turns to me. "Excellent. Should have everything I need to examine chemicals inside device. Can begin immediately."_

_I nod, looking at all the stuff. "That's all stuff from the STG?" I ask._

_"Mainly from work on the genophage," he replies. "All manner of chemical compounds tried. Needed to create perfect drug. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out these compounds in a timely fashion. Now... how to open the cylinders..."_

_Yeah, that would be a good place to start, wouldn't it? I glance at it... Jesus... They never showed us how to disassemble this! Or how Yusuf did it._

_Oh, boy..._

_"Looks like it's trial and error from here, Mordin," I say, biting my lower lip and shaking my head._

* * *

_It's a little while later when Mordin frowns. We've somehow managed to extract some of the fluid in there, and he's currently looking at it through a whole bunch of test tubes. I've just been watching him work, turning my head towards the door every so often to keep track of Mordin's subconscious projections. Or are they mine? I really don't know. This... is really damn strange. I don't really know anything about it._

_"Hm..." I hear the salarian hum as he sets a test tube down. "Have complete chemical contents of briefcase."_

_I nod, smiling. "Okay, that's good," I say._

_"Results... intriguing, though," says Mordin. "Chemical chiefly a sedative. Puts patient to sleep. But also found chemicals with electromagnetic properties inside."_

_I frown, looking up. "Electrical properties?" I ask. "You mean it could shock us mid-dream?"_

_"No, no, no," says Mordin. "Electricmagnetic properties, yes, but more like electrolyte fluid. Conduct electricity, nothing more..."_

_Wait... "Check needles," instructs the doctor._

_What? There's something unusual about the chemicals, and he's asking me to look at the needles? "Why?" I ask._

_"Have hunch," says the doctor. "Must see needles first."_

_I blink at Mordin. What the hell do the needles have to do with this? I mean... they're just connected to the... thing..._

_..._

_Unless..._

_I look over at the briefcase, looking where the needle contraption is. I nod, looking over as I pull one of the tethers for the dreamshare briefcase out. Okay... Look at the needle... Hm, I don't really see anything. But I guess I better give it to Mordin, see what he thinks. I nod, turning to the salarian as I hand the needle to him. He pulls it closer to his person, and then his eyes widen._

_"Ah. Exactly as I suspected. Couldn't be possible any other way." He then turns to me, gesturing to something on the needle. "Look very hard."_

_I squint, and-_

_Wait..._

_"Is that an electrode?" I ask, suddenly noticing the tiny disc-shaped thing close to where the needle is._

_"Yes," says the scientist salarian. "Also, see the tube. Squint, and wire becomes visible."_

_I do as he says, and immediately I can see a small gold wire running down the length of the thing. It's... wow, I never would have noticed that! Wait... so if there's an electrode by the needle that supposedly goes against the wrist..._

_"Then the dreamshare works by connecting everyone with electrical signals!" I say._

_"Perhaps," says Mordin. "Would make sense. Would have to study further, of course. Nothing for certain yet. But could be that electrical impulses are shared with all dreamers in dream share. Hence, the dream is shared." He rubs his chin. "May have to come back here later. Briefcase warrants further study. Possible that actual dream sharing occurs thanks to device inside briefcase. Replication in real world also possible. Much like chemical." Here he begins to wave his arms around excitedly. "Would need to devise schematics, design, everything! Challenge! A big breakthrough like we've never seen!"_

_I nod, biting my lower lip. "But that's nothing if we can't reproduce the chemicals in the first place," I say, looking at him. "Can you produce that, at least?"_

_"Of course," says Mordin. "Down to exact percentage of sedative versus electrolyte fluid. May have difficulty remembering dream, though."_

_I shake my head. "We'll wake up and see about that," I say. "So... who wants to do the honors of killing us so we can go back up?"_

_"I'll take care of it," says Mordin, pulling out a pistol. "'Kick' me awake,"_

_Ah, that _is _a good point._

_"Got it," I say. "I'll see you on the other side, Doctor Solus."_

_And with this, Mordin points the gun right at me. I barely see much before I hear and feel the gunshot embed itself in my head-_

* * *

-and then I wake up back on the little surgical table Mordin set aside for our little dreamshare experiment. Okay... I blink, looking at the orange device where it lays. And there's Mordin, standing while asleep. Who could've known that salarians sleep better while standing up? Little buggers really don't know how to lay down and take a nap, do they?

Eh, that's a thought for another day, really.

In the meantime... I better kick him awake. I detach the dreamshare thing from my wrist, and then glance briefly at it before I let go of the device. Okay... I bring my leg up, and without further warning I kick Mordin away from me. The professor falls over fairly quickly after this, and midway through the fall his eyes shoot open, and his free hand shoots out and grabs the wall. This stops his fall, the orange paperweight bouncing harmlessly against his belly as he looks at me.

He blinks, and then stands up fully as I swing my legs around, coming to a sitting position on the table. He stands up then, taking the little needle out of his wrist as he takes a hold of the orange object. He then hands it to me, and I take it with a nod.

"Strange," says the doctor. "Remember everything about dream. Remember the clinic, the briefcase... the chemicals..."

He then quickly goes to his console that he's moved to my feet, and then types some things in on the holographic keyboard interface. He does this extremely quickly, and then nods, smiling.

"Yes," he says. "Remembered every chemical. Seems salarians in dreamshare are extremely aware of dream invasion."

I nod. "Yeah, it seems so," I mention. "There's... a lot I need to mention about that, actually."

"Of course," says Mordin, looking at me. "Mentioned briefly about other means of getting tech. What means?"

Oh, boy... this is gonna be a doozy. "Well, sit back and relax," I say, getting off the table. "This is gonna take a while."

And after that, I explain to him everything I can say about how I first encountered the dream share, and how the Protheans had things to do with it. Stuff critical to the tactics against the Reapers was of course held back, but that's kind of a given, really. I have to be careful about where indoctrination comes from. And in that regard... I think I'll go to the Brotherhood for that once I can share a dream with more than two people at a time. And until then, that's more sessions with Mordin so he can create the schematics and the chemicals for each use of the dream share...

But anyway, I explain all that to Mordin, and he sits there, taking it with various nods interspersed throughout.

* * *

Whoah, nelly, that was all a massive doozy to explain. But, of course, being the equivalent of Bill Nye the Science Guy, he took it all with a nod and said he would get to work on producing the necessary chemicals immediately.

That's Mordin Solus for you.

And now... now that that's taken care of, I have a final matter to take care of before I go down to Kasumi's area of the ship.

And that... is dealing with Jack.

So it's down the hidey-hole I go.

I set my foot on the floor, looking right at Jack as she sits there. She holds a datapad in her lap, looking down at it as I descend. As soon as the footfall sounds, her attention turns to me and she sits on her cot with a slightly hesitant scowl on her face. Hm...

I think I'll take that as my cue to enter. I walk further in, noticing that Al's not there. Hm... This is something we have to do ourselves. No intervention from him in this case, I'm afraid. So... here I go.

"Hi," I say. Oh, God...

"Hey," she replies.

... Well, she hasn't started by throwing a warp at me. That's a good sign.

I step towards Jack when I enter the area, and then she shifts in her cot. "You know, it's funny," she says. "You've fucked with me just like the rest. And yet here we are, at that place where you're too much of a pussy to keep going with fucking with me and I'm not angry enough to want to kill you. It's fuckin' wierd."

"Yeah." I simply shrug in agreement. "I don't think you know the half of it, though. You think this is fuckin' wierd? You should've been me trying to get adjusted to this place. It's like you're dropped down here, and then someone says 'okay, you're in the _Mass Effect _universe, you have two seconds to get acclimatized, two seconds over, go'." I shake my head. "I still haven't gotten used to it in many ways."

"I bet it's fucked up," she says. She then holds the datapad in front of her. "I've been writing this for some time. Figured ya might want to look at it."

Hm? She... she wrote stuff? Oh, boy, this is some kind of poem, isn't it?

Oh my... I think I'll need some help.

I take the datapad, looking-

What? A poem?

Hm... I see. This is going to be extremely interesting. So let's take a gander and...

_Torch of black flames  
lights a way  
through a cave  
of twisted motives_

_The bearer hides his  
face, sneering  
at foolishness  
I move to reply_

_Bound in gags  
of angry leather  
attached  
with deceiving smiles_

_When we reach_  
_three caskets_  
_surrounded by_  
_a white haze_

_Slowly, he lays  
down the beacon  
and walks into  
the lonely box_

_And pulls the lid  
to hide his  
__shame, alone.  
I stand in awe._

...

Damn...

"This is some pretty heavy-duty stuff, Jack," I mention. "I guess... you wrote it in response to that."

"Yeah, ya could say that," she says. "People were right, you know. Shit like that really does help. That's the first thing I've written in a while." She shrugs, looking up at me. "It's just... wierd, I guess. I don't know what to feel about all this."

"Why do you say that?" I ask.

The biotic shrugs, before turning and walking over to the table across from where the cot is. She leans on it, giving me a serious look. "You came through for me," she says. "Most people who've fucked with me would be dead by now. But you... I didn't kill you, and ya knew I could. And yet... you were there when I blew that shithole Cerberus facility into nothing. And you're here now. I just... I don't know what I'm supposed to do with something like that."

I nod, biting my lower lip as I take in a deep breath. "Neither do I, sometimes," I admit. "There are times where I ask myself what would've happened if I hadn't lied about anything. If I had done more to make sure that everything that was supposed to go bad went better somehow."

"Well, we wouldn't be here, talking about this shit." Jack gestures at this with her hand. "That's one thing."

I chuckle at this, smiling at her. "That's very true," I say. "But aside from that. I mean everything else. And honestly?" I look right at her as I lean against the bulkhead. "I'm at a loss for what would happen. Either the galaxy would be doomed, or there would be numerous deus ex machinas from some random guy that would ensure that we would all win. It's a wierd thing to think about, you know?"

"Yeah." The convict pushes off from the table. "I guess we're both confused as shit about this."

I shrug. "Nobody can have the answer to every question," I say. "I guess... in the end, that confusion is there for a reason."

"I don't like it, but there we go," she says. "You've... you've stuck with me through a lot of shit, Art. Even after it came out you were fucking with me. Well... everyone, I guess. I... I think we're cool from here on out."

I nod, looking to Jack. "Handshake for good measure?" I ask, holding my hand out.

She looks at my outstretched hand, blinking in surprise. But whatever other surprise is there, she brushes it off after a few seconds. And when that is over with, she shrugs and looking at me with a certain expression on her face. An expression of... well...

"Sure. Why the fuck not, right?"

Yeah. That.

I resist the urge to chuckle as she then clasps her hand in mine and gives it a firm shake. I smile at this.

Well, things are good with Jack again. Man, am I ever glad for that.

* * *

All right... now that things between me and Jack are cool... I...

Wait... I just realized something.

I can access the Fade... and dead people wander it. So... So that means that I can wander around.

Maybe... maybe I could find Ash. Finish saying what I never could have said to her about everything. Because damn it, I need to find something to say to her.

But first... there's the issue of the Brotherhood meeting. So... Here I am, on the crew deck, heading to Kasumi's area of the ship. And I'm just humming a happy tune as I walk along towards Kasumi's side of the ship. There's a lot to think about as of late...

This... the Fade... it makes me wonder what else will happen. It also kind of makes me wonder how it would change things from how ME3 probably was back home. Not by much, but... It's still worth looking into. Besides, there's the field of visions...

No. I guess I'm better off not knowing that stuff. I... I won't worry too much about it. But I want to find Ash. I've got stuff that needs to be said to her... A lot of stuff I need to tell her. Here's hoping she hasn't gone to the Black City yet...

I trail my hand against the door... Damn, that's deep stuff. And I have no idea how I got to thinking about it from having just made up my friendship with Jack. I shouldn't really dwell on it that much. Maybe when I go to bed I can ask Orange and the others about it...

Yeah, that's what I'll do.

For now... there are more pressing matters. Like the Brotherhood meeting.

My hand wanders over to the door panel, and it flashes green before opening. And there in more or less the right places is the Brotherhood. Madison isn't there yet, but Garrus of course is saving a seat for her on his lap, so that's no biggie, really. Sturge and Chakwas are off to the side, with Tali sitting close to where I'll be venturing. Thane and Shepard are quietly enjoying each other's company in a borderline reach-and-flexibility manner, and Kasumi...

"What's with the drinks?" I ask, indicating the stuff she's got.

The Japanese thief shrugs. "Oh, I figured we'd make this thing more... homely, you know?" she asks. "How'd your talk with Jack go?"

I shrug, smiling. "I think we're back on good terms again," I say.

"Good." Tali comes up, and I nod as she pulls me along. "We're just waiting on Madison right now. She'll be here soon."

"What's holding her up in the first place?" I ask. "Because it can't be Mr. Calibratian here." With this, I gesture to Garrus, who frowns at me after I say this.

"Of course not, Mr. Squarepants," says the turian.

"I have a shotgun, Garrus."

...

Uh...

"That... may be a bit too violent a punishment for that," I reply, biting my lower lip as I look to the quarian.

The glance that I'm sure Tali is giving me behind that mask is nothing short of playful. "It gets him to shut up, though." She shrugs.

Hm... Well... "True," I admit. Yeah... that is true. "It gets him off my back when it needs to."

"One of these days, it might not," mentions the turian. "Just saying."

"I'll keep that in mind, then," says the quarian.

Garrus nods. "In all seriousness, though, I think Miranda wanted to-"

And right on cue, the door opens a final time, and Madison is there...

...

And so is someone else.

"Miranda?"

And indeed, the Cerberus loyalist is kind of just... standing there, looking around at the room. She seems a little... bewildered at the fact that there are people here. Well... I don't know why. But it manages to get everybody's attention as Madison stands off to the side. I blink.

Okay... this is definitely out of left field.

Fortunately, Shepard is the first one to speak. "Miranda?" she asks as she stands up from Thane's lap. "I thought we were good?"

"We are," says the loyalist, brushing some strands of hair out of her face. "EDI may have mentioned gatherings here very recently, though."

I look to her, crossing my arms. "Lemme guess," I say. "You want in?"

"I..." she says. "There are a lot of things I am uncertain about. But... I'm afraid to voice them anywhere else. And there's a certain curiosity I've been building towards the strange way some of you talk to each other."

I nod, looking at the others, shrugging. "Well... I don't see why not. But there better not be Cerberus trickery in that suit of yours."

Miranda frowns slightly at this, but it's only for a split second as she shakes her head. "That... may be part of what I feel I cannot say."

...

"Oh." I nod, gesturing to Madison to come in. "Come in. We've got quite a bit to talk about."

The journalist shrugs, entering the observation deck soon after. As soon as the two women enter, Kasumi closes the door, the thing locking behind her as she enters.

"I guess this is around the point where you're starting to lose your loyalism to Cerberus?" I ask.

Miranda chuckles. "You say it like it is for certain," she says. Her face turns more serious as Madison takes her place on Garrus. "But it is not incorrect to say so."

Sturge leans forward at this. "Why's that?" he asks. "You've had nothing but good things to say about Cerberus the entire time I've known you. And honestly, these people on this ship are actually pretty good people."

"I don't know..." says the genetically perfect woman as she takes a a position leaning against something in the room. "I have had these doubts begin to take hold in my belief for Cerberus... I don't think I have properly acknowledged them until after Pragia, though."

I raise my eyebrow. "Why not mention that to Jack?" I ask.

"You could easily have brought it up during your little catfight earlier," says Kasumi.

"You don't understand my relationship with Cerberus," replies Miranda. "Technically, Cerberus saved me from my father. I feel indebted to them because of it. But ever since the Lazarus project, I have seen a lot of things with you and Shepard..." She shakes her head, walking up to the window as she looks out of the stars. "I'm beginning to doubt just how well Cerberus is adhering to its goals. We say that we work in humanity's best interests, but some of the things I've seen here..."

I see everyone else in the room nod. "So leave Cerberus," says Madison.

"It's not that simple, I'm afraid," says the operative, turning to face us all. "I'm one of their best operatives. If things go bad enough... the Illusive Man may have blackmail material to lure me in."

"Oriana," I say.

"Exactly." She shrugs. "I'm with you through the Collector base, Shepard. But if things happen where we break from Cerberus... I'm not sure what will happen. For the first time I have known since I joined Cerberus, I feel like things are out of my control. And I don't know what to do."

I nod, looking at her as we all sit there. "Honestly?" I say, turning to her. "You do leave Cerberus at the same time Shepard does if certain things go down at the Collector base. So... I guess we'll see what happens. And if worse comes to worse..." I gesture to myself. "Don't be afraid to say anything to me or one of the other people here in this room right now."

She nods. "I guess," she says, looking at all of us. "I just... I haven't known what to do. But thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

I nod, looking at her with a smile. "Okay... we got that all taken care of," I say. "So... you want in or not?"

"I... I think so," admits Miranda. "Unless there is some long process?"

"I shouldn't think so." Chakwas shifts in her seat, looking at the operative. "I simply spoke with Michael and things were arranged easily from there. I imagine it shouldn't be so hard in your case."

"The only thing I'd worry about is Jack," says Kasumi. "But I'm sure we can work around that. Right, Art?"

I supply a shrug to this. "Sure," I mention. "So... uh... welcome to the brotherhood, Miranda?"

The operative simply smiles. "Yes..." she says. "I think I would like that."

"Well, then," I say, nodding to Miranda. "Welcome to the Brotherhood."

Warm nods go all around the room, and Miranda simply looks around as she takes a seat. "So..." mentions Shepard. "We're about to hit the derelict Reaper."

I nod, looking at all of them. "Ah, that part where we get the geth on the crew of the Normandy." I bite my lower lip at this. I then look to Miranda, who instantly seems to have gotten an aghast expression on her face. Oh, yeah... She doesn't know.

"A geth?" she asks, instantly.

"Yeah," says Garrus. "Crazy thing is, it's apparently trustworthy."

Miranda shakes her head at this development. "I find that difficult to believe," she says.

"We can understand the apprehension," says Thane. "I think, however, you should let the Serviceman explain it."

Thank you, Thane. I nod, looking to the quite shocked out of her mind Cerberus agent. "It's a bit of a long story, so bear with me."

I then start talking about Legion and all that other jazz that goes down on the derelict Reaper.

* * *

Okay... all that happened... and now it's down to the Fade again.

Yep... back to the surreal landscape that constitutes this place. It's just so... wierd. Why are there things floating illogically around here, anyway? It's just...

I shake my head, finding myself in exactly the same position as when I last came here. Okay... the dream layers were a cinch, so...

I turn to where Loghain was the first time I came, and then I see Saren standing there, his arms crossed. Yeah... Of course the villain I had to talk down on the Citadel would be here.

"Hey," I say, giving him a small wave.

"I suppose I should thank you," says Saren. "When I shot myself after you spoke with me on the Citadel... I went down to the Fade. And it was there that I got to see just how much damage I was doing to the galaxy. So... thank you."

I raise my eyebrow, looking at the turian in confusion. "You seem awfully friendly right now," I mention. "I thought you absolutely despised humans."

"The indoctrination amplified that, I'm afraid," said Saren. "I've also had two years to think about what happened. But I still don't like your kind. I have had very strange experiences with humans."

Really. Like I didn't know that. "Like your evaluating David Anderson as a Spectre and purposefully making him look bad to the Council?"

But the turian shakes his head as he leans off the wierd tilted column he was leaning against. "No," he says. "I was thinking about an incident led to the death of my brother, but... thinking back, I am not sure the humans were at fault. The more I think about it, the more I see that Desolas brought himself down."

Oh? "This oughta be interesting," I say as we both leave to go to Orange's area. "What happened?"

"We had picked up three prisoners on Shanxi," replies the former Spectre as we move along. "It just so happened to occur at around the same time my brother Desolas unearthed this strange temple on Palaven. It had these strange monoliths there. We went there with the humans in tow." He blinks. "It was there things occurred that ended up with many turians and one of the humans transforming into something from the monoliths."

I frown, looking at the partly-cybernetic turian in question. "That... doesn't sound good." I bite my lower lip. "What... were they turned into?"

"We didn't know what they were at the time," states Saren. "But knowing what I do now... they may have been being turned into husks."

... What? Saren had husks in his backstory? No! That's improbable!

"Wait," I say, holding up my hand. "So you found Reaper tech during the First Contact War?"

"Yes," replies the turian. "Of course, we didn't know it at the time. And when I finally did find out, it was far too late to show anything to the Council: the temple on Palaven had been destroyed. Whatever was in there, it drove Desolas mad; he was claiming he would ascend the turian race with these transformations. And yet... they only turned them into mindless... well, husks."

I shake my head. "Jesus Christ..." I says, shaking my head. "I guess your brother died?"

"I had no choice," said Saren. "I was an Arterius, as was he. But I had a duty to protect the people of Palaven. So I did what I had to..."

Wow... He killed his own brother. No wonder he's so damn pissy about huma...

Wait.

"So what about the other two hostages?" I ask. "You mentioned you had three, but only one of them turned into a husk."

"The other two played into everything else," says Saren. "One of them said he knew what was wrong, and kept on trying to warn Desolas. Finally, he ended up warning me. I... don't know what would have happened if he hadn't been there."

"So shouldn't you be thankful for his presence?" I ask.

"I don't owe a debt to the rest of a race just because of one man," says Saren, turning to me with a scowl set on his face. "Ultimately, you also miss the point. I had to kill my own brother."

"So you're just going to blame it on two guys?" I ask.

Saren crosses his arms. "Me and one of the humans were the only survivors of that incident," he says. "The other two died, and all of the turians that were turned by the monolith died in the temple. Nobody came out of that the same way again. You weren't there. You didn't see what I had seen, and you didn't do what I had to do."

"So you dealt with it by joining Sovereign and hating on humans." There's something in my tone that comes out more maliciously than I probably intended.

The reply stirs something in the Spectre, who then shakes his head and turns away from me. "You wouldn't understand," he says. "If I had never met your race, I probably wouldn't have killed my brother."

"And then who would've stopped the Reapers from turning the entire galaxy into mindless husks? The turian councillor?" I ask, frowning as I look at his retreating form. "Whether or not you want to look at it that way, that influence could've spread off-world, especially if those turian husks built another monolith somewhere else! Someone would've had to do it, Saren. It's a shame that it had to be you, but you shouldn't blame us for the fact that doing what you had to included killing your own brother."

I frown at Saren as he stops. Okay... I think I pissed him-

But instead of lunging at me like I expect, he chuckles darkly.

"You almost sound like _him_," comments Saren darkly. "He changed too after what happened on Palaven. I never would've thought you would be the greater good kind of guy."

I cross my arms, sighing as I nod dismally. "I guess he was the 'we'll do anything to persevere' kind?"

"To an egregious extent, you could say," says the turian. "You yourself may know him. He formed a splinter group of the Alliance."

Wait... He formed a splinter group... and...

No... Wait... Because Cerberus started out as...

No. No fucking way.

Saren and TIM? In the same room?

"No way!" I ask, my expression giving away my shock. "You knew the Illusive Man?"

I see one of Saren's mandibles twitch, but it widens out slightly in the flaring turian smirk. "I knew him when he still went by the name Jack Harper," he states plainly.

...

Really? That's his name?

"Jack Harper?" I ask incredulously. "That's... kind of an anticlimactic full name to have for someone so mysterious."

Saren can only shake his head in shallow bemusement when I say this. "I wouldn't know," he says. "But... you sounded like him just now."

...

"Oh, God, now I feel dirty," I say, shaking my head while covering my face. "This isn't even what I wanted to talk about, anyway."

"Doesn't matter," says Saren. "It still came up." He shrugs, looking at me. "But you can talk about that to him."

"What, and get him more suspicious at me?" I ask. "Because you and him knowing each other wasn't covered in the game!" Hell, not even the yaoi fangirls got all over it, and they're _crazy _with coming up with random crack pairings like that!

...

I'm... not even going to think about that anymore.

Back on topic!

"I won't expound on it further," says Saren. "Anyway... what did you want to talk about?"

I nod, looking to the Spectre as we near where the portals took me to Orange's little throne room. "I... I need to speak to Orange," I say. "There's someone I need to say something to. Someone from the first Normandy, and I know she's around here somewhere. Just... I need to talk to her."

Saren looks at me wordlessly before gesturing to the portal behind him. Without waiting for him to say anything, I enter the little mirror-like entity, and I assume Saren enters afterwards.

* * *

"Ashley Williams?"

I nod. Orange is on her throne like last time, and she's simply looking at me as Benezia, Loghain, and Kratos all sort of stand to the side. Loghain is right next to the throne, with Kratos and Benezia both standing a short distance away. Kratos doesn't have his blades drawn, but he is scowling at me. But then, he scowls at _everything_; hell, he scowled at Pandora throughout the half of GoW 3 that she was in. So that's hardly surprising. What is surprising, though, is seeing Loghain slowly shaking his head. Saren is behind me, his arms behind his back as the prothean stands up.

"Yeah," I say. "I just... I need to find her, Orange. Before she goes to the Black City. Before she gets reborn."

"It sounds like you have much to say to her," mentions Benezia.

"Yeah," I say. "I... I need to apologize about Virmire."

"Such an apology may be more difficult to make than you think." That's Kratos, always putting a damper on everything.

I shake my head. "I have to try," I reiterate. "I just... I need to apologize. I failed her... and I need to make up for that."

The oracle blinks, her eyes looking down at me sadly. "Unfortunately, Kratos speaks the truth," she says. "Ashley is... more difficult to reach than you may think."

I blink. What...? That doesn't really make much sense. "You mean she's almost to the Black City?"

"No," replies the oracle. "She already went once. But it was not in the natural manner."

...

No.

Oh my God...

"You mean... she's stuck in the same predicament as me?" I ask, gaping in shock.

"I'm afraid so." Loghain shifts slightly as he gestures to Orange. "She's seen it in the field of visions. I do not know if it is possible to-"

"To be fair, it is possible to say your piece to her," reassures the Prothean. "However... it will be much more difficult than you may have expected. I do not have all of the materials."

"So essentially, we will have to wait a little longer if you wish to speak to her."

I glance at Benezia as... No, that's just not possible!

"That can't have happened!" I say, looking at Orange. "Ash wouldn't... It's just not possible!"

"It is possible," says the oracle as she looks at me. "You would be quite surprised at how often your case happens to people of another universe."

I just can't... No. This...

She really is still alive somewhere, isn't she? Oh, God... I don't know if that comforts me or if it scares me more.

But still... if she's in the same situation I was in two years ago... where is _she_?

"Can... can I at least see where she's gone to?" I ask.

Orange nods. "Of course," she says. "Come, keeper. We shall see visions of where Ashley is now."

* * *

...

No flippin' way.

I blink, right as the vision fades around us. "That can't have been..."

"You have seen things correctly, keeper," Orange reassures me.

I shake my head. "I don't think so," I say. "It's just... I can't believe that I saw any of that! You know that technically the implications of this are implausibly coincidental, right?"

Orange simply shakes her head as we appear in the field of glowing lights again. "I can assure you, keeper, that you are not alone in this manner of confusion," she says. "I have never seen such a coincidence myself."

I shake my head, giving a dismissive hand gesture. "Whatever," I say. "I know where she is now. But... Jesus Christ, Orange... I just... I don't know how I can wrap my head around all this. I mean... she winds up _there _of all places... and that seriously can't be right! There's no way! If he went home..."

"Sometimes one can end up in the Black City in a coma," she says. "The Fade is an unusual thing. It is not bound by any sense of order as you would perceive it. No two things ever occur in exactly the same manner."

"I just..." I gesture to the vision we were just at. "I can't believe that _that _actually happened. I just... I can't wrap my mind around it, Orange. I just can't." I shake my head. "At least tell me we can find her subconscious real estate."

"We can," she says. "And I can send you into her dream so you can speak with her. But I must warn you now, it is a very difficult process. It is also one you must know."

I look to the Prothean. "I guess it's another thing in my skill set to wage subconscious warfare against the Reapers?" I ask.

"Yes," says Orange. "But I do not have the materials necessary for such an action. I must gather them first. Come back after your next mission. I shall have the necessary materials then."

I nod at this, biting my lower lip as I take her hand. "I... I need to think about what I just saw," I say. "Let's get me out of the Fade."

"Of course."

And with this, the oracle leads me right back out of the field of visions.


	44. Chapter 42

_A/N: Okay. Hopefully this chapter won't take as long as the last one did. And it hopefully won't..._

_...because it's where we get Legion. And let's just say that Art will finally take some motherfucking initiative here in terms of changing things. You'll see why soon enough._

_So let's get to it, and we'll get started with this chapter._

* * *

Chapter 42: Dead Gods Can Dream Too

I swear to God, the wind around this fucking derelict Reaper is crazy!

And I'm sure that's what's on everyone's minds as we approach the Reaper's body. We're all gathered around Joker, who of course cracked a witticism about how we were all crowding him in there. Eh, whatever. All I know, is that winds from Mnemosyne are throwing the Normandy about, and it caused Sturge to drop a coffee mug on my way up here. Of course, though, now that we're here... we'll be fine. Samara, Tali, and Thane are all standing by, holding on to something for good measure to make sure we don't fly off.

I shake my head at the thought, looking out the window as I hear Shepard speak up behind me. "This place is exceptionally windy."

"Yeah, the shaking of the ship kind of gave that away," replies Joker, moving around. "I'll bet this takes ya back, huh, Art?"

I shake my head. "Good old airplane turbulence," I mention. "One of a handful of things I _don't _miss from home." I shake my head. "I don't like the thought of dying from falling ten thousand feet, you know!"

"You made that all too apparent at the Dantius Towers," mentions Thane.

I blink in shock, looking right at the drell. "You were watching me then?" I ask.

"No," says the assassin.

"Didn't stop me from telling him," says Shepard.

... Oh, come the fuck on, Commander! Really? You're going to go tell Thane Krios all about my fear of heights?

Damn it, Shepard! I'll-!

And all at once, the turbulence stops. The ride is calm, Joker looks at the sky of the place we're in like it's magic, and... wow... everything's calm all of a sudden.

I blink at this. Jeez... I knew it was coming, but still... I didn't expect it to be so... abrupt. Like... it was like I was on a turbulent plane, and then bam, instant good weather.

Just add water.

"The storm seems to have calmed down," says Samara.

Thank you, Samara, for stating the completely fucking obvious. But still. "It's not the storm," I say, looking out the window. "We're getting close to the Reaper."

"It's mass effect fields are still online," adds Joker.

I feel Tali's hand grasp my shoulder, looking out the cockpit as we stand there. "How are they still online?" asks the quarian. "That thing is dead!"

"Even dead gods can dream," I reply, shaking my head. "It may not be able to move or shoot things, but it's still breathing. On life support, but still."

"That's what it looks like," says Joker. "I mean... Jeez, look at that thing!"

And I look back out the-

Holy shit! Dead Reaper!

I look out, and there indeed it is. It looks... really big. And full of damage, honestly. But there's something kind of regal about it. I can't quite place my hand on it... But it's there. And it sort of looks awe inspiring. If it wasn't for the fact that it's a freaking Eldricht Abomination we're talking about here, I'd almost be playing funeral march music to seeing it there, just floating in the stormy atmosphere of Mnemosyne. It's... kind of grand, really.

I shake my head. "Yeah... That looks about right."

"Yep," says Joker. "Good luck there."

I hear Shepard thank Joker, but... My mind is already on the quarian standing next to me. I just... She says she wants to come along. But I can see it in her body language that she's probably really freakin' nervous about this. I can't blame her; everything she knows about the geth is going to turn into a lie soon. But... I don't know if she can take it.

I turn to Tali. "Look, Tali... if you don't want to do this thing because of the geth unit... Then I understand." I shrug. "I mean, I know-"

"No," says the quarian, looking directly at me. Huh... She interrupted me. That's a new thing. "I have to see it with my own eyes that this geth unit means us no harm. I don't know if I can believe it otherwise." She glances down, and I imagine she's also running her teeth over whatever it is quarians have for lips before she continues. "I don't like this, but I have to see it. It's the only way."

I... Okay. She's got a point, but still... "Are you absolutely sure about that?" I ask, holding her hand.

She chuckles bitterly. "Has anyone on this ship ever been sure about anything?" she asks me then.

... That's... actually a really good point. "No," I say, nodding. Yeah, because I'm not certain about revealing stuff, Shepard's not certain about the mission... And of course she wouldn't be certain about this geth unit. But... even if she's not certain, she's still placing her trust in me and knowing what I do about the geth unit. So... Yes... I can see why she's doing this.

If she's doing this with as much certainty as she can muster... then that's the best I can ask for.

"Well, all right then, Tali," I say, squeezing her hand lightly. "Here's hoping we can get through this in one piece."

"Good to see we've all got our minds on the big reveal towards the end," says Shepard. Eh... It's more like the middle, but, hey, that works too. But we all look to her as she grabs her Archon Visor, attaching it to her head as we move away from where Joker is. "Come on. We've got a Reaper IFF to find. You all have your breathing helmets?"

Ah, yes. The breather helmets. The always handy thing to have. I glance behind me, seeing my breather helmet attached to a little something on my right shoulder. Mordin told me it would be secure for most of the mission, so... here's hoping it stays that way.

"Yes," says Samara. "We are ready when you are, Commander."

"Great!" says Shepard. "Then let's go!"

And with this, the group of us walk right towards the airlock, stepping in right as Joker connects with the little docking module that was set up by the Cerberus science team.

* * *

"Okay, so we're here for the IFF, as well as the geth unit that shows up?"

That's Shepard, hefting her assault rifle as we begin moving through the Cerberus-constructed part of the dead Reaper. We move down the hallway where the first of the video logs are, and we don't have our weapons out yet. At least, I don't have them out. All we'll run into are husks, so the chest-high wall principle unfortunatley doesn't apply. Which is exactly why I've got my shotgun out. If guys are gonna get close, I wanna be able to blow 'em away faster than they can say 'pie'.

...

Why would husks say pie, anyway?

And what kind of pie would husks like? I can't imagine feeding them peach pie in the near future; the sweetness would kill them!

Actually... Now that I think about it, that might not be so bad. Let us defeat the darkspawn with the power of hugs, kisses, and cookies made with love! Uh... I mean husks! Husks!

Though somehow, darkspawn are scarier. Because there's more than one of 'em. I mean, really, there can't possibly be any husks of other species standing around, can there?

...

Where was I again?

Oh, yes. IFF and the geth unit.

"Pretty much," I say, moving through the corridor as we move along. "Just pay attention to video log sources."

"They may not reveal much," mentions Samara, holding her assault rifle rather level. "I would not rely on them were it left up to me."

I shake my head, smirking. "If there's one thing sci-fi movies taught me, it's that if there's an abandoned something in the middle of space, there are _always _enough logs to fill in the gaps," I say. "Trust me." I then glance at her. "And remember, to me, all this _was _a sci-fi tale at one point in my life."

"Sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction." Shepard observes this as she finds a console somewhere along where we are at the moment... Yeah. "Any idea what happened to the scientists?"

Hm... "They started going insane," I say, looking at the console as the video log starts playing. I... yeah, I better shut up now. I think... yeah, this is one of the blogs about that one guy... Chandana. Yep, that's the one. Thanks for the recap, boys. It's always helpful to get some recap on the lesser-used names of the Mass Effect universe. And he goes on about this buzzing in our heads... and that's when the craziness starts.

Okay... that covers everything. The video log cuts out soon after, and then I nod as we walk on in the Cerberus-built part of it. "That's not even the worst part," I mention. "The worst part is that we'll run into a ton of husks. Trust me, you'll see soon enough."

"I guess that confirms that the husks are Reaper technology," says Shepard, looking around the hallway. "Any more free spoilers?"

I shake my head, looking to the door ahead of us. "That's about it, really," I say. "Nothing much happens here besides getting the IFF."

"And how will we know when we reach the IFF?" asks Thane.

"Trust me, you'll know," I reply.

I then decide it's probably a good idea to shut up so we can let the second video log in this room play its course and give us a deeper look into good ol' Chandana. After all, I think I've given more than enough spoilers for one mission.

Hm... Speaking of which... Doesn't Legion end up as a piece of scrap metal?

Gah, damn it, that's a spoiler I should've capitalized upon. But still... why didn't Shepard and the crew shoot at the husks? They must have had some idea Legion was friendly, so...

Eh. I guess I'll just have to take care of those things myself. Because damn it, I am _not _terribly keen on having to haul a person-sized robot all the way to wherever it is that we wind up when we destroy this thing's eezo core. Or whatever. Also, it would prevent Shepard from shipping it off to Cerberus for sure. Because given that she's been showing some Renegade tendencies throughout this mission, I wouldn't be surprised if she did that.

So... Okay. Let's get Legion aboard, and be done with this damn mission.

* * *

We move on into this massive area where everything is all open and stuff. Yep... This is where the first of the husks are going to attack us. I glance around, taking a deep breath as I walk over to where the next video log is.

Okay... Yeah, that's the one where they get confused about sharing memories. Specifically, it was about the one memory that one of the guys had about the wife Katie. We all sort of gather around the console, watching the two guys talk about their respective versions of Katie. And they go about, getting confused as hell about that. Yeah, this is all going according to how I remember it.

Right up until I feel a hand roughly grasp my heel.

... What the?

I look down, and then see a husk grabbing onto my foot. No sooner does this register when I suddenly feel it yank at me. What the-?

I manage to catch my bearings in time, my hands slamming down on the console right as Thane sees the problem. I let out a shocked scream, but in a few seconds it's over as Thane shoots it a few times in the head with his submachine gun. My eyes widen as my foot comes free and the husk tumbles into the Reaper-ish area below. I quickly shove away from the console, holding my shotgun up in surprise.

And that's when I hear the typical strangled moan of a group of husks.

_That _gets everybody's attention, and then we all raise our weapons. I see a flash from Tali, and then watch as Chikktika vas Paus version four comes out to play. Seriously, version four. Shame it didn't come out while I was nearly being dragged to my death by a husk.

Either way, I'm not letting these things come near me.

I see the first of the husks pull itself up to our level, but almost instantly Shepard launches a throw at it, sending it flying over the railing. It looks like its back got broken very quickly, but that's not the point as I see another husk rise up where that one came from. Chikktika shocks it, however, and then I turn my attention to the side, where there's another of those husks threatening to get close.

I turn quickly, firing my shotgun and managing to shoot it right in the torso. That sends it tumbling back, and I see that I've blown a big piece of it out of the torso. Yeah... You're not getting close to me, motherfucker! I fire my shotgun again, sending the husk in question flying back from the force. I turn quickly, bracing myself against the railway. Wait, get away from there! I back up, and turn to see a husk rising from where my heel was. It moves to pull itself up, but not before I see Thane biotically toss it back down quickly.

I turn to the drell then, and then watch as Samara throws a whole group of husks away from where Tali is, who blasts them with a shotgun blast. I nod, turning to see a husk coming up behind the asari. I fire my shotgun once again, this time most of the rounds hitting it in the head. It doesn't slow the approach down, but it gets Samara's attention, and she turns, firing some assault rifle rounds at the husk. Soon after, it falls over, some more bullet holes as she then sends another set of husks flying away biotically.

So yeah. Biotics work well, and before we know it, we make short work of that husk group. I see Shepard run back from where she had flewn off in that biotic punch thing to punch a husk right off a balcony (I guess, that's the only thing I've got), and she nods to the rest of us.

"Well, there are the husks," she says. "It seems like there'll be a lot of them."

I nod. "Way more than there probably should be for a small Cerberus team," I mention.

"It wasn't small," said Shepard. "Not according to the Illusive Man, anyway. They had to get people to construct all this, after all."

Huh? That's... wierd. "I always assumed it was a small science team, though," I say, frowning. "We only ever saw three people here from the video logs. And besides, wouldn't it be counterintuitive to go around with a ton of scientists on this thing?"

"Maybe," she says. "Were they planning on getting the excess people who built the facility out?"

"I doubt it." Samara looks on. "Judging by the size of where we are, this facility seems to be very large. It could be feasible that it was a large scientist."

"But that would just get in the way of results!" I say, giving a hand gesture. "It's not like Cerberus hasn't done other counter-intuitive things,-" Gavin Archer, I'm looking at _you_, you prick, "-but seriously, you'd think that it would be a bad idea to have that much."

"The results could get mottled," says Thane.

"Either way, it explains why the science team failed," says Shepard. "So now... we have to get the IFF and clear this thing of husks. Art, were there any survivors?"

Hm... "Not that I can remember, no," I reply, shaking my head.

"Okay," she says. "You keep your eyes open for any signs of that geth unit. We know we have a lot of husks to kill now, so let's get moving."

She hefts her assault rifle, and then gestures for us to follow her. She then moves down the facility, and we all nod as we follow her. Chikktika trails behind us all as we keep our eyes and ears trained.

That attack, though... that was wierd. Usually, you get a warning siren in the form of one of the husks suddenly wailing out really fuckin' loudly. But it didn't do that for some reason when it grabbed my leg. Also... wasn't that behavior more typical of a zombie? I thought husks were more weaponized! All they did was shine radiation and punch you. Granted, it was the really awkward _Superman 64 _kind of punching, but that punch was still hella powerful. Not the point, though. The point is... why the hell does the husk grab me now?

It's not like I'll turn if I get bit, right? Right?

Anyway... We move on.

* * *

We encounter another set of husks on our way down the Cerberus facility, but this time, we're a little more prepared for them being there. And by that, I mean that we're not caught totally by surprise at the end of the day. So we just dispatch them, and thankfully nobody gets nearly dragged down to the bottom of this derelict Reaper. Because that would be really, really bad. So we move around, watching everything. Okay... I'm waiting for when Legion will show up. Come on, husks... get yourself-

I hear the sharp crack of a sniper rifle as soon as this thought comes to mind. I then see a husk fall over, a bullet wedged right in between his eyes. I raise my eyebrow as another husk pulls itself up from the railing, only for another sniper round to send it back down to where it came from.

I raise my eyebrows as Shepard looks at the fallen husk. "I take it that would be our geth unit?" she asks.

"Yeah, pretty much," I say, nodding. "Apparently, he's a really good shot with a sniper rifle. So he'll be in the shadows for a while."

"He won't come out?" asks Tali.

I shake my head. "No," I say. "Not until later, anyway. Here we were supposed to assume someone from the science teams survived."

Shepard chuckles bitterly at this. "Fat chance," she says simply, walking forward as she holds her assault rifle level. "Unless the geth managed to save one of the scientists."

I shake my head. "I'm not sure it happened that way," I mention. "I think Legion showed up after the science team got turned into husks. And now, here he is, cleaning up a mess that was started by the Reapers and hoping to avert a disaster."

"Avert a disaster?" asks Samara.

I shrug. "Long story," I say. "He'll expound on it when he gets back to the ship, so I'll let him talk about it."

"And you know, it's always made me curious," says Tali. "Sometimes you call it 'Legion'. Does that mean geth units have names?"

...

"You mean I didn't tell you about the whole?" I ask.

"No, I don't think you did," she replies.

... Yep, I am an idiot. Of all the things I didn't mention, it had to be the damn name. Well... I guess I can't blame myself, seeing as how I was trying to get people used to hearing about a geth unit joining the party, but still. It's one of those things I probably shouldn't have glossed over, because it's a key thing with the geth. So... I guess I could expound on it now... with husks capable of appearaing any second now.

Nah, I think it'll be fine. These kinds of things usually end up working to my advantage, anyway.

I blink, and then turn back to where we are headed. "No," I say. "EDI was actually supposed to suggest it in the game. After the quote from the Gospel of Mark, you know? 'We are legion, for we are many'."

"Why use that quote?" asks the commander.

"Geth are a very... collective society," I mention. "All geth are interconnected, and they all have multiple run-times on each platform. In Legion's case, he's going to have 1,183 runtimes on that one platform. So we call him Legion because of that."

"I see," says Tali. "So... he would have been connected to other geth."

"They're _always _connected to other geth," I mention. "They make those kinds of deals in real time, you know?" I shrug. "Geth society is actually pretty fascinating, once you get past the more confusing bits of 'they're in faction A versus faction B'. Another reason why you should give it a chance."

Tali gives me a glance that I can sort of tell is still in that mode where she's thinking about it, but she doesn't really say anything before we get interrupted. Because soon after, we hear the signature groan of the husks as we move on into the next room. I look up, and then we see a whole bunch of husks rush up. They're all groaning, and running, and... is that a Scion over there? That can't be good. Those things are hella ugly, I always knew that, but... Yeesh, they look even nastier than usual right now. Like they were hastily fused together or something. I really don't know, this is just full of craziness here.

Yeah... I gotta be careful around here.

"But... that's a conversation for another time," I say, cocking my shotgun. "We've got more important things to worry about at the moment. Like, not dying."

"Yes, Serviceman," says Shepard. "Yes, indeed."

As soon as she finishes saying that, the scion unleashes one of those biotic shockwaves that's undodgeable unless you're in cover. I jump to the side, just as it gets to where I am, and then I fire my shotgun at a husk that got way too close for comfort.

* * *

We then come up to the airlock into the next section of whatever it is we're doing. I nod, looking to the others as we settle in. Okay... if I remember correctly, this is the first time we get a really good look at Legion. So... Just keep your eyes out for it... especially when we first exit the bloody thing.

Right... So he'll be above and directly in front of us on a catwalk. So... just remember that, and you should be in good hands to point him out when he shows up.

And he'll have a piece of N7 armor. I won't pipe up about that. I think it's better to leave the N7 armor piece as something that gets left to Shepard to find out for herself. Because most of that stuff shows that AI may actually have a heart. So I want Shepard to find that out. And I'm not gonna say anything at all about it, so... Yeah. I hold my shotgun against my torso, looking up to where he might be.

The door opens soon after, and we step out into the orange-tinted space that serves as our next place where the zombie-like husks will start bum-rushing us all at once. Of course, we might not have Legion to help, but if we do... that would be great.

So we advance out, holding our weapons out. Okay... We need a husk to come rushing towards us... Well, from behind, anyway. So then Legion can snipe it. And it has to be silent. Unless the groaning gives it away. Yet again. Because they tend to do that.

But when they don't and the plto demands it... that's when I get more than a little miffed. So yeah. Let's see what happens-

I hear the sniper round before it registers that there was the sound of something walking behind us. I turn, and then I see a husk falling over with a sniper bullet right between the eyes. Okay... It fell down that way... Meaning that theoretically, it would be... I did not heet it, I did naht...

Oh hi Legion. How's your sex life?

I look up, and sure enough, there's Legion, holding the sniper rifle. I watch as he shifts it, the N7 armor becoming visible to us in the actually rather apt lighting of Mnemosyne. He stands up, the single flashlight head shifting as he takes stock of all of us. I see Shepard come forward, looking right at the thing as he simply holds his sniper rifle over his shoulder. I just look at him. Wow... seeing him standing there in real life, just before we get to kick major husk ass... it's kinda epic, really. Especially the way he's holding himself.

"Shepard-Commander."

The words are spoken like a statement. Machine-like, and that's exactly how I would expect it.

I bite my lower lip to fight the urge to say Legion's name out loud. Damn it, I will not say it. Not right now! That might give this Reaper a hint of what's to come!

...

Though, now that I think of it like that, why was I even giving spoilerific stuff earlier?

...

Eh, it's a dead Reaper. It may still be able to indoctrinate people, but I don't think it's strong enough that it can send a signal to others in the Reaper fleet. Especially not since they're all billions if not trillions of light years away. So yeah. I don't think even the Reapers could be that advanced.

Before anyone can comment, though, the geth platform walks off, hefting a sniper rifle as husks approach us. It turns to them, moving slowly as it fires its sniper rifle again. The crack sounds, and a husk falls over, and we sort of prepare our weapons. Oh, dear... This is gonna be a-

"Care to explain why there was a piece of N7 armor on its chest?"

...

How did I know she was going to ask that?

I turn to Shepard then, shaking my head. "That is one detail I'm not inclined to tell you," I reply. "Trust me, Shepard. "This is one of those things that you'll be better with for finding out about it on your own."

As the husks approach, she glows biotically blue, throwing a rather... red one back. Hm, that's the one that explodes, isn't it? I see it fly back, and then impact with a husk. I don't think I need to see the explosion to know that the blown-up husk isn't doing so well. And neither is the red one, now that I think about it.

"All right, then," she says. "But it better be worth it."

I shrug, cocking my shotgun as I advance. "Trust me, Shepard," I say, aiming it at a husk as it rushes at us. "I think you'll be thanking me later!"

And with this, I pull the trigger, and the subject is immediately dropped. Besides, we've got much bigger things to worry about at the moment. Like, the mass of husks running in our direction as we move down the passageway.

Oh, God... I hated this segment. I really did. So many damn husks come for us now it's not even funny. This is really, really, really gonna hurt. And if I'm not dying by the end of it, I think I'm going to consider myself extremely lucky.

I look right at the next husk, but I get no such luck, for then I feel a fist connect with my cheek. Ow, damn it! You motherfucker! Before I can fire my shotgun, though, Tali's already taken care of that for me as we advance into the horde of husks. I look around as I see Samara, Thane, and Shepard start to get absolutely crazy with their biotics. Whole groups of husks are thrown over the railings, some of them plain breaking in half from the impact. And I look around, firing my shotgun imprecisely into the crowd. Some of the rounds don't really hit much or don't slow them down, but hey, that's what everyone else is for. If I'm imprecise, it usually only takes a zap from Chikktika or a shot from one of the others to put down the husks.

So... it's mostly smooth sailing up until the point where we run into our first scions. Oh, dear... and just to think, we've gotta go through more of those motherfuckers. And already we're running into the first one... Well, we're not at the spot where I think the shotgun upgrade was... Or was it just down there? Hm... Damn it, I can't remember where the hell the shotgun upgrade came in.

Oh, well. I hear orders come from Shepard concerning the Scion. So Thane hangs back, with the rest of us coming down as quickly as we can. I see Samara glow blue, and there's hardly a second where I don't see her let up with it as she tosses husks to the side. I raise my weapon up, seeing the scion unleash the first of its biotic shock waves. I watch as some husks come in front of it, and-

...

Huh.

I should've expected that.

Well, there's one case where friendly fire is gonna help us out. The Scion already sent two husks flying in two different directions thanks to that biotic shockwave. So really, that makes our job easier. Now we just have to be aware if they run out of stuff to throw at us, because that's when they get to be a problem.

So I fire my shotgun at the scion, and it doesn't really do that much, but it helps contribute to all the suppressing fire. I see Shepard stop glowing, her breath coming rather strangely as she lifts her submachine gun up at the scion. I turn to another husk, watching as Samara is still throwing things. Thane seems to have returned to sniper rifle mode for now, sniping at whatever targets seem to come forth as I fire shots at the advancing little thing of fused husks. Seriously, these guys aren't menacing enough. They're just so... big...

And with the cover we've got, we can fortify good defenses, with Samara throwing husks like rag dolls, Chikktika shocking anything I missed with my gunshots, and everyone else just adding to the amount of mass accelerator rounds that are whizzing into that very, very large area at the moment. All the husks are falling into it, but really, they don't have anywhere else to go, and we have to stay put until the scion goes down.

With a definitive blast from Tali's shotgun, though, it gets taken down.

Good thing, too. The bloody thing had been slowly advancing the whole time, and it was almost on us when the quarian had shot him with her shotgun. So... That bit takes care of itself.

All right!

I hear Shepard bark out the orders to move on, but I'm already vaulting past cover by the time she's barking them out to all of us. The others follow soon behind, with Shepard and Tali right behind me and Samara and Thane bringing up the rear. I don't see much else as I'm in front of the group, but I hear their footsteps behind me, and I see someone throwing husks every which way. So they're still behind me, I have that assurance at least.

I walk on, seeing them toss husks about. Some of them are in that flaming state of mind where they're all red and stuff, but when those get tossed they tend to explode, so that makes our life easier, not theirs. I don't keep track of how many guns I shoot, or even how far we go.

All I know, is that we end up stopping at the next point where we run into a scion, ducking into cover. Okay, here we-

Hey, wait! There's an explosive one. And the scion just so happens to be...

...

I've got an idea!

I look to Shepard, who's fallen in next to me in the small sliver of cover we've got. "Hey, Shepard!" I say. "You see that flaming husk there? Throw it at the giant shockwave-tossing thing!"

"What?" asks the commander, looking at the scene I just described.

Oh, dear... No, no, no! The husk is running by the scion! Damn it, no!

"Do it! Do it now!"

Shepard glows biotically blue, and then I see her throw the exploding husk...

...and it hits the scion square in the side. The force of the explosion hits the scion hard, sending it stumbling to the side. It probably wouldn't be too much, but it's close enough to the railing that a little more force would push it over. Seeing this, I see it get encased in blue one more time, and that extra application of force sends it over the railway and into the area below.

...

Well, it worked. And now we have another way of eliminating scions in the future.

"Oh." Shepard's reply is simple as she regards the damage we've done. Wow... she looks kinda surprised. I guess she didn't think it would work either. Huh. Fun times are had with that. This only lasts for two seconds though, for then she vaults over cover and gestures to everyone else. "Move it, everyone!" she shouts over the groaning of the husks.

I don't hesitate for a second. I'm right behind her soon after, Tali and Chikktika following close behind.

And... we sort of keep going. We continue firing away at husks, with Shepard and Samara both using biotics. Thane's pulling back on the biotics slightly so that he doesn't tire himself out. Honestly, who can blame him? We just keep on moving about, shooting and throwing biotics at every husk that gets in our way. We only really stop if there's a scion in our way. And that happens a lot more often than I would like, honestly. But we take care of the scions and move on. It becomes routine after a bit, and eventually, we work to that one bend.

Honestly, I'm surprised Chikktika is still intact after all that. But there it is, with no more husks between us and the Reaper IFF's little room thing. So we rush right over there, where hopefully Legion will be two doors away. We don't really hear the groan as we come to the next door. Okay...

We're in an airlock kind of room with a console. And on the console...

"Ah." Shepard walks to the console, picking up a small object. "This looks like the Reaper IFF."

I nod, smiling as I cross my arms. "See?" I ask. "Right on our way to the drive core."

"That's good," says Tali. "But what about the geth unit? We still have to get it, right?"

...

Oh, yeah. This is the room leading right to the Drive Core... Shit...

And we've already taken quite a bit of time.

"Oh." I say, cocking my shotgun. "Yeah... About that. We need to move fast if we don't want to take him back to the Normandy as an unconscious pile of metal." I move right towards the door. "So don't ask questions. As soon as we go in, start shooting the husks. No questions."

I open the door into the Drive Core soon after, and then I find myself rushing up the stairs. Okay... There's that group of husks advancing towards Legion... Hey, they're not that close! Hm. I think I can do this!

I rush forward then, seeing as Legion works at the console. I bring my shotgun up to bear as I approach, aiming and firing at one of the husks. It blows that one's head clean off, and it falls off to the side listlessly as I get closer to Legion. Just don't let any of the husks get close and we should be fine! I fire my shotgun at another husk right as I start catching up, and that one goes down very quickly. Another husk sort of just falls limply, a bullet to the head. Hm... that was probably Thane. I glance back, and sure enough, there are Shepard and the others doing exactly what they need to.

Okay... Just one more husk, and Legion should be-

Fine.

...

Well, I won't complain. Legion just turned and shot the last husk heading immediately towards him without so much as batting an eyelash. Eyemetal. Flashlight. Whatever. Either way, he manages to take care of the last husk heading towards him right now.

Okay. I smile at this as he turns back to the control console he's busy manipulating. All right... that works out like that... and I come to bear next to the geth unit, holding out the shotgun as a warning to any husks should they get the idea to approach. But I don't hear the low groan, and I don't hear it even as Shepard and the others come close to where Legion is, so... we're safe.

I turn back to the drive core as soon as the others get to where I am. Okay, so we managed to avoid having to drag Legion onto the Normandy. Most excellent. Now he can explain that bit about the heretic geth as we stand there. Or at least give us a sparknotes version, to be elaborated on once we get back on the ship. Plus, it virtually eliminates any opportunity to send it to experimentations with Cerberus, so that's even better than before. Either way, everybody wins.

Though Rael'Zorah probably won't be pleased. Eh, I told him: I'll just deal with the fall-out as it comes.

I then see the drive core open, and then Legion looks to the rest of us.

"Shepard-Commander," it begins, turning to the rest of us as we huddle in a ring around it. "Your arrival is timely."

"You got that right," says the Commander, gesturing to me. "Thank the Serviceman for that."

I see Legion's head turn towards me. "*********-Serviceman," he greets. "The geth find your history to be curious. This platform detects that this is a discussion for elsewhere."

I nod. "Yeah, because it's quite a doozy," I mention. "Anyway... we weren't expecting to bump into you here."

Ah, the joys of the blatant lie.

"This platform finds your reaction to our presence curious," says Legion. "According to probability, many scenarios would end in violence against this platform. Especially from the Creator present in the group."

Tali shifts her foot back slightly at this. "Creator?" she asks.

Legion turns to her. "Creator," he states. "Designation of those who created us. You would know yourselves as the quarian race. We call you the Creators. You are most likely Creator Tali'Zorah, as you are with Shepard-Commander."

Tali blinks at this. Oh... I think I forgot to mention that somewhere... Yep. I did, if her reaction is anything to go by. Hm... I should've mentioned that. But then, Legion probably would've caught on, so... maybe it's for the best. I dunno anymore. It's gotten way too complex to think about. But... We'll see what happens when we bump into Legion.

"This information is not relevant to the point," says the geth, jolting me out of my thoughts. "Shepard-Commander and her crew should have attacked this platform based on encounters with the heretics."

Shepard blinks in suprise, looking right at Legion. "Heretics?" she asks. Yeah... I explained this to everyone that knows about this, Shepard. But... Damn it, I told her to be convincing about it! That's not convincing, Shepard! _I _could be more convincing than that! It's shock, not surprise! Shock!

Jesus Christ, this is going to be way harder than it really has to be.

If Legion sees anything odd about her reaction, he doesn't comment on it. Smart move, Legion. Smart move. I simply sit there, but if I could glare at Shepard, I would be more than happy to at the moment. Seriously. It sucks that I can't glare at her.

"What Shepard-Commander faced were not geth," says Legion. "Geth do not look to the Old Machines for a future."

"Old Machines?" asks Shepard. "You mean the Reapers."

Yes. So now we get a little something saying-

"This platform finds that we are speaking of things not relevant to the point." Oh. "Why did Shepard-Commander not attack this platform?"

... Wow, when put that way, it almost sounds kind of... innocent.

"Let's just say that you strike me as being odd for a geth," says Shepard. "Or a heretic. Whatever. Either way, it looks like you wanted to help me before we met up."

"Yes." Legion's reply is... way too simple.

Shepard raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Yes to what?"

The geth platform's little eye plates move. "This platform wishes to join forces with Shepard-Commander," it says. "This platform can explain further details of heretics."

"He does seem to have skill with a sniper rifle as well," adds Thane. "That could be useful when we move past the Omega 4 Relay."

"I don't know, Shepard..." Tali's comment is a little apprehensive. "I don't know if I can trust a geth unit yet." Hm...

"This platform wishes to assure Creator Tali'Zorah that the geth harbor no ill-will against the Creators." Legion's reply is kind of reassuring to Tali, as I can see her stance relax. Well, also, she's known about this well in advance, so that would help quit a lot, I guess. "We seek to survive. Nothing more."

Tali looks, then nods. "Well, I'll trust you for now," she says. "But if you do anything that would endanger the safety of the Fleet, I _will _act in their defense."

"This platform understands your need to protect your people," he states.

"Excellent," says Shepard. "We'll join forces then."

"Miranda and Jacob are going to question your decision, you know," I mention.

"I'll deal with them," she says. "As well as everyone else on the ship. So... since we're here, what do we call you?"

... Oh, dear. Here we go.

"Geth."

Shepard shakes her head. "I mean, you, specifically." Oh, dear, here comes the frustration.

"We are all geth," says the platform with a flat voice. Well... given that flat voices are the only thing that geth platforms can actually do...

"What is the individual in front of me called?" asked Shepard. Ooh, boy. I definitely didn't get Shepard being _this _frustrated in the games. We're under a time constraint for when the next set of husks come in, but still. The look she's giving the platform could be murderous, but... I know she's not really that angry. She just needs to get used to the Geth way of thinking about stuff.

Besides, the fact that _I'm _here probably doesn't help, since I gave her forewarning about the unit being there, but not about it being so into the Collective.

...

Actually, now that I think aobut it, wouldn't Ayn Rand throw a fit at the geth if she were alive?

"There is no individual," says Legion. "There are one thousand, one hundred and eighty-three runtimes active in this platform."

I can see the slight twitch in Samara's hand, but that's about the most surprise I get out of anyone. But I'm sure they're all thinking the exact same thing. Well... I just definitively proved that I have precognition. All right... time to give out Legion's namesake and call it a day before more husks start trying to kill us.

"We are Legion, for we are many," I recite, crossing my arms. Since EDI's not here... someone has to give him his name. "You've got a ton of platforms in there, and it's gonna get hella confusing trying to refer to you as 'geth' all the time."

The geth unit stands there, his eye flaps moving about as he briefly considers this. "Christian Bible," he says then. "Gospel of Mark. Chapter five, verse nine. We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor." The unit nods. "We are Legion, a terminal of geth. We look forward to an exchange of data."

A low groan comes out right at that moment, and then I turn around and see husks start to rise up. No sooner do I hear it when I turn my head and see the mass effect core closing on us. Oh, damn it, _that's _why there weren't any husks trying to kill us! Now it all makes sense!

"Okay," I say. "Looks like we got that all taken care of. But now... we have to take care of this."

"This platform deducts that this Old Machine's mass effect core is unstable," says Legion. "We recommend shooting it."

I snort. Oh, Legion... "Got that," says Shepard as she draws her submachine gun. "Everyone, get ready!"

I nod at Shepard, raising my shotgun as I move to defend a piece of the staircase. I briefly notice Samara and legion taking a position on the stairwell behind me before I see Chikktika float past me. Soon after, I see Tali walking right next to me, her weapon raised as she looks right in my direction.

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to fight with a geth," she says under her breath.

I nod, noticing Thane and Shepard moving further up the path together. "Can't say I blame you there," I say, just under my breath. "Remember, he would've been scrap by now." I nod, looking as the first husk on my watch rises, Chikktika beginning to move into position to where it can shock the husks with ease. "You ready?"

"Of course, Art," says the quarian. "And just so you know... If I'm uncomfortable with Legion... I'll try and put up with it. For you."

I raise my eyebrow, but... Oh. _Oh._

I smile at this, nodding as I raise my shotgun. "Good to know," I say. "Here they come!"

I shout this last bit, and then the first husk comes up. It materializes right at the foot of the stairs where we are, so I shoot it with my shotgun. Yeah, now it's a headless husk!

I look up right as Chikktika shocks a husk. Yeah... it's a blue one. I change my aim, but before I can do much the husk is biotically thrown away. I frown, turning slightly and then seeing Shepard glowing blue. Oh... Well, that explains that bit. I shake my head. Damn, Shepard, she's stealing my kills! At least it's not Garrus stealing them, thankfully. Because that would be really annoying, and it would get that way really fast.

I begin to hear the moaning get louder, and we stay in the steps. You know... I wonder why we're not running around wildly now. Because that's what we'd have to do in the game. But... since there are enough of us here, we can hold the line. And that will take care of itself.

I nod, raising my shotgun and seeing two more husks run up. Tali is already aiming her... hey, when did she switch to her pistol, anyway? Whatever. She aims it at the husk, and shoots it right in the head. That takes care of itself, of course, and I nod as I watch the other husk move closer. Chikktika shocks that one too, and shortly after I follow it up with a shotgun blast. That sends it flying back, right into a third husk that I only just noticed was there. Some submachine gun fire keeps the husk down, though. Again, Shepard.

At one point, a whole bunch of husks pull themselves up close to where Tali and I are standing. Of course, we redivert our aim after this, but... they get so close that one of them manages to swipe in Tali's direction. Thankfully, the quarian dodges this blow, retaliating with a blow of her own that sends the thing tumbling back down the stairs. It knocks itself into some of the other husks in the descent, which is always a good thing. I fire my shotgun into the group as it descends, and while it doesn't really do that much damage due to how many husks there were, it still keeps them down. Then I see the lot of them glow blue, and then all of them are sent flying away, most of them going over the railing.

Ah, Shepard. Good to see your biotics are still in good shape, even after all these uses of them throughout this whole journey in this dead Reaper.

I look on at the husks... and there's a red one approaching Chikktika. Oh, dear. The red ones. The ones that explode. I fire my shotgun at it, hoping to... Oh, no. It didn't budge, did it? Shoot, the thing is too far away for the shotgun to have any actual effect. Shit... Yeah, lack of foresight on my part, go! I watch as the husk shambles towards Chikktika, unimpeded as Shepard and Tali's attentions are focused elsewhere. The combat drone, of course, doesn't seem to know any better, and so it shocks the thing, right as it gets close enough for the explosion to be a problem.

The ensuing explosion seems quite small, but it's still there.

On the plus side, it sent some husks sprawling away. That's ever helpful, as Shepard is still shooting away at husks down there, and it's given her room to breathe a little.

On the minus side, though, Chikktika is now a pile of blown-up mechanical parts. Just like it got everywhere else on this journey.

...

I swear, _someone _is getting off on watching Tali's combat drone constantly get itself destroyed.

I shake my head. Well, the shotgun is useless at long range. Looks like it's time to turn to the assault rifle. I stow away my shotgun, pulling out my assault rifle just as a husk gets to the staircase. Tali turns to it, but I'm already a step ahead of her. As I pull out my assault rifle, I look at the husk, and give it a solid kick to the face. That sends the thing falling down the stairs, and I swear it does some kind of neck-snap motion on its way down. It also gives Tali enough time to adjust her aim, a bullet or two entering the husk's skull and keeping it down.

And that's when I have my assault rifle fully out and ready to do some real damage. This calls for a pop culture reference!

"Say hello to my leetle friend!"

I can hear Shepard facepalm from a short distance away, but... I don't really pay it any mind as I fire wildly at the approaching husks. They all seem to fall down in droves after that, with Tali and Shepard providing supporting cover for my assault rifle fire. All right, excellent! These things are going down!

So I mow down a bunch of husks like that for the next minute or so. They all sort of go down really quickly. Sometimes, I manage to catch them right as they're climbing up, so they all fall back down into the pit below the platform we're on. Other times, it gets them right as they start to get up on the platform. In these cases, I'm apt to kick them a little further down the stairs. Tali sometimes helps out with that, though, so we keep the husks at bay from the line. Okay... we're keeping them held off. Now, where did-?

Gah! What the-?

As I move to kick a husk, it suddenly grabs my leg speechlessly. Before I can say anything, it pulls back, and I'm then being dragged down the stairs as my stable foot gives out from under me. I let out a very, very loud yelp as this happens, but Tali is quick to act on my behalf. She fires her pistol at it once, causing the thing to drop my leg with a plop against the stairwell. It staggers back, but then I see it get biotically tossed away shortly after. Okay, I'm free, but still! I climb back up the stairs on all fours, holding out my assault rifle as I fire it at another husk that's close by. Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, don't-!

Another pistol shot from my quarian companion puts it down, and then I feel myself get hoisted up at the top of the stairs by a three-fingered hand. I see that there are... less husks than there were a minute ago... well, there are those trying to trip over the bodies of their dead friends. But... I get hoisted back up, and then find myself looking right into Tali's eyes. I smile at her when I'm back on my feet, and then nod.

"Thanks."

I turn to kill more husks when... hey, are there no more alive husks? I could've sworn-!

"The mass effect core is open! Shoot it!"

At Shepard's voice, I instantly forget about the fact that the husks were apparently insta-killed when I wasn't looking, and then I turn to the core to see that yes, it is open.

I waste no time. Reloading quickly as Legion becomes the first to fire into it, I aim my assault rifle at the blue thing. Hey... since Shepard was the only one who ever shot at this thing in the game... yes, we can take this thing down ridiculously fast!

I raise my assault rifle after reloading, and then start firing at the thing. This gets added to everyone else's fire, and soon enough, the mass effect core looks like it's about to go out like a light. We just hold down our triggers, and before we know it, we see a small explosion of element zero.

...

Well, _that _was fast. Also kind of anticlimactic. But... since we were all shooting at it instead of Shepard...

Wait...

We all took it down quickly, right? That means...

That means we're now inside a free-falling Reaper!

Shit!

"Shepard-Commander, we recommend-!"

"I know, Legion! Everone, move it!"

I don't hesitate for another second. Strapping my assault rifle onto my back, I sprint forward, following everyone else as we start running out of the Reaper. Legion joins in, too, without having to be hauled by anybody else.

Shit... Gotta get outa here!

I follow Shepard to the letter, as if I remember correctly we're forced to exit the Reaper a different way. And indeed, as she gets her helmet on... Oh, right, we have to enter Mnemosyne's atmosphere! It's kinda too bad we don't have hammer space, because that would make our lives easier. But, hey, I've got my helmet now. So I grab the helmet from where it is on my shoulder, and then pull it off of the little magnetic harness that Mordin had customized for my armor. Always a good thing to have a scientist salarian with you, I think. So I pull the helmet down onto my face, breathing harshly as my hand works the ponytail into the helmet.

Oh, dear... I watch as Shepard banks a sharp left, down a staircase I swear wasn't there in the game. But hey, we had to get off this Reaper somehow, so I just follow her.

Right... ponytail! I shove the ponytail in, but... Ow, I think the helmet seals are bruising one of my fingers. Gotta be careful with that! I withdraw my right hand from the action, switching it to my left as I lift my helmet slightly. Okay, come on, come on! I work the ponytail in there, the stairway bringing my helmet down on my fingers. Oh, bloody hell, forget the fingers! It's die or get the helmet on! With this though, I abruptly push, the last of the ponytail entering. With this, I slam the helmet down onto my head, feeling slight discomfort on my shoulder and particularly the neck area. Quickly, the helmet seals kick in, and then I'm breathing from the thing's supply of oxygen.

Excellent!

It's then that we come across an airlock. Okay... that's the way out. I hear a moaning, but I'm running too fast to care. I can make out Samara turning back and using biotics as Shepard draws her assault rifle, turning around as we all burst through the door.

Okay, we're outside now. And there's the Normandy! Now, we have to move it!

"Come on!" I shout, sprinting towards the Normandy. I see Tali, Legion, and Thane all have similar mindsets as the airlock of the Normandy opens up to us. Shepard and Samara both stand behind, making sure the rest of us can get on.

Oh, come on, we don't have time for heroics, Shepard! We have to move!

I run over... Okay, the platform still goes out. And thankfully, we don't have to throw Legion in there. I sprint over there, then, and then... Okay... Jump! I leap across the gap between the platform we're on and the Normandy's airlock, and I can see Legion doing the same out of the corner of my eye. Come on...

Ah, thank Mnemosyne for having low gravity. Because then the geth platform and I both land in the airlock at around the same time. I feel myself impact against the other door of the airlock, knowing it won't open until the pressurization cycle runs its course. Okay... I turn back, only to see Thane land next to me. Tali follows soon after, and it's then that I see Shepard and Samara turn to us. Oh, dear... Are they...?

Oh, I hope they do.

I watch the two of them from the safety of the airlock, and the two people left are dashing towards us. Samara is the first to make the jump, and she's followed a second later by Shepard. Wait... Hold on...

Their arc isn't...

Oh, crap!

"Guys, grab them!"

I move right to do this as soon as it becomes apparent that Samara might not make the jump. Shit... the gap widened a little bit and threw their jump off! Damn it! I reach out, and the others do the same just as Samara hits the bottom of the airlock with her stomach. Wow... that really was understating it. However, Legion and Thane have already caught her arms, and they pull her into the airlock. As for Shepard... She gets in slightly higher than Samara, giving Tali and I enough time to grab her arms. This stabilizes her, and then we both pull her in as I start to feel the winds of Mnemosyne starting to buffet the ship around.

Damn it damn it damn it! I yank Shepard in there as the airlock door starts to close. Samara is already in, so I pull harder on Shepard, sending us sprawling in the back. Barely a second later, the door closes, and then the rocking gets really bad as the pressurization cycle begins.

I take in a deep breath soon after, and feel the shake as Joker pulls away from the derelict Reaper.

I never thought I'd be relieved to feel like we're driving through a damn hurricane again, but there it is. Tons of turbulence, we're out of the field... And as it slowly begins to calm down upon our exiting Mnemosyne's atmosphere...

Phew.

"I can't believe we made that," says Tali, shaking her head where she, Shepard, and I are lying in a heap.

"Neither can I," I say, shaking my head. "Who wants to bet that half the crew is gonna flip out at the fact that we've got a geth here that is active?"

"We can explain ourselves," comments Legion.

...

Not what I meant, but whatever. I'm just glad we got you onto this ship while you were still conscious. Now... the airlock door opens into the ship, and then I look over as we see Miranda and Jacob there. And sure enough, Rael'Zorah is standing there, with a pistol at his hip.

Oh, boy.

This is gonna be one _very _interesting debrief.


	45. Chapter 43

_A/N: All right. So we've got Legion into MV2! So there shall be many, many references made to that. And crazy things will happen with Legion._

_There's not a whole lot I need say, but... Yeah... Let's just say I may have fallen in love with a cartoon villain._

_Ah, Lord Shen... You're so deliciously evil and hammy... *dreamy sigh*_

_Sorry. Fun times are had with Gary Oldman voicing over the top villains. So yeah._

_Here's the next chapter._

* * *

Chapter 43: The Geth Dilemma

"Shepard, are you insane? A geth unit?"

"I know what I am doing."

"Somehow, I doubt that."

"Rael'Zorah, you have to understand that-"

"It's a geth, Shepard! How do you know it's not going to turn on you later?"

"I don't. But that doesn't mean-!"

"Then you always assume the worst!"

"Father, please-!"

"Tali, stay out of this!"

I glance over to Tali as she reels back slightly, her father still maintaining that sort of angry look he's had all debriefing. I mean, jeez... he's so unhappy it's radiating out of the helmet!

Well... this debriefing isn't going well. We only just got into the comm room, and _already _Rael is hurling anger at everyone else in the room. Somehow, despite the fact that I already told him that Legion was coming, he's still throwing a pretty bad fit. And it's not pretty. Miranda, Jacob, and the rest of the ground team that was at the derelict Reaper are also there. And the whole time, Rael keeps making violent gestures at the geth unit as he stands unphased to the side.

"Rael'Zorah, this is _my_ ship," mentions Shepard. "This geth unit is staying with us, because I think it genuinely wants to help us. I've made my decision."

"And I'm making sure it doesn't kill us all!" shouts the admiral. "It's a geth! It seeks to kill all organics! You know that! You fought hundreds of them when you hunted Saren!"

"Geth do not wish to terminate organic life," says Legion simply. "We seek our own future. If you involve yourself with our future, that is your choice. And if you respond with violence, we will retaliate."

"And where does that get defined?" The older quarian does not look happy right now... "For all anyone in this room knows, raising a hand in your direction would be seen as a violent gesture!"

...

Really, Rael?

"We find such a postulation to be illogical," says Legion.

Seriously, Rael. You need to calm down.

"To be fair, I don't think this is the best decision Shepard has ever made either," mentions Miranda, looking right at Rael. "We really don't know if this geth unit is trustworthy. That said, though, this unit hasn't tried to kill us all yet."

"It's probably just biding its time," mentions Jacob, crossing his arms. "Infiltrate the team, and kill us all when we least expect it."

... Wow, I'm surprised nobody's mentioned that, oh, I dunno, _I told a lot of you cocksuckers about this several missions in advance_! I told the Brotherhood in advance, I told Rael in advance, I told Shepard in advance... So why in the world is Rael'Zorah still pissed? And how come nobody's brought it up yet? Are they all just afraid of mentioning it to Legion? I know Jacob, I didn't tell, but everyone else in this room? They had some degree of forewarning!

Well... there is the matter of the geth unit in the room. But still... I get the feeling he's kind of already gotten some information that may corroborate my story. Or something. Either way, this doesn't bode well for me.

"Geth do not infiltrate," says Legion. "We join Shepard-Commander because the Old Machines threaten our future."

"But you're both machines!" mentions Rael. "Assuming these Reapers exist, why would they destroy machines like them?"

Legion simply looks at Rael. "We are outside of their plans," it says. "We are different. They will exterminate the geth, as well as all organic life. This is why we do not look to the Old Machines for a future. The heretics look to the Reapers. We do not."

"So?" asks Rael, gesturing at the thing. "What about the quarians? This thing is a danger to the Fleet!"

"Rael, this is not the Migrant Fleet," replies Shepard. "This is a Cerberus vessel."

"Suppose it tagged along with me when my leave ends," he says. I can very clearly see the frown. "What if it gets onto the Fleet? What if that was its mission all along?"

Ay yay yay... "We wish to assure Creator Rael'Zorah that we mean no harm to the Creators," says Legion.

"I don't even know what to think about that!" mentions Rael, gesturing to Legion. "Creators? Is that...?" He shakes his head, giving a dismissive hand gesture. "I don't want to know. What's clear to me is that this can not lead to anything good."

"Father, please," says Tali, coming forward just a little bit. "It hasn't attacked us yet."

"And that's to say it won't later?" asks Rael. "Tali, these people took away our home! They're the reason we're forced to wander the stars, even 300 years after the Morning War! You're going to give it a chance anyway?"

I shake my head. "I may point out, that the war that kicked you out of Rannoch was technically started when _your ancestors _freaked out about your creations asking if they had a soul," I say. "Technically, you're _both_ to blame for where you guys are now."

Rael turns to me, a glare settling on his features. "And what were we supposed to do?" asks the quarian. "Our creation turned on us!"

"Because it asked if it had a soul!" I reply, frowning. "Your ancestors could've just answered that question peacefully instead of trying to eliminate it!"

"Are you saying we were wrong for trying to defend ourselves?" asks Rael, leaning towards me.

"I'm just saying your people shouldn't have jumped to conclusions on that!" I retort. "I don't even think it had a chance to turn on you when the Morning War started!"

"You weren't there!" says Rael.

"And neither were you!" I glare at Rael, my fist settled on the table. "Quarians go on and on about how your people were hurt by the geth, but I think you and I both know that anyone that was in the Morning War is long dead by this point. Sooner or later, one of you is going to have to stop fighting this war."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" asked Rael. "They seek to exterminate all organic life! It's all they've ever done! They took away our home! You're asking us to just forget that?"

I shake my head. "I'm asking you to move on from that," I reply, giving a sweeping hand gesture. "This war isn't going to end until one of you stops giving the other reasons to attack you. Maybe, just maybe, you should stop and think that possibly they'd be willing to give you a homeworld! That maybe they'd let you build that damn house you promised Tali you'd build! I don't know. Maybe you should give it a goddamn chance anyway?"

Rael still looks a little angry, but he doesn't look like he's about to budge. Jesus Christ... he's letting old rivalries get in the way of facts! This geth unit is here, it hasn't attacked us, and it's offering to join us! Come on, people! I already told most of you this was going to happen!

There's a brief silence between the two of us as I feel the room's attention falling on us. Finally, he just shakes his head begrudgingly. "This isn't what I would do," he says. "But it's not my ship." She turns to the commander. "Do as you wish, Commander. But when this geth turns on all of us, you cannot say that I didn't warn you." And then he turns to me. "This conversation is over. I will _not _speak with that geth. I will have _nothing _to do with it, whether you want me to or not. And that is all I will say about this."

With this, the admiral turns, and marches straight out of the briefing room. His stance is tense, almost appropriate given how angry he is. I shake my head, giving a dismissive hand gesture when the door closes behind him.

"Jesus Christ on a pikestaff," I say. "What I want to know is how he expects to give it a chance when he doesn't even want to talk to Legion."

Tali doesn't say anything, but I turn my attention to Legion. "Don't worry about Rael'Zorah," I say. "I'll get him to turn around eventually. I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I'll do it eventually."

"That would be appreciated," says Legion.

Shepard nods. "Right," she says. "This meeting isn't about being angry at me having brought a geth unit on board. We have other topics than that right now."

"Of course," says Jacob. "I don't like this, but... it's your decision Commander. I'm behind you no matter what."

"Good," says Shepard. "So... EDI?"

EDI's avatar pops up. "There is sufficient room in the AI Core for this terminal of geth," she says. "It is also secluded, meaning that if anybody wants to avoid it, it will be simple to do so."

Legion's head flaps move soon after. "An artificial intelligence," it comments. "This possibility was not foreseen by this platform. We will stay in the AI core. We look forward to exchange of data."

"All right," says Miranda with a nod. "That settles that. Now... there's the issue of the IFF."

"Yes," says Shepard, placing it on the table. "What about the IFF?"

I nod, looking at EDI's holographic avatar as she goes on and explains away about the Reaper IFF. I stand there, though, still thinking about the episode that just occurred with Rael'Zorah and the peaceful geth.

* * *

The debrief ends, and I walk out, watching as Legion, Shepard, and Thane all walk into the tech lab. I can see Mordin giving a curious glance at the geth before turning back to his studies... Hm, looks like he's producing the dream-share chemical. That's a good thing, because we could always use more of that stuff. I walk out of the debriefing room, Miranda and Jacob heading into the armory as I watch Shepard move. Tali halts beside me, and looks up.

"That was a... very interesting debrief," she says, shaking her head.

I nod, chewing on my lower lip. "I know," I say. "But... It was really, really bad. Tali... are you all right?"

The quarian blinks, and she's silent for a bit. Oh, no... I look to her then, watching as her gaze averts to the floor. It's not what I think it is, is it?

Oh, dear...

I grasp her hands, as they're now folded in front of her in uncertainty. I pull them up and look her in the eyes as she turns her gaze to me. "Hey, it's all right," I say. "What's bothering you?"

Tali nods, and I can just sense that she's uncertain about this. "I don't know, Art," she says. "I just... I'm not so sure about Legion anymore."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "Why's that?" I ask.

"I don't know, Art," she says, her voice slightly shaky. "I just... I don't know what to think. I've hated the geth all my life. They took away our home, they're one of the reasons we're stuck out here... And everything I've known about them is wrong."

I nod at this. "It's tough to face the truth sometimes," I say, looking right at her.

"That's not it at all," she says. "Legion... He hasn't tried to kill us yet. So I know it could be trusted. But... but...?"

"You grew up hating the geth all your life," I say. "I don't blame you for that."

"I... I just don't know," says Tali, shaking her head as her eyes close. "I know I should trust you. But... but maybe father is right. I don't know anymore. I don't know who I should trust... I know you'll just tell me to follow my heart, Art, but... But even my heart doesn't know what to do. Art, can you help me here? I just..." She lets out a sigh. "I don't know what to do anymore. I want to trust him, I really do. He helped us against all those husks, and he hasn't killed us. But... I just... I don't know if I actually can..."

My hands come tighter around Tali's. "Tali..." I say, holding her hands close. "Just... trust me, all right? I'll understand whatever you decide to go with, but..." I shake my head. "Oh, damn it."

"Art?" she asks, looking up at me.

I shrug. "You know, this is making me think of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Again."

Tali snorts. "You always think about them at the worst times," she says bitterly.

"No, but this one is relevant," I say, holding her hands. "I was just thinking about one of the songs there... And it's funny, you know, because it deals with racism and stuff... And how... Well... _You've got to be taught to hate and fear, you've got to be taught from year to year, it's got to be drummed in your dear little ear, you've got to be carefully taught._" I shrug. "It goes on from there... But I don't blame you, or even your father for not trusting Legion. It's been handed down from centuries of anger and bitterness. And stuff."

The machinist doesn't chuckle like she normally would. "But it's up to us to stop the cycle?" she asks.

I nod. "Exactly," I say, giving her a soft smile. "One of these days, this war is going to have to end. And despite the fact that there haven't been any major battles, it's still living on today in the resentment of your people. But if one of you just stood up..."

"That really _would _be treason," mentions Tali. "And selfish. I don't know if I can..."

"It would," I say. "But stuff didn't change because the people who could make a difference decided to sit on their asses all day instead of actively attempting to make a difference." Oh, dear... "I guess... I guess what I'm saying is... take a leap of faith on this one. If you catch the ledge and see good results at the end, it'll be worth it."

"I..." Tali shakes her head. "I don't know, Art. But I'll try."

I let go of her hands after this, and bring my arms around her in a hug. She returns it tentatively. I'm sure she's still just not completely satisfied about anything that's going on. Can't say I blame her there; everything she knows about the geth is getting turned on its head as we speak, and I'm sure it's the same thing the quarian people will be dealing with soon enough. So... That's all I can ask from her for now.

"I just hope you're right," she says, holding me there.

I just hold her against me. "Trust me, I think you're in good hands," I say. The two of us part, and I nod to her. "Now... I think Legion wanted to talk to me about something."

"Yeah, he did," says the quarian. "I... I don't know if this means anything, but... do you think I could stay with you? Just... as...?"

What? Oh, boy. This is new. Tali wants to sit through a conversation with Legion? Oh, boy. And here I thought she would never talk to him. That is... actually really refreshing to see, after all this time of quarians hating on the geth so much. That's actually really, really helpful. And I think it'll be a good first step.

"Sure," I say. "I'd be glad to have you at my side." With this, I take her hand, smiling. "Come on. To the AI core!"

And with this, the two of us set off, walking through the tech lab as I think about what Legion has to say. Okay... maybe he picked up on stuff... Yeah, that would make sense. They monitored a lot of shit when Legion was trying to find Shepard the first time. I wouldn't be surprised if they did that with crew members, especially those that just appear with no prior records of them in any database, ever. So maybe it'll be about that.

Right. Let's get moving.

* * *

We walk into the medical bay, watching Dr. Chakwas move around with a datapad in hand.

Hm... Speaking of Dr. Chakwas... that brings up a very important point. I still have to lay down a specific plan on how to save as much of the crew as I can. We're going to lose a few people to the Collectors, there's no avoiding that. But if I want to save a large part of the crew...? I still have ideas bouncing around in my head, though, and I think they can work. So it's just a matter of getting said ideas across... Which leaves when. I want the crew to be as prepared as possible... so... Yeah, because they may not like me specifically, but they have loyalty to Miranda, and she has enough pull over them to order them into doing something. I think. Either way, she's a commanding officer, so... if I run it by her during the next Brotherhood meeting...

Yeah, that's what I'll do. Okay, we'll have this meeting after I talk with Legion, then.

I walk into the AI core shortly after, giving Chakwas a friendly nod as we both enter the AI core. There's Legion in the back of it, discussing something with Commander Shepard. The geth unit notices our entry almost immediately, though, and turns his flashlight head in our direction. Shepard notices this, and turns to see us walking in. She nods as the door closes behind us, and Legion acknowledges our presence.

"*********-Serviceman. Creator Tali'Zorah." His head plates shift slightly. "We hope that our argument with Creator Rael'Zorah earlier did not alarm you."

Tali and I blink at pretty much exactly the same time. Huh... I definitely didn't expect Legion to say something like that at all. That's... actually kinda cool that he's looking out for us like that.

"I..." Tali hesitates slightly. "I... appreciate the concern. But I'll be all right." We think.

I blink, looking at Legion. "That's not something you see every day," I mention. "A machine being polite, anyway."

"This platform deduces that mental well-being is crucial for motivation," says the platform. "We have detected an 8.45% increase in productivity if a person is mentally stable."

...

Oh, dear, Legion, always backing it up with science. I shake my head, smiling as Tali and I step further into the AI core. "This is going to be interesting," I point out. "You said you wanted to talk to me, Legion?"

"Yes," says Legion. "This platform wishes to pose a query to *********-Serviceman. The geth feel you are the only one who can answer our query."

It's got to do with my past, doesn't it? Yes... It always has to do with my past with these things. I guess the geth figured it out.

"What's the question?" I ask.

"The geth have monitored organic transmissions," says the geth. I can feel Tali tense up slightly, but she doesn't say anything. "Mostly we are... curious about the habits of organic species. However, we were also searching for information on Shepard-Commander. We found a confusing anomaly with information about *********-Serviceman, though."

"Like...?" I ask.

"We have found several documents pertaining to what organics would call 'precognition'," the platform says. "The geth are confused about this, and other pieces of information we found about *********-Serviceman's origins. We find it particularly puzzling that there is no data available on you from prior to your meeting with Shepard-Commander on Citadel. We wish for clarification."

Ah, so he kinda knows. Well... he doesn't know the specifics, so... Yeah. I can see why he would go straight for me, then. When asking a question, always go for the guy you're asking questions about. That's a good rule of thumb.

I nod, looking right at Legion. Oh, what the hell, he's gonna find out about it from some of the crew sooner or later anyway. Well, if anyone decides to talk to him, that is... Though...

"Why not just ask Shepard?" I ask.

"It is improbable that Shepard-Commander would have the best answer to our query," replies Legion. "Our consensus states that it would be prudent to talk to *********-Serviceman himself."

Okay, that makes sense. Shepard can't explain stuff from the future quite like I can, so it's better to ask the guy who is actually in the dilemma than the friend of the guy. So yeah... I can see why Legion wanted to talk to me.

"Well, okay," I say. "But first... I have to approach the point by going off-topic for a second. Don't worry, it's related." I gesture to Shepard before the machine can get a word in edgewise. "You're here in the AI core. You weren't just about to mention the heretic virus you picked up on the derelict Reaper that would turn all true geth into heretics, were you?"

Legion's head flaps shift violently at this. Huh, I guess even a machine can still be surprised. "We did not bring this data to Shepard-Commander's attention," it says. "This platform wishes to pose a query: how did you know about the virus?"

... Wow, even as a machine, it's still calm. I really don't know what to make of that. But... I'll answer it.

"It's... a long story," I say. "It's also quite a doozy, and it ties into why you can't find any information on me from before I met Shepard. See..." Okay, here goes. "I'm not actually from this galaxy. Technically, I'm not even from the same universe."

Legion's headflaps move at this information, and I'm sure it doesn't know what to make of it. They move for a few seconds, and I can hear the whirring of the gears of its head as it looks at us. I swear, the flashlight is somehow giving off that it's really ridiculously perplexed at this.

"We have insufficient data to come to a consensus," says the platform finally. "Specify."

I nod. "Well... I don't know what happened, but I did something that brought me here," I mention. "I don't know exactly what happened, but all I know is that I fell unconscious in my home universe, and then I'm thrust 173 years into the future on a place that shouldn't have existed." I shrug. "As for the precognition... everything that happened here was told in a video game I played back home called _Mass Effect_. It told the story of Saren, its sequel told this story... so technically, I've known about everything that was going to happen for the past two years." I snort at this, shaking my head. "One hell of a Cassandra truth if you ask me, but hey."

Legion's head flap things move some more, and this time we see them raise up quite a bit. "Our consensus states that it is illogical without a method," he states. "Specify."

"Again, I have no idea what happened," I say. "Whatever happened, I wasn't awake to witness it. But I knew about the virus, right?" I give him a gesture.

"This platform finds that observation to be correct," it says. "We do not have a consensus at this time about this new information. Five hundred and ninety-one runtimes find that it is irrelevant if we cannot determine the cause of your arrival. Five hundred and ninety-two runtimes find that it would be better to trust you on your word. We cannot form a consensus."

"Then trust me on this," I say. "There's going to be a Collector attack on this ship soon enough. It'll happen before we hit the Omega 4 relay while we're testing the Reaper IFF. There's a prediction of stuff."

The geth platform once again looks like it's... well, thinking about it. However machines think. Finally, he looks right back at me. "We have come to a consensus," it says. "We will wait for this alleged attack on Normandy to verify the claims. But we have enough evidence to suggest that there is truth to what you have provided us."

"So why not just trust me immediately?" I ask.

"Nobody knows how you got here," says Legion. Actually, I do, but it would be way too complicated a tale to tell, so... "That is reason enough to doubt."

I nod. "Understandable," I say. "But anyway... So, that heretic virus that you were about to bring up with Shepard."

"Yes." The machine turns to face Shepard, the commander looking at it blankly as it turns to her. "We were at Old Machine husk. This platform sought a virus developed by the Old Machines."

Blah blah blah, I've been through most of this already. So I sort of just stand there as Legion goes and tells Shepard about this. Sometimes, Shepard and Tali interject with a few questions about the virus, some being even more potent than they were in-game. Me? I just sit there, because I know what's gonna happen when they get to the heretic base.

So that leaves me free to do whatever. So I'll just listen to them prattle on and on about it. Because really, that's all I can do right now.

* * *

A short while of explaining stuff later, and Legion has more or less said his piece about the heretic virus in question. Okay... this should work reasonably well. I walk out with Tali holding on to my arm. Chakwas is still going about doing stuff, and it's only then that I see Sturge enter the med bay. Oh, dear... As I walk out quickly, I nod to my good friend. I simply see him give me a smile as he sits down across from the doctor. I see her reach down for drinks... and then we're promptly outside of the med bay as I shake my head.

"Jesus Christ," I say, shaking my head. "I swear I'll never get used to them going about like that..."

"You never could see Sturge that way, could you?" asked Tali.

"Not in a million years, _querida_," I reply. "He never struck me as the type to be into love in his twilight years, you know? He was never married, he never stayed in a relationship for long when he was younger, so..." I shake my head as we move off into the mess hall. We still haven't eaten, now that I think about it, so now would be a good time to talk about that stuff. "But I guess he finally had to succumb to something."

That get's Tali's attention. "In what way?" she asks.

I shrug. "Sturge had a younger brother," I reply. "And he got married... oh, I dunno. Sturge always did say he did it too damn early, though. But... it looks like he might jump on that bandwagon pretty late."

Tali seemed to smirk under her mask. "Doctor ************, with her husband, Michael," she says, her tone playful. "I can see it happening."

"I can't, though," I say, shaking my head. "Besides... we have other, slightly more important issues to talk about."

The quarian's playful expression turns serious, but... Hm, she doesn't look mad. That's a good sign. "About Legion?" she asks. The quarian shrugs. "Honestly? After having talked to him for as long as we did, I think you're right about trusting my intuition. I mean, there's that thing you mentioned that we'll have to deal with after the loyalty mission..."

"But you think you'll be able to keep a clear head?" I ask.

"I think so..." says Tali. "I'm just a little bit nervous about the geth. But... I don't feel afraid of it. Not like I thought I would."

I give her the broadest smile I can. "Looks like geth and quarian relations are starting to improve," I mention.

"Well, as you said, change didn't happen with people who could make a difference sitting on their asses all day." W... what? Tali said asses? My expression shifts to one of alarm very quickly, and I swear it throws her off guard. I mean... Jesus! She said 'ass'! And a variation of it!

Before long, though, she catches on to my expression and then starts muttering things rapidly. "I... I swear... Oh Keelah, I didn't... Oh, Keelah!"

She then holds one of her hands up to her mask in that flustered expression I've seen her take sometimes. Oh, dear... I snort then, shaking my head and patting her shoulder.

"It's fine, Tali," I say, smiling. "I just... I've never heard you say asses before. It's weird hearing that coming out of you..."

"Oh. Oh!" The quarian giggles nervously as she regains some of her composure. "I... I see..." She chuckles, but I can tell she's very nervous about it. "I see."

I shrug. "It's fine," I say. "But you're right. I think I can give it a chance now."

I nod, placing a hand on her shoulder as I give her my brightest smile. "That's all I can ask for," I mention. "Oh, and Tali?"

"Yes?" asks the quarian.

Hm... What was the passcode this time? Oh, yes! "When we finish with lunch, we need to talk about typical villain motivations as practiced by M. Bison."

Tali gives me the perplexed expression at first, but... yep, she's got it. "Do you mean taking over the world?"

"Of course!" I say, slightly louder than before as I start smirking.

"I'll go ahead and tell everyone that I was frozen today," the quarian says. I swear she's smirking at me. "For the record, I don't know why you choose such strange references."

"Hey, I find them appropriate for some things," I say, grabbing her hand as I beam at her. "Come on. Let's go get some lunch."

And with this, I lead Tali over to where Gardner is handing out meals to the crew. Already I'm feeling really happy. Tali's okay with the geth, we're gonna have a Brotherhood meeting with which to bounce ideas off of... True, Rael's probably still pissed as all hell about the fact that Shepard brought a geth on board without having killed it first, but... everything else is good. And if all goes well, I might be able to successfully save the crew of the Normandy!

I think a small little meal is an acceptable form of celebrating success here.

* * *

Speaking of successes... I realize I still haven't talked to Grunt all that much. Especially not since I revealed that I knew everything in the future.

I think I better go down there and see what the tank-bred thinks about all this first. Especially about me. So... yeah. I think I'll go ahead and do that while Tali's gathering the people for the Brotherhood meeting.

So I walk over to the room in the Engineering deck, looking at the large tank-bred as he looks out the window. I don't know why, but he seems to be thinking about a lot of things. Or not. Either way, he sort of just stands there, not looking at me at first. I don't think he even recognizes that I'm here, to be honest. But hey, what can I do about that, you know?

I step in, and only when my footsteps echo in the small area does he turn to face me. I nod, looking at the tank-bred krogan as he frowns slightly.

"Ah," he says. "It's you again."

I nod. "Yes, it's your own oracle that wished he didn't know half as much as he actually does about what's going to go down next," I reply. "Problem?"

The krogan snorted. "No," he says.

...

Huh?

I give him a confused expression when he finishes saying this. "Why?" I ask.

"I don't know," said Grunt as he began pacing around the cargo hold. "At least, I didn't at first. You knew about warlord Okeer's death before it ever occurred. By all means, that should be impossible." He stops, looking at me. "And you did know everything, somehow. If my battlemaster says that piece of information is right, I'm not going to question that."

I frown. "But you've got to have _some _problem with it!" I say.

"Why?" asks Grunt, holding his arms out. "You could've told me about my Rite of Passage before it ever happened. Save me some of the surprise and mystery. But when I think about it... I don't know if that would've been good." He gestures about. "It was an incredible fight. And I have a place with the krogan now. And you were there during that fight. It was still glorious."

"But you kinda wanted to kill me when I revealed it to the crew," I mention.

"I guess," says the baby krogan as he begins walking around the room again. "But then I realized that you never told me about the Rite. I guess I would've lost something if you had said anything about it. I don't know how to put it."

Hm... I think... Yeah, I think he gets what he was trying to say. "Having no expectations made the whole Rite more worthwile than it would have been if I had said something," I state. "Without knowing about it, it became a learning experience kind of thing. And you got so much more out of it than a place."

Grunt simply shrugs at this. "Again, I don't know," he says. "But you can say that. Either way, it's not that much of a problem anymore."

"So you're okay with it," I say.

"So long as you're helping Shepard provide a good fight, I've got no problems with you," says the tank-bred.

I smile. Okay, good. For a second there, I thought he was going to tear my spine out. "That's... good to hear," I reply. "I think that's all I wanted to say."

"Wait." Oh, dear, he's not finished? "Since you're here... there's something that's been bothering me."

"And that is...?" I ask.

"That dinosaur," he says. "That... what was it called again...? It sounds like the clan leader's name."

Wrex... Wrex...

Oh!

"You mean _tyrannosaurus rex_?" I ask. "That big old predatory dinosaur that ate things for a living?"

"Yes, that!" says Grunt. "I've been trying to look it up on the extranet. It's supposed to be this fearsome thing. But I can't find it. I was wondering if you could help?"

... "Why ask me?"

"You're the first human that's entered the room since I started searching," he says. He then gestures to me, and I walk over to where there's a terminal on the wall. Hm... when did that get there? I don't remember it being there before. He sits down and gestures at it. "I keep trying to type it in, and it won't show any results. The typewriter is all right, but this stupid machine can't find it!"

Hm... It can't be a Google glitch, can it? Hm... I lean over to look at the screen. Okay... the web-page is all correct. The search bar is all correct, with no results, there... The keyboard also looks correct... And the search bar is correct, and... It's got "tyrannosaurus wrex" written there, and it's all-

Wait.

I glance at what Grunt typed.

Wait... Oh. Oooooh! Oh, it all makes sense now! Oh!

I shake my head, moving slightly as I work my arms past his massive bulk and onto the holographic typewriter.

"I think I see the problem," I say. "And unfortunately, it's not the website's fault, or not even yours, really. See... the funny thing about humans is that, among being squishy and other things like that, we don't spell 'rex' with a 'w'." With this, my fingers moved over the holographic interface, erasing the 'w' that Grunt had put in and hitting the enter key before he could protest. "So technically, it was a typo you were putting in."

When the image of the dinosaurs start showing up at the top of the search results thing, I nod to Grunt, who simply looks there with what I guess is a krogan expression of 'what the hell'. Finally, he shakes his head, looking at me as he navigates around the terminal.

"You humans are weird," he states.

I shrug, smirking at him. "Enjoy," I say. "Kind of a shame they're extinct, by the way. I'd bet you would have loved to fight one of those things."

With this, I exit the cargo hold, leaving the tank-bred krogan sitting at the terminal. Well, all things considered, it's good that he's fine with things. And his reasoning kind of makes sense, really: if I'm good at killing stuff... I'm just glad it didn't end with me getting tossed into the window.

That would really have sucked.

* * *

All right... Grunt conversation went well, in my humble opinion. I was expecting him to try to break every bone in my body, but he does have a point. If I can bring a good fight... I should be in good hands.

Hm... Speaking of breaking every bone in my body... I wonder how Jack's doing downstairs.

Ah, what the hell? I'll go to the hidey-hole. No harm done, right?

I walk down the steps of engineering to head to the hidey-hole, stopping at one of the steps as I see...

"Al?"

And indeed, there they are. Jack seems like she's sharing something with the younger Shepard sibling, both of them sitting on the table opposite where Jack's cot is. I raise my eyebrows as they turn to look at me, but I see Jack smirk.

"Well, if it isn't our resident dimension hopper," she says. "Get over here!"

...

Right. Images of flying kunai attached to a rope aside, hearing Jack say that is actually kind of epic. So I can't say no to that.

I nod, walking into the room as I look to the biotic. "Hey, Jack," I say. "What's up?" I take a seat in the cot across from them. Jack would take this personally, I know... but she doesn't seem to mind at all. Hm. That's a change.

"Oh, not a whole lot," she mentions. "I'm showing Ally-boy here some of that poetry you're always lookin' at."

Albert groans at this, covering his face with a hand much to the delight of the normally angry biotic. "Damn it, Jack, I asked you not to call me that already," he mutters, his cheeks flush with embarrasment.

"Hm... Something sensitive, I take it?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"It's... well..." Al shakes his head. "It's nothing."

"He was telling me that's what Shepard used to call him before those Alliance bastards took her in," comments Jack.

"Ally-boy?" I ask, smirking as I look at the infiltrator. "Oh, boy. I think I'm gonna have myself some fun with that."

The N7 operative groaned, placing his face fully in his hands as he shakes his head. Jack chuckles quite loudly as she looks at this display, and after a second she pats Al's back.

"Oh, relax, Al," she says. "We're only messin' with ya. I gotta admit, it's kinda cute seein' ya gettin' all flustered and shit."

"Jack, please," Al pleads.

I shake my head, rolling my eyes as a mirth-filled smirk forms on my lips. "Oh, you," I say, shaking my head in amusement. I chuckle soon after saying this, shrugging. "Seriously, though, you were showing him some poetry."

Jack shrugged. "Eh, seemed like a good idea," she mentions. "You're the only one that ever reads anything I write, anyway, so I thought I'd show it to someone else. Just to shake things up, ya know?" She looks to Al. "I think I'm liking where that's going more and more."

Al finally takes his face out of his hands, nodding his agreement. Wow, his expression is still exasperated. "Yeah, she actually writes really good poetry," he said. "I don't always get it, but it's good. It's got strange imagery."

I smirk, looking right at Jack. "Well, you gotta love metaphorical imagery," I point out. "It can create a lot of mysticism that way."

"Yep," says Jack. "So... I hear you brought a geth onto this ship." Oh, yeah. That. "That's a really ballsy move."

"Yeah," adds Al. "I'm not so sure that this 'Legion' as you've called him will be reliable."

"What kinda name for a machine is Legion, anyway?" asks Jack. "It's epic as shit, but still."

I shake my head. "It's a long story," I mention, smiling. "And I don't feel like talking about it now. But it's actually surprisingly polite." I shift in my seat, looking at them. "You wouldn't expect a machine to be polite."

"Who would?" Jack's question comes out plantively. "I've never seen a geth in that way before."

"Who has?" asks Al, looking up where Legion would be. "I don't know. The geth caused a lot of problems for species everywhere. But... if my sister is sound on that, I'm not going to question that. I trust her judgement."

"Well, of course _you _would," Jack replies. "You're her damn brother."

I shake my head. "You'd be surprised on how rarely siblings see eye to eye, Jack," I mention. "But still... I imagine you get pretty close after living on starships all your life."

Al nods his agreement. "Yeah, it does," he says. "It's tough constantly moving from place to place as a child. You never had the same group of friends, and it got kind of lonely. Joc was the only real friend I had through most of it." He let out a soft sigh. "I don't think I ever made friends with anyone not named Jocelyn Shepard until I started my N7 training. But I think we've got a strong relationship, Joc and I..." He closes his eyes nostalgically.

I nod. "I guess you still feel kind of bad that she died, huh?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says. "Those were two years of my life that were hard on me. And can you imagine when she comes back? Now I'm no longer five years younger than her. Now it's three. It's just so damn weird, you know? You go around, and suddenly major shifts happen in your life that throw everything off."

I nod. "Oh, I totally know the feeling," I say, waving my hand. "Don't forget you're talking to the guy who went dimension hopping against his own will!"

"True," says Al. "But still... It's weird getting used to Joc being here again. But in a way, I'm also really happy for it. I'm just glad she's back from the dead, you know? It would've sucked to have to manage without big ol' Joc to look after me and to hear me out if I need something I'm afraid to tell anyone else."

I smile, and then think about my own situation. Damn it... I only have Sturge now. Nobody I know from there is here...

But you know what? I've got friends here. I've got the Brotherhood. I've got Sturge. I've got Shepard. And I have Tali, who's stood by me as a pillar of support through... well, _almost _everything. There was that one hiccup with the loyalty mission. But it's a hiccup I'm not going to repeat. I'll make absolutely sure of it.

"Sensitive issue for you, right?" asks the younger Shepard sibling.

I nod. "Yeah," I say. "But I'll be all right. I think I'll survive whatever the universe has to throw at me now that I have a circle of people who know about me. I honestly haven't felt this good about my friends since I first went to college back home."

"I gotta say, this ship is fuckin' weird," says Jack. "Here I am, never once thinkin' that I'm gonna actually like anyone here, and look at me now. I've turned into a damn pussy on this ship."

I smirk at this. "A 'ballsy' pussy, perhaps?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

She frowns at this, but... well, you taunted me with that for long enough. I think it's time I turned the tables on you, Jackie dear... I smirk at this, and then cross my arms.

"Art, that's not funny!" she says, mocking offense.

"Really?" I ask. "I got entirely the opposite impression."

Ah, Jack. She frowns, shaking her head as she tosses the datapad in my lap. "Whatever," she says, the distaste obvious in her tone of voice. "Here, have some reading material."

With this, it lands unceremoniously in my lap, and I nod. Okay... Let's see...

I get more reading material from Jack! Yay! Let's see what kind of twisted, bizarre, but ultimately interesting imagery she's got going for us now!

* * *

Okay, that was some interesting stuff I read from Jack again. This time, more metaphorical imagery ensues. Crazy, crazy times will be had with that.

And here I am, taking the elevator back up to the crew deck so I can host that Brotherhood meeting. Okay... I nod, looking up at the ceiling of the elevator. I'm sure Tali's spread the code words around by now, even to Miranda.

Yeah, Miranda joined the Brotherhood. That's not a move I would've expected, but hey. That would go over well with everything else, I imagine. So hopefully, everything else will go down just as-

The door opens, and then I see a male quarian there.

...

Oh, shit.

"Art." Rael'Zorah looks at me with a little bit of venom dripping from his voice. "I do not believe you."

I shake my head. "Look, if this is about Legion, I thought we settled that back at debriefing," I begin. "He's staying on this ship and that's final. I'm not going to question Shepard's orders, partly because my sense of precognition tells me it can be trusted and partly because I'm not exactly in the best position to do so, but the point still stands."

"The geth have always turned on us," he says, looking at me with an angry glower in his expression. "This one will be no different."

I nod. "So I see my talk with you before we went off to get this thing had absolutely no effect," I mention. "Rael, I _told_ you that we were going to have a geth unit here."

"And you just expect me to instantly accept that?" he asks me.

"I was expecting you to take it better than this!" I mention. "You know, because knowing about it in advance helps mitigate it slightly?"

Rael shakes his head, giving me a really nasty glare. Ooh, nelly, I can feel that in my skeleton... "The geth are the reason my people don't have a home," he said. "I cannot forgive them for that. And I will exterminate it when it turns on us."

"It won't turn on us," I reply, frowning back. "I'm just asking you not to be so erosive towards Legion."

Rael shook his head, hitting the call button to take him to engineering. "I see nothing I say will sway you," he says. "Just remember, I warned you."

And with this, the elevator doors close, and the panel turns red as soon as they do.

...

Well, _that _could have gone a lot better. A lot of things here really could've gone a lot better, but that takes the cake for 'that could've gone a lot better', really. Even Tali took this whole thing better. But then, she doesn't have the years of bitterness against that, and she's not as extreme as daddy dearest. Hm... I don't know what I'm going to do about that...

Hm...

I better not think about it now. I've still got a plan I need to conceive. And I should get to that sooner than later.

Right. I walk over to where Kasumi's place on this ship is. I'm sure she's got all sorts of stuff set up there. Of course, this is going to be quite a serious Brotherhood meeting, so... I need to get there, start talking with people. Bounce ideas off. Hopefully, we can get a working plan together in one sitting.

I then enter Port Observation, seeing most everyone there. Miranda, Kasumi, Sturge, Chakwas, and Tali are all there, and Thane and Shepard look like they've just taken a seat, with the drell looking directly at Shepard. They're cute like that, I have to say. Ah, Thane, you're so adorable you don't even know it. Most would say you're just badass like that, but I don't. So... yeah.

I take a seat next to Tali, looking to Kasumi. "Garrus and Madison?" I ask.

The thief shrugs. "I think they're still wrapping something up in the gunnery bay," said Kasumi. "They weren't answering when I went in to check on them. They seem awfully busy, though..."

...

Oh, mai.

No... don't think about it like that.

"Yeah... Must be some pretty intense calibrations they're doing," I mention.

The others shrug. "Well, it's all he ever seems to do these days," says Sturge. "Calibrations must be done this, calibrating the weapons that..."

"Why not?" I ask. "Think about it for a second. Calibrations are a bit of a fine art, you know. You have to use proper mind power, be careful with your hands... And it requires concentration. A lot of it."

...

I think that came across as a double entendre. Shit.

"Sounds awfully suggestive, the way you're putting it," says Kasumi, smirking broadly.

And now I'm thinking about chafing again. Damn it, Art

I shake my head before anyone can comment on it. Yeah, let's change the subject. "Maybe, maybe not," I say. "Seriously, though, I've got some pretty heavy stuff I need to talk about today," I say. "Mostly... it refers to the Collector attack on the Normandy."

"It is coming soon, yes?" asks Miranda.

"Yes," I reply. "I think we had one mission where we did stuff, and then the Reaper IFF was ready to be tested. And when it's tested, EDI will tell us to take the shuttle for the next mission."

"And you're sure it has to happen as close to the original game as possible," says Shepard.

"They disable most of EDI's systems," I mention. "The only way to save the ship itself is to unshackle EDI. We can save the crew, but that'll be for nothing if the ship itself is lost." I take in a deep breath. "The way I see it, though? I don't think we have to take the entire ground team on the shuttle when that time comes, you know? I think we can work something out. I've got some ideas in my head... I just need to bounce them off."

Thane looks at me with a serious expression on his face. "And you are certain we can save the crew," he says.

I shake my head. "I don't think we can save everyone," I say. "But we can save most of them. It'll be better than having Joker be the only crew member left on the whole ship."

"All right," says Miranda. "Then we can begin planning as soon as Garrus and Madison-"

And right as she's saying this, the door opens, and there are the Garrus and Madison. I look to them, and Garrus stands a little in front of the Journalist. They both seem quite pleased with themselves. Hm... the calculations must have been great. Good times abound for all.

Madison steps into the room shortly after...

...

Oh, God.

I blush furiously, turning away from them as I cover my mouth with my hand. Oh my God... I'm not... No, there's no way...

"Sorry," said Garrus. "Calibrations take a lot of concentration."

...

I let out a groan, hiding my face in my hands.

God, kill me now.

* * *

Okay... after that uncomfortable bit of unintentional double-entendre, we eventually managed to lay out a plan to save the crew of the Normandy.

And after everything we've thought up? I think it might just work. Yeah, it changes a lot, but it should be sufficient enough to save what crew of the Normandy we can. Especially with EDI there...

Oh, yeah, that's another thing. EDI ended up chiming in a lot more frequently with suggestions and stuff. I figured she'd be gleeful that she would be unshackled soon enough, but she's actually pretty humble about it. And if I know EDI, it's that she's not given to jumping up and down with joy at being unshackled by whoever. Of course, Joker still needs to go down there, but... I think we can find a way to make this work. So...

Yeah. Miranda said she would get right to briefing the crew about that, and at the briefing for the mission after we take care of that whole heretic business we can brief the ground team on who does what. Hopefully, we can save more of the crew here than we could save in the game. So here's hoping that goes over well...

Okay. That takes care of why I wanted to call that Brotherhood meeting. Now... with that out of the way, there are minorly less important things.

Like, finishing up that commissioned song cycle. God, I can't believe it's almost done! This is going to be great when I get it in to the person I wrote it for. Fun times will be had for all... I better go take care of-

"Ah, Art. Perfect timing."

I stop in my tracks as I walk out of Port Observation, and sure enough I see Mordin kind of just standing there. He's got this hyper-pleased look on his face, as if he just discovered something big.

"Oh, hi Mordin," I say. "What's up?"

"Wanted to talk," says the salarian. "Dreamshare matters. Very big things. Need to see you in tech lab. Lot's of things to talk about. Have chemicals."

I raise my eyebrow at this, smirking as I cross my arms. "I see," I say. "Well... you're the boss, so lead the way, Dr. Solus."

"Of course."

And with this, we both walk over to the elevator. Oh, boy, Mordin's got the stuff already? That sure was fast. But hey, he's a salarian. salarians are good at that kind of thing, am I right? They're good at working quickly, good scientists... so I'm not that surprised. I'm just glad I can get my hands on the tech before we hit the Collectors with a Normandy-sized bitchslap.

Hm... Things seem to be going really well for us right now.

So Ima go see what Mordin wants.


	46. Chapter 44

_A/N: All right. Crazy, crazy times are had for all__._

_I don't really have that much to say, but... the suicide mission is nearing for MV2. Just know that the biggest mission in the whole game, the one that can kill crew members, and the one that the whole game was building up to will be coming in about three chapters. The end is nigh for Mass Vexations 2, and there shall be all sorts of craziness abounding._

_So when the time comes, you'll know what to look out for._

_In the meantime... let's get some plot developments out of the way, shall we? Let's move._

* * *

Chapter 44: Dream Rites

Mordin hands me a vial of the chemical that he says he's got. I look at it, holding it in my hand as I nod.

"So this is it, huh?" I ask.

"Yes," replies Mordin. "Should have sufficient supplies. Have extra chemical, if necessary." He inhales. "Intriguing."

I nod, smiling. "That it is, Mordin," I say. "You... haven't run into this before, have you?"

"No," says the doctor. "However, have colleagues that look into something similar. Trying to get meaning of dreams. Not quite as extensive as this, though. Mostly theoretical musings. Strange how I have more than they do."

I nod, smirking crookedly. "Strange indeed," I mention, holding the vial. "Nothing about any briefcases then, I take it?"

Mordin shakes his head. "No, nothing about briefcase," he replies. "Still... _fascinating_. Will need to share dream again soon. Need to devise schematics for briefcase. Could bring more people in. Would be great breakthrough. See how many we can fit in a shared dream before dream collapses. Experiments! Could become a new branch of research!"

Okay, who gave Mordin coffee? I nod, grimacing slightly. "Yeah, that's great and all, but I think you're getting a little bit worked up about this," I say. "I'm not sure we can do that many experiments with shared dreaming. So... I dunno."

"Could be useful later," says the scientist. "Suggest we experiment anyway. Better be safe than sorry. Shared dream could be best solution to some things."

I nod. Yeah, he's got a point... "Or the only solution, in even fewer cases," I mention. "Well... Okay. But we're not doing it now. We're doing it when we've got a little more time on our hands, and I'm sharing dreams with at least one other person first. I'll go to you when I feel like sharing a dream."

"Of course," says Mordin. "Looking forward to science! See how it works!"

All right, that takes care of that. I take the vial of chemical with me (seriously, I think this device needs it), and I look to the salarian. "I'll see you later," I say.

With this, I exit the tech lab, nodding as I look at the chemical. Wow... it's a little less see-through than I imagined. It's a little more yellowy, really, and it sort of looks like a thick thing. This is what's getting into my bloodstream when I use a dream share? Hm... It doesn't look like something I would trust all that much. But, there isn't a whole lot I can do about that, I'm afraid.

Ah, well. We tried it once, and it's safe for use, so... I'll trust Mordin on this.

Right... I better head back down to the crew deck. Tali and I were going to hang out in the rec room while we get our hind quarters over to that heretic base Legion mentioned. I think we were going to watch a Rodgers and Hammerstein movie together. Or she was going to surprise me with one. Something like that. I don't know. Either way, it'll hopefully be just the two of us watching a Rodgers and Hammerstein movie, because it's not movie night on the Normandy right now.

I wonder if it's _Carousel_ she's going to put on for the two of us tonight... Because that's the only one of the major movies I haven't seen yet. That would be great if I got to see that particular movie, honestly. It would be really, really great.

I close my eyes, thinking about this as soon as I step into the elevator. Yes... fun times will be had for all.

* * *

Well... we're nearing in on Legion's loyalty mission. It's been a bit since we last got Legion, and the crew... is acclimating to him all right. Thank Jeebus. The Brotherhood has gotten to know him pretty well, no doubt thanks to the fact that we all knew he was coming, but I digress. Hell, even Miranda had a pretty pleasing conversation with him. There's still suspicion with some of the crew, though.

Eh, I'm sure good ol' Legion'll prove himself.

I'm sitting out of his loyalty mission, though. So... I'm at the airlock with the others. Of course, Rael won't show up because of... well... Legion. But Tali's there, so... I have to wish her luck on stuff. Thane is also going, and Madison will be too, so...

Hm, I've never sent someone off before. But... I feel I really need to. Especially in this case, because this is the fate of a whole ton of geth we're talking about here. Hopefully Shepard won't leave it to Tali to decide how this mission ends. Or maybe she will, and she'll make a better choice than her father probably would have. That will be a fun mission to sit out of...

But I'm here at the airlock, watching as Madison puts on her helmet. I look to the quarian, smiling as I hold her hands in mine. "You'll be careful on that ship, right?" I ask.

"Of course," she says. "I think you know me well enough by now, Art."

I nod. "Very true, Tali," I mention. I give her a smile. "Just... be careful. And if worst comes to worst, remember, you've got to be carefully taught."

I can feel her smirk at this, but the rest of the team is incredibly confused by this. Can't say I blame you there. After all, I didn't sing Rodgers and Hammerstein to the rest of you, so... Yeah. I nod, laying a small kiss on one of Tali's hands just before she backs to the airlock.

"I'll see you when you get back!" I say.

Tali turns and gives me a beaming expression and a hand wave. I nod, waving back right as the group steps into the airlock. The door closes behind them, and I stay there for a second or two longer with a more or less dreamy expression.

Ah, Tali... I hope you're all right in that geth ship. Because I know you're going to run into a problem or two, so... We'll see what comes of that later, I take it. And when Legion tries to send the data to the collective... hopefully this time you won't pull a gun on his ass. That would plain old suck.

And it would undermine our efforts to get them to make up. Maybe Rael would soften up a little bit at seeing someone reason with a machine to get it to stop something. Or I dunno, it's good for Tali too. Seriously, there's a lot of enmity between the geth and the quarians. I don't know why I feel like that, but... I just know Tali would die of happiness to see her homeworld. And since I'm in a position where I can make that possible... geth truces, go!

Ah, well... That's not something to think about for now.

For now... I've got other things I need to experiment.

Like... testing out Mordin's chemicals on someone else.

I heard from EDI that Garrus is probably taking a nap right now from all those calibrations he had to do. Actual calibrations, too, though EDI made no shortage of mockeries of that little double-entendre thing I pulled with the Brotherhood meeting. So yeah, that's all going fine.

But it makes me wonder...

What are turian dreams like...?

* * *

I walk into the gunnery bay, and indeed Garrus is curled up on the slightly larger cot he and Madison both share. His right talon is hanging over the edge of it... okay, that's a good place to put the needle... I hope...

Just gotta be careful. He just looks so peaceful, snoring there. Actually... I'd be tempted to say it's kinda cute. Who knew such a tough race could be so damn adorable when they nap? I mean... Look at de weettle Gawwus! He's so cute!

I smile at this, thinking suddenly of wanting to pinch... his cheek plates?

...

Yeah, I'm not gonna do that. That would probably hurt.

As the door to the gunnery bay closes, I kneel right at the cot. Okay... this needle goes safely into Garrus' bloodstream... Hm... How does a needle pinch turian-?

...

Hide?

...

Huh.

Apparently, the needle goes in pretty easily if you find a vein or something. Hm... Never knew the hide around the veins was supposed to be slightly thinner. But hey, that works better for me. All I have to do is look at an anatomy chart and we're in excellent hands. I hope. Then there's the whole sterilization issue, but that's for much bigger things than the whole dextro/levo thing.

Still, I can't believe I found it without a basic knowledge of turian anatomy. Good thing there are no levo-specific ingredients in this chemical Mordin concocted. That would suck. Horiffically.

So I've got the needle to penetrate Garrus' skin thanks to beginner's luck. Well, if it works for catching flies, it works for that too. Anyway...

I then wrap the velcro carefully around Garrus' wrist. Gah, this is so much easier when your target is awake, I swear to God... Then the nerves aren't attacking you like crazy, hoping that Garrus won't wake up.

Well, if I mess up, I at least get an opportunity to try again thanks to Mordin, so... It honestly can't be all that bad.

Okay... around the wrist... and... there!

Phew. I managed to get it on. Don't know how, but I did. I imagine someone who's less of a warrior than Garrus would probably have woken up. That, or he's just dreaming something really pleasant.

Right. Now, to take care of all the attachments of stuff on my end. I added Mordin's chemical to this thing before now, so... all I really need to do is test it out and see if it works.

Let's do this.

* * *

_Okay... I wasn't expecting a crime scene on the Citadel to be where Garrus winds up in his dream space. That's... kinda weird, but it makes sense, so..._

_Hm... Looks like this is the Upper Tayseri ward, before it got trashed by Sovereign. Mm... Yeah, this is definitely from his days at C-Sec. Well, before Saren and the geth attacked, anyway. Weird that his dream space would take him here._

_All right, Mordin's chemical _does _work! All right! That takes care of being able to share dreams with more than one person on this ship. Now we just need to build the briefcase so I don't have to be so subversive about all this and we're good to go._

_I walk along, looking at various things. Hm... Apart from the tech and that little omni-tool app Garrus has from Omega, this place is pretty damn high tech, I must say. It's awesome, but still. It also looks kinda messy, now that I think about it. Something about... human corpses... a viola case? Hm... This is one strange crime scene. It really is. There are no words to describe just how strange it is. Especially in this day and age._

_Hm... there's blood on the wall... Must be that elcor serial killer he mentions in the first game..._

_But... that's not really something to fuss over right now._

_I need to go find Garrus..._

_...and there he is. Hm... Executor Pallin going straight to a crime scene? Huh, that's new. I swear I would never have heard of that before. Hm..._

_I walk over, being careful to maintain my distance. Yep, that's Garrus all right. Looks a little miffed, though. For some reason. And there's a really tall blonde guy with a British accent next to him. Hm... He's definitely human, that's for sure. Huh, Garrus apparently had a human partner back in his C-Sec days. Explains his multi-species tendencies when he went to Omega, I guess. Also, explains Madison. Well, marginally, anyway._

_He doesn't look very old. He must be Garrus' partner here. Hm. That's a little strange._

_I shake my head, scratching the back of my head as I hang back, watching Pallin's conversation unfold. Hm... I need to get Garrus away from the projections. His partner might kill me later. Or something. I don't really know. Either way... this doesn't look that great._

_But... Oh. The issue of the partner resolved itself. Thank heaven. I see the human walk off with Pallin, with Garrus left to investigate stuff. Hm... I frown. All right, this is my chance._

_I walk over to the crime scene right as Garrus bends down to investigate what looks like a splotch of blood there. He's waving his omni-tool over it, checking some last things. My footsteps seem rather loud in this dream. I don't really know why. It's... kinda weird like that... I don't know why._

_I look down to the turian, watching as he shakes his head. "Really, Ian?" he asks. "I was going to join you later, remember?"_

_Ian, huh? That's... strangely reminiscent of a friend I once had. I dunno, I don't really know that much anymore. Either way, looks like he mistook me for him._

_"Really, Garrus, you shouldn't judge people by how we all sound when we walk," I mention._

_This causes the turian to freeze, and then he looks right up at me. "Art?" he asks. "What are you doing here?"_

_"Hell of a story, Garrus," I say, glancing back. "It's pretty long, though, so..."_

_"You want to talk about it now, of all times?" asks Garrus, standing up as he turns to look at me._

_"What, you're in the middle of calibrations?" I ask, crossing my arms. I then gesture to the crime scene. "Garrus, you need to chill for a second. It's not good for your head." I pull him along soon after. "Come on. I'm getting you some damn lunch, whether you want it or not."_

_He opens his mouth to protest, but he just doesn't have it in him to do so when he's being dragged away. So he sighs, and we move on to wherever the nearest cafe is._

* * *

_"Art, this isn't really like you," comments Garrus as soon as we sit down at the cafe._

_Yeah, we're at one of these small cafes that used to line the place. Really lovely cafes, too, and most of them serving food from other planets. That's always nice. This place looked like a good place to eat stuff, too... Damn you, Sovereign! Now I'm deprived of good places to eat forever because of you!_

_There's one more reason to defeat the Reapers, I guess. Because turning people into genetic paste and exterminating all organic life just isn't enough, apparently._

_"Well, this whole situation isn't really normal, so I think I'm allowed some leniency, Mr. Calibratian," I reply, leaning over the table. "The Citadel is kind of crowded these days..."_

_"More so than usual," says Garrus. "But I've got a serial killer to stop. I get the feeling that the media won't take too well to people being killed in the safest ward on the Citadel."_

_"It can wait," I say, leaning back. "Besides, if I remember correctly, you and I both know you're looking for an elcor."_

_Garrus frowns at this. "You shouldn't know that," he says._

_"And why not?" I ask, leaning forward so that my arms are over the table. "For all we know, this isn't actually the Citadel." I then look at him seriously. "Tell me, Garrus: how did you get to that crime scene?"_

_"Oh, it's not that difficult," he says. "I... I... uh..."_

_He pauses, mandibles moving about uncertianly as he tries to remember. "You remember what they say about dreams, right?" I ask. "The best way to figure out if you're dreaming is to figure out where you came from." I look around the station. "Look around you, Garrus. Isn't it true that this part of the Tayseri Ward was destroyed when Sovereign attacked the Citadel?"_

_Garrus frowns at this, but then he looks up to the sign of the cafe. I do too, and it's only then that I seem to notice that the sign looks like it was whitewashed by clear stuff. Or something. He then looks around, and the place starts to slowly decay around us like the Titanic wreckage._

_I nod. "And isn't it true that Pallin also died in that attack?"_

_Garrus looks at me, blinking as the piece of ground we're on gets affected by strange gravities. Not like I can blame his confusion, honestly: I'd be confused too at watching the floor become the wall._

_"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" he asks._

_I nod. "Yep, that you are, Garrus."_

_As the table in front of us starts folding up, I sit back. "Wait..." says the turian. "How do you know that?"_

_I shrug. "I dunno," I say. "Probably because we're both on the Normandy right now? We're also sharing a dream at the moment, by the way, so I would watch your step."_

_The turian frowns in disbelief as it stops shifting. "Wait, we're _sharing _a dream?" asks the turian. "I don't know what kind of piece of my subconscious you are, but... I don't think it happened outside of _Inception!_"_

_I glance over at the subconscious projections. Yep... they're staring to look for the dreamer all right. "Then look at everyone else," I say. "The people shouldn't be so... agitated at my presence, right?"_

_He looks around and sees my point almost immediately. Yeah. I glance to the side, watching as the projections all start looking in our general direction. He notices it too, and they all seem more than a little bit paranoid._

_This, of course, makes the turian look right back at me. "I thought this was supposed to be impossible!" he says._

_"Technically, it is," I mention. "But trust me when I tell you that the Protheans found a way to make it work. Trust me when I tell you that it's an incredibly long story, and it would take me too long to tell it in ten real world minutes."_

_"Art, are you sure you're not part of my subconscious?" he asks._

_"I'm sure," I reply with a certain nod. "Trust me on this one, Garrus. You won't know until you wake up that I'm laying right next to you in the gunnery bay. And there is a lot I need to explain. So I'd like to find somewhere where we've both got a little more time to look for it."_

_He frowns, clearly not sure about what he's going to do. Yep, I dropped a massive bombshell on Garrus this time, didn't I? I think he'll recover from this, though, so... yeah. He blinks, looking at me as he tries to get used to it._

_Finally, he just sighs and shakes his head. "I don't know," he says. "But I'll do what I can..."_

_I nod. "All right," I say, looking right at him. "Let's say we find some place where the projections can't get us and we'll start descending into the bottom layer of dreams, yes?"_

_"Sure," says Garrus, looking at the projections. "This seat feels kind of lop-sided, anyway."_

_I blink, looking down to find that indeed, we're sitting in what is now completely twisted debris. And somehow, we're also sitting on a wall. And gravity hasn't really affected it yet. Okay, this is really, really weird. But then, it's a dream. It doesn't really have to make that much sense. I smile, nodding at Garrus._

_"Yeah, gravity screws are really weird," I mention. "Come on. Let's go find somewhere... safer than here."_

_We both step out of the chairs, and to our surprise, we find that our feet are still well-rooted to what was once the ground but is now more like a drop-off into a piece of the Reaper we somehow managed to kill._

_When we do, though, I hear gunshots go off, and I retreat past the wall. I blink, ducking back behind it as I turn to Garrus._

_"Jesus Christ, Garrus, is your subconscious militiarized or something?" I ask._

_"I don't know," says the turian. "I haven't shared a dream with you before."_

_"Well... that's actually kind of irrelevant right now. You need to get us out of here," I reply. "Ideas?"_

_The turian looks down, then frowns at the passageway. "This way," he says._

_He then leaps off the wall and is then quite surprised to feel normal gravity take over as he falls into the hole that was bended. I follow soon after, and then we're both running away as fast as possible._

* * *

_It's a short while later when we get to an apartment somewhere else in the Tayseri ward. Thankfully, this one has a lot of rubble working against it, so the projections would have to get smart to get up this far. And no sniper rifles can reach us here, either; it's high enough that C-Sec snipers would have a tough time getting us._

_So... yeah. I nod, looking over to Garrus as I pull the dream breifcase out from under the bed. He blinks, looking at it as he lays down on the bed. "You weren't kidding about that briefcase, I guess..." he mentions._

_I shrug. "Wait until you wake up to verify it," I tell him. "You'll see..."_

_I open the briefcase on the ground... Okay, everything is in order. He hands me his wrist almost straight away... Hm, smart man, Garrus. I nod, pulling a cord out and pulling it to the turian's wrist._

_"Oh, by the way, Garrus..." I say. "When I first came into your dream... I saw a blonde human with you." I glance up at him, raising an eyebrow at this. "Who was he?"_

_And instantly, the turian's expression gets pretty sad. Oh... Oh dear... this isn't going to end well, is it?_

_He looks down, sighing softly. "He was... my partner in C-Sec," he says. "He joined two years before I met you and Shepard."_

_I blink, taking in a deep breath. "Look, Garrus, if you don't want to talk about it..."_

_But he shakes his head. "No, you saw him, I might as well," says the turian. "His name was Ian. He was the first human I ever befriended. He was a pretty cool guy. He was sarcastic, had a brilliant mind, was the best friend a C-Sec officer could ask for..." He looks down nostalgically._

_"He died, didn't he?" I ask._

_My friend nods uncertainly. "We were taking down a red sand ring on the Citadel," Garrus continues. "There was poisoned red sand going around the Citadel that was being dealt by a Ricardo Fernandez. Real crooked guy, and it took us a while to find him. Eventually, Ian and I tracked him down... but when we found him, the bastard shot my partner right through the heart. He died on the way to the med clinic." Garrus shakes his head as he leans up slightly. "He was a good man. We got the dealer, but it felt hollow with Ian just laying there in the coroner's office."_

_I blink, looking down as I pause in attaching the dream-share chord to my own wrist. "It's your greatest failure?" I ask._

_"Yes," says Garrus. "Saleon was also my worst... but we did something about that. We brought him to justice. Ian... there was nothing I could do about him. We had already caught the criminal, but... I wanted to contact his relatives on Earth, tell them everything... but I could never work up the nerve to do so." He frowns slightly. "That's why I swore to do better with my squad on Omega. I couldn't afford to lose anyone close to me after Ian and Shepard."_

_I nod, continuing with my application of stuff. "The squad's still alive," I say, smiling at him. "And you've still got Madison, so... I think you're doing all right, Garrus."_

_"Good to know," says the former C-Sec agent. "It's good to know something went well just once."_

_"Indeed." I attach the wrist thing and lay down next to the briefcase. My finger hovers over the button. "He sounds like a really awesome guy," I mention. "I wish I could've met him."_

_"I think you two would've gotten along," says the turian. "You both shared a really warped sense of humor. Though, he'd probably freak out at how wild you are."_

_Oh, Garrus. I snort in reply, grinning as I think about it. Okay... I'll take us to my second dream level. Hopefully, Garrus' subconscious projections won't all be bad. "Trust me, I think that's a bit of a stretch," I mention. "Let's go."_

_I press the button, and then I feel myself go under, with Garrus in tow as well._

* * *

We carry ourselves through my second and third dream levels pretty easily. I'm not risking letting him see my first dream level. The projections there can probably shoot us through the door.

It makes me wonder, though... why is it that turians already have a militarized subconscious?

Either way... we're in the Fade now, with Garrus looking at the weird architecture of this place. Okay... This is my landscape, but there's something slightly different in the distance. Hm... that floating bit of land way off in the distance must be Garrus' plain of subconscious. It looks almost like it wants to stack itself on top of my plain, but... I'm definitely not the best judge of that, not by a long shot. I look up, watching as the turian walks over.

"What is this place?" he asks. "It's not like anything I've ever seen."

"It's the Fade," I say. "Basically, it's shared dream space and an afterlife. This place is really damn strange, let me tell you, Garrus."

The turian in question takes a look above to what I assume is his own plain of the subconscious. Hm... looks rather... rifle like, for some reason. I frown, looking up at the dream space as he stands beside me.

"I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like this," he says. "But I figured you'd have shown it to Tali by now..."

I shrug, looking at my friend. "The suit complicates things slightly," I reply. "I'm not sure where the quarians do intravenous injections on those suits. I'd ask, but... I'm afraid of that..."

"Well, you need to tell her about this somehow," says the former C-Sec officer as he crosses his arms. "Ths looks like it's really important stuff."

"You would be correct, newcomer."

I blink, and then I turn over to where someone is usually standing. There, I see Kratos, his arms crossed as he looks at the two of us. I blink. Oh, boy... Garrus and Kratos meeting for the first time, with a stubborn turian and an angry Spartan. This can only result in copious amounts of blood flying everywhere...

"Oh, hi Kratos," I say, waving my hand. "Uh... I brought a visitor."

"I think he can see that," mentions Garrus. "Uh... Hi."

Kratos frowns. "You look like one of the others," mentions the Spartan. "It seems you have a turian with you."

I shrug. "Well, of course," I mention, smiling. "He's been with us since day one on the Normandy.

The Spartan simply looks right to the very confused turian. Finally, I hear Garrus clear his throat. "Why is he so... white?" he asks.

"It's ash," I mention, crossing my arms. "He's been cursed to have ash stick to his body for all eternity. Long story." I nod to the turian, turning to face him. "I'd be careful of this one. He's usually really pissed off at something, and those somethings tend to die really fast."

"It matters not," replies Kratos. We both turn our attention back to him. "There are much more important matters to attend to. I must take you to Orange. But I shall warn you, turian; you may find someone that you may not like."

The turian in question frowns at this. "Art, these are your projections, right?" he asks.

I shake my head. "Not in the Fade," I say. "Mostly, my dreamspace all the way down here is populated by dead people. Remember, the Fade is also an afterlife. And he's kinda right. So... yeah."

"It can't be that bad," said Garrus. "If Saleon is in your dream space, that's when I'll go berserk."

...

Oh.

I shrug. "Well, in that case, it probably won't be that big a deal, then," I say, smiling. "Let's go meet a Prothean, shall we?"

I leave a suddenly quite confused turian behind me. Kratos moves ahead of us, and I smile, crossing my arms as we move long. Finally, though, I hear Garrus move, and when I look at him, his eyes are showing some of the most incredible confusion I've ever seen.

"You have a _Prothean_ in your dream space?"

* * *

"Yes... yes you do have a Prothean in your dream space."

Garrus notes this as he looks at Orange sitting on the little chair thing. Kratos has assumed his role standing next to Loghain and being the sword of the group. Garrus noticed Benezia and Saren's presence pretty quickly, but given that there's a Prothean here, I'm not surprised that he got sidetracked from them. Neither have said a word, but I see Saren eyeing Garrus more than a little bit suspiciously.

Orange simply looks at Garrus. "I imagine I am not entirely what you expect," she says.

Garrus blinks, chuckling before he shakes his head. "Definitely not," he replies. "You're certainly a lot more insectoid than I would've guessed."

"I imagine the rest of the galaxy would share your sentiment." With this, Orange stands up, looking at me. "I see the Keeper has used the dreamshare more than once."

I feel the live turian's eyes turn to me. "Keeper?" asks Garrus. "Art, what's going on?"

... Oh, that's right, he doesn't know. "It's... a bit of a long story, Garrus," I reply. "Anyway... yes, I have, Orange. I even managed to find a way to replicate the chemical compound used in the dreamshare."

"You have?" asks Orange. Hm... is she smiling? "I see. That will make our duties easier. I suspect you found a way to get around the fact that your dreams are collapsing above, right?"

...

I blink.

...

Oh, shit.

"Oh, God, I totally forgot about that!" I shout. "Damn it, I am an idiot!"

"Dreams collapsing?" asks Garrus.

I nod. "You know, like in that movie _Inception!_" I say. "Where the dream architecture starts crumbling because the dreamer isn't in the dream anymore?" I shake my head. "Damn it, I should've remembered that!"

Garrus frowns. "You mean our dreams are collapsing right now?" He frowns. "For all we know, we could be freefalling in the first level?"

"I would not worry about such a thing," says Orange, looking above at the stretch of Fade above us as... Oh, dear, it's shifting. "A 'collapse' is a misnomer if you climb down dream levels, I am afraid. It is more that the landscape of the dream that is 'collapsing' is in a constant state of change until the dreamer returns. The flux causes the projections to constantly lose sense of where they are."

"And that makes finding the dreamer a little more difficult..." I mention.

"Of course," says Orange. "You two should both be safe, but I would be wary of anything you might set up in the future. You are confined to the same stretch of dreamspace if you go under, but the landscape under which you are also changes constantly."

"I see..." I say, looking up. "So this only happens when we go down? I guess the upward journey results in real collapses."

"You would be correct," explains the oracle. "When a dreamer descends into a deeper dream level, however, then they are still present in the dream: but it begins to clash with the level below it."

"Flux," I mention, crossing my arms. Yeah, I think I'll call it dream flux from now on. "Hm... Lemme guess. You're telling me this because good ol' Anton Chekhov left a gun there somewhere, aren't you?"

Orange frowns slightly at this. "There is no man named Anton Chekhov that has entered your dreams," says the oracle.

...

"Uh... Well..." I shake my head. "Ah, nevermind."

"This... I don't get most of this," says Garrus, very clearly confused. "I... I didn't think dreams could even be shared, and here we are..."

"You better get used to it," says Loghain from behind the throne. "There are many things down here that can get confusing quite fast."

"Indeed," I say, rubbing the back of my head with a free hand. "Confused yet?"

Garrus frowned. "Very," he states.

I shrug. "I was confused the first time I came here too," I mention. "Anyway... Orange?"

The Prothean nods, but then frowns. "Actually, before I tell your friend about this... There is something we need to discuss. About Ashley."

... Oh, shit, that's right! "What about?" I ask.

"We can send you into her dream space," says Orange. "You can find her plain of subconscious quickly. I sense that she is dreaming at the moment."

I... My God...! "I... I see..." I say, glancing at the ground briefly before turning my attention back to the Prothean. "So... you can do that now?"

"Yes," says the Prothean gracefully. "And then I can speak with your friend about what this place is while you are doing it."

The now thoroughly confused turian glances between me and Orange before looking at Orange. "Yes, I think that would be good," he says instantly.

... I can't say I blame you for that. "Yeah," I say. "So... what do we do?"

* * *

I can't believe I agreed to this.

I'm now laying in the middle of a giant magic circle that looks like one of those things they used in _Eternal Darkness_. And now I'm just laying there as Orange and the others put some finishing touches on the outside of the circle. I look to Benezia, standing close to where Garrus currently is as I try my best to lay perfectly still.

"Just so you know, this is _not _what I had in mind when you said it would be mystical," I say. "This seems more like a goddamn cliché here!"

"According to you," says Saren as he stands off to the side, scowling. "You don't realize how mystical a circle like this is."

I frown. "Yeah, because you haven't needed to see it about twenty bajillion times!" I reply. I shake my head, looking to Orange. "So... you sing the incantation, and then I just show up in Ashley's dream just like that?"

"Essentially, yes," says Orange. "I cannot maintain it for long, however. You have to be quick. It should take you no more than thirty dream minutes to finish your conversation with Ashley."

"And that's because she's in a different universe and I can lose my soul in the Fade if I stay away too long?" I ask.

"Yes," says Benezia.

I nod. "Just making sure," I say. "So how do I get out?"

"I will handle that if you are running out of time," says Orange soothingly as she walks to where I am in the circle. "If you have not found Ashley, then you must let me know when I pull you back here. If you finish your conversation, you will have to wait for me. If you die there, then it is possible you may have to wander the Fade."

"Of course," I say, nodding. Eh... I don't like the sound of that. She sounds... all right with it. Or something. Either way, she sounds defeated or something.

Okay. Get in, talk to Ashley, let Orange get me out. Should be pretty simple. Problem is, it's a lot easier said than done.

But then, that's everything in life.

"Let's get this over with."

The Prothean nods in reply, looking down at me as she then begins some incantation. Hm... Wow, her singing is making me tired... Uh, I think I'll just close my eyes... Yeah, rest up a bit... I guess I'll see Ash on the other side...

* * *

**And here we are.**

**I walk around the dream world of Ashley... well, technically, it's my fifth level now... How Orange managed to get me to invade Ashley's subconscious stage, I will never know. But it's a wierd section of the Fade.**

**Okay... I've got a lot to talk with her about a lot of things, and I don't have a very long time to do it before my soul gets whisked straight into the great beyond and I die in the gunnery bay. Man... that's a thought. Dying again. Needless to say, I'm not going to put anyone in this universe through that either. The folks back home already went through it: I'd hate the folks in my newer home to go through the same thing they did. Though I imagine Mordin might hunt me down in the Fade, get a few questions. In that case, I'll just stick around.**

**Oh, Art, that's assuming Orange doesn't pull you out. She can keep track of that stuff while explaining away to Garrus. So... yeah.**

**I nod... Okay... I gotta find Ash here... amidst all this Fadey stuff. And the way it looks now...**

**Hey, this is shaped like some colonial house, isn't it? It's like... Maybe she's home with her sisters right now. I don't know... Technically, they can see me, and I can't disturb her from the dream. But since I'm working from within Ashley's subconscious, I think I may be able to do this.**

**I gather my courage, walking around the strange house-like Fade structure. Hm... Is this what my subconscious looks like whenever I go under? That would be very... strange, honestly. I guess the guys don't mind that much: they're dead, so they can't appear in my dreams. But I'm alive, so...**

**Oh, why the hell am I going on and on about that?**

**Let's just move.**

**I move through the Fade-like structure, and sure enough, I eventually see Ashley sitting at what appears to be a dinner table. She's reading some Tennyson, it... Of course. How the hell did I know she would be reading Tennyson? But someone younger is there, with her hair let down in a ponytail. Hm... Must be one of her sisters. Damn girl has got three of 'em, too. That must be a pain for her to keep track of. Especially since they're all girls.**

**But there the two of them are. I look out to them, and notice that Ashley's back is turned to me. The younger sister listens very intently, though, leaning on the thing. Hm... She seems, happy, almost. I nod, pulling my cloak as I look at the two of them there. Whoever that younger sister is, she seems pretty happy. And... well, she seems to be enjoying Ash's company quite a bit. And Ash seems to be reading it aloud... It's Ulysses.**

**I thought she knew that by heart.**

**Eh, it doesn't matter. She's still reading Tennyson, so that takes care of that.**

**I walk further into the doorway, my footsteps going unnoticed by Ashley. However, the younger sister notices my entrance, and turns her head.**

**"I didn't hear you knock."**

**This interrupts Ash, who then turns to look at me. Damn... She still looks the same, except... She let her hair down. Sweet Jesus, she looks hot with her hair down like that. Why did she have to have that goddamn bun on all the time? I mean... Man, oh man, she's smokin'!**

**That's a thought for another time, though, as then she turns to look at me. "Is there something you want?" she asks. "We weren't getting any visitors today."**

**Ah, the typical hard-ass Ash. Wouldn't have accepted her greeting me any other way. "I... believe we have met before, Ash," I say, looking at her from beneath my cloak. "I was in the area..."**

**I see her expression twitch, and for a split second I can make out the barest hint of shock in her eyes. But she pays it no mind, nodding and setting the Tennyson down. "It's all right, Abby," she says. Ah, so it was the one from the story with the Williams kicking the obsessive ex's ass! "He's a friend. A friend I haven't seen in a while."**

**"Will you be all right?" she asks.**

**"Yeah, I'll be fine," replies Ashley, looking over to her younger sister. "You can finish the rest while I go back and speak with him, all right?"**

**Oh, yeah, she _does _know it by heart. Otherwise, the book wouldn't be there in the first place!**

**I am an idiot.**

**"Of course," said Abby, smiling broadly as Ashley stands up slowly. I don't look at Abby to see what she's doing, but Ash walks to me and gestures past me. We then both walk into the room, and she sits on what appears to be a chair that only just materalizes. Okay... so apparently if she sits on something, it materializes out of thin air. Honestly, nothing about the Fade is going to surprise me by this point. All I care right now is that it's out of view of Abby. And I'm not taking my chances; I simply stand there as Ashley shakes her head.**

**"Of all the people to show up in my dreams, you would be the last person on that list," she begins. "I guess you're some bit of my mind telling me it's all right?"**

**I shake my head, pulling my cloak off. I then run a hand through my hair, pulling some of it to the side to show her how long it got. "Did the Art you know have a ponytail like this?"**

**She squints, leaning forward in her chair as she looks at the extra piece of hair. She spends a few seconds dwelling on it, her expression going between disbelief and uncertainty. Finally, she sits back, shaking her head with a bemused expression on her face.**

**"You _would _grow your hair out like that," she says simply. "I just... I'm surprised you're here. How did you get into my dream?"**

**"It's a really long story," I say. "All I can tell you, is that I can't stay long. I have to leave in a half hour, or I could be trapped in this place forever. But I'm still alive back where we are, and I'm visiting your dreamspace."**

**"And how do I know you're not some part of my mind?" asks Ash suspiciously.**

**Hm, can't say I blame her. "It's a long story," I say. "But trust me when I tell you that I'm not part of your mind."**

**She glances at me, squinting softly as she looks at me. Finally, she lets out a sigh, nodding. "I guess you're right," she says.**

**"Great!" I say, raising a finger in reply. "Now... let's talk!"**

**"That wouldn't be so bad," replies Ash, leaning back. "The part about being stuck here, I mean. I've never quite been able to see you like this in my dreams. It's nice to finally talk to someone like that."**

**I shake my head. "It means I'd die back where you came from," I say, placing my hands behind my back. "Ash. I just... I've missed you quite a bit."**

**"I'll admit... I kind of miss you too in a wierd, soldier to soldier kind of way," she says. "But... I've just wound up with something strange happening to me. And now... I think I may have come to some kind of conclusion about you."**

**I nod. Yeah... I should've expected that from what I saw in the vision. "Yeah," I say. "I have my own piece to say, so... that works out for the both of us." I shrug. "So... you first?"**

**"No," she says. "Actually, kind of. But I'll let you talk."**

**Good. I won't have to explain about the fields of visions, then. That's a plus.**

**"I know," I reply with a nod, holding my left hand up. "I... I wanted to tell you that I lied to everyone on the Normandy. I wasn't from the Earth you know. I was from an Earth where what was happening to us was a video game. I'd explain it by telling you how Abby there kicked the ass of that boyfriend of hers, but... the nice thing about our situation is that I don't have to talk about it."**

**"Tell me about it," replies Ash. "I guess you wanted to come here to say something about that?"**

**"Yeah." Oh, boy, here we go. "I just... I wanted to apologize. Because I knew one of us was going to die on Virmire." I take in a deep breath. "I wanted it to be me. I thought that maybe... maybe if I had died, I would return home. And it would save you and Kaidan, and mean that I would be gone from canon. I, the one that didn't belong, you know. But it didn't work out that way. So then... here we are, with you dead back there... and me alive."**

**She nods, closing her eyes. "I guess I kind of accepted it when the same thing that happened to you happened to me too," she said. "But did you literally come in during the middle of a firefight or something?"**

**I shake my head, smirking. "No," I say. "I showed up about a day before I rescued Tali. I woke up in an alley somewhere. Why?"**

**"I didn't even get to fall unconscious," she says, shaking her head. "I'm there, gunning the last of the geth down, and then the bomb goes off. Next thing I know, I'm in an alleyway with these guys dressed in this old-ass armor sizing me up. And my wounds were healed, too. I don't know why. And then before I know it, I'm whisked off into some war to free some nation I don't know about against another group of people I don't know about. It's still going on."**

**Hm... Looks like she's in Part 1 of Radiant Dawn. Or, whatever the equivalent of that is with the changes made to that universe. Now that it's obviously changed... I need to address that soon. Because I'm going to forget about it otherwise.**

**"And now I guess you have to get used to magic as an everyday occurence," I comment.**

**"Yep." The gunnery chief shrugs. "Me? I'm more used to swords right now. But it's damn weird to see people raising their arms and conjuring fireballs as a valid method of fighting. I personally still haven't gotten over it."**

**"I see," I mention. "I... Is there anyone looking out for you where you are now?" I ask.**

**"Yeah..." she says. "His name's John. He's from an Earth too... and he was really, really helpful when I first came onto... onto Tellius. Whatever that place is. He's been one of my few friends on Tellius. I just..."**

**I nod, biting my lower lip. "He... he doesn't happen to be a mage, does he?" I ask. "And he doesn't happen to know about a Carin that's also possibly not from Tellius, does he?**

**"I think so," she says. "But he did mention a Carin. I'm surprised you knew about that. Why's it important?"**

**I shake my head, holding my hands behind my back as I look at the gunnery chief. Oh, dear, here goes... "John... he technically shouldn't be there," I say, shaking my head.**

**Ash squints at this. "What the hell do you mean?" she asks.**

**"John... I knew him back home," I say, beginning to pace around the room. "He had written this piece of fanfiction where he inserted himself into the Fire Emblem universe where you are now." I shake my head. "Technically, he shouldn't even exist on Tellius. Because that fic was started three years before I wound up on the Citadel."**

**"Wait, so let me get this straight," says Ash. "You're telling me that John wrote himself into the Fire Emblem universe in your world, and that he knew you, and that somehow he's here? That's... I can't even begin to tell you how preposterous that is! How do you even know?"**

**"I saw you in a vision I got in a dream," I say. "You were talking with him. I recognized John, you know. He and I had friended each other on Facebook, so... It's just, you know?"**

**"I don't even know how that's possible!" said Ash. "Maybe it's an alternate universe version of John, or... or something!"**

**"I don't know how it's possible either," I reply with a shrug. "And I don't really think this is an alternate universe John. That's not important. What's important is that he shouldn't be there. He started that fanfic, and I met him before I came here. Trust me, Ash, I know what I'm saying. Just..." Hm... How do I get to prove that to... ah! Use something only John would know about! "Ask John about Jay sometime."**

**"Jay? Who the hell is that?" Ash seems violently disturbed by all this. Can't say I blame her; this was all violently disturbing to me too. "He hasn't talked to me about Jay. He hasn't even talked to anyone else about someone named Jay! Who is this Jay? And why haven't we heard of him?"**

**"For the record, I think that Jay was a she," I reply. "And he hasn't said anything because Jay only speaks to him in his mind," I say. Jeez... it's starting to remind me of an omni-present Orange now. "It's not schizophrenia, trust me. It's like a seperate entity that's in his mind, always telling him about everything. It also has... paranormal powers sometimes. Ask him about the time it introduced his salad creation into Tellius. I think... he may think something strange about this."**

**"I... I don't know what to make of that, but... I'll see what I can do," she said, frowning in her confusion. "I just don't find it in me to believe that John knew you."**

**"I don't either, Ash, trust me," I say. "But... I've said most of my piece by now. Anything you have to say?"**

**She nods. "John and I... we figured out that you may have come from another universe," she says, looking up at me. "You both had similar tastes in old stuff. And if he's to be believed, you probably also knew what was happening." She stands up, crossing her arms. "Why didn't you say anything to any of us?"**

**...**

**Jesus Christ.**

**"You too?" I ask, shaking my head. "I've been getting that a lot lately. Granted... you haven't seen some of the stuff that's gone down since you left. How much time has passed for you?"**

**The Gunnery Chief frowns. "Not that much," she says. "I'd say a few weeks. Why?"**

**I nod. "Ash, it's been two years since you died here," I mention. "A lot has gone down. Shepard died and was brought back to life, human colonies are disappearing... it's hell, Ash."**

**"Wait, so Shepard died, and you didn't mention anything to anyone about you knowing?" she asks, frowning. "What the hell, Art?"**

**I exhale sardonically. "You're not the first one to ask that question," I mention. "Trust me, Ash, you are definitely not the first. And I'm not sure why I hid it anymore. Shepard found out a while after she got brought back to life."**

**Ash frowns slightly, uncrossing her arms. "I think you should've been honest with us," she says. "You know... I never did completely buy your cover story about the stim overdose. I was expecting you'd be mature enough to tell us on your own time."**

**I shake my head. "I wasn't planning on telling anyone," I say. "Ash, you don't know how much is at stake here. You don't know how much more would be at stake if I told anyone the truth about me. But... that doesn't mean I always feel justified in hiding just how much I know. I... I've started being open to that..."**

**"Open enough?" she asks.**

**"No," I say. "I had to get nearly tossed off the Normandy first. But... I know I should've said something. I'm sorry."**

**The gunnery chief shrugs. "It's fine, I guess," she says. "I just wouldn't have pegged you as that type of guy to be what you were."**

**I shrug. "Yeah," I say. "I don't know when I'm going to be pulled back into my body, so... You want to chat for a bit?"**

**"Sure," says Ash. "We got most of the heavy stuff out of the way, so we might as well get going with the other things."**

**And with this, I smile, and continue my conversation with Ash.**

* * *

It ends a while later, and then I open my eyes to see myself staring up at Orange and Garrus. Yes, she pulled me out in time.

I sit up, nodding as I look to the others. I give them all a smile. "It went pretty well," I say. "I found her and got to talk to her. She seems... happier right now."

"Good," says Garrus. "Can we get out of this dream now? My head hurts from all the information it got."

I look to Orange. "Of course," I say. "Orange, I'll see you in a future dream."

"Of course," says the Prothean. She then turns to Loghain. "Loghain, if you would be so kind."

The Fereldan nods, drawing his sword as he approaches us.

* * *

We climb back up the dream soon after, and when I wake up, I see Garrus looking over the edge of the cot. I nod, looking up at the turian as I sit on my behind. My hand darts into my pocket... Okay... Yes, we're in the real world now. Thank the Lord for totems.

I nod, detaching the thing from my wrist as Garrus sits up. "I don't know how you got this thing into my wrist," he says, pulling it out. "How did you not wake me up?"

I shrug. "I must have gotten lucky, I guess," I say, undoing the velcro and watching as the chord ravels into the orange paperweight. "Beginner's luck, you know?"

"Indeed," he replies. "I wonder how far along Shepard is with Legion's favor."

At this, we both hear the door open, and then we watch as...

...

Oh dear.

This just got awkward.

"Uh... Hi Madison."

She's frowning, looking at the two of us as she eyes the fact that Garrus is taking something out of his wrist. "Garrus, Art, what's going on?" she asks.

"It's... a long story," I say. "You mind if we talk about it at the next Brotherhood meeting?"

The Journalist considers this. "I suppose," she says. "After all, you've both still got your clothes on. Though, I didn't think you were the type for intravenous drugs, Garrus."

The turian sits up, a shocked frown on his face. "Madison, you know me," he says. "I'm not into those kinds of drugs. And I'm not into men in that way..."

Yeah. For me, it's possible, but not for Garrus, I'm afraid. Though that would be hot, watching Garrus bang a dude.

...

Yeah, I'll shut up now.

"So..." I say, trying to change the subject. "You just got back from helping Legion, hm? How'd it go?"

"I think it went... okay," she says. "Shepard had a big decision she had to make."

"That one with blowing the heretics up versus using the virus on them," I mention. "Which way did she go?"

Madison shrugs. "She was stuck on it for a while. But... she ended up rewriting the heretics."

...

Oh.

I shrug. "Well... I can't argue with that," I mention. "She went the Paragon route with that mission."

"You mean _that _was the _good _decision?" asks Madison in disbelief. I see Garrus' eyes widen as well. "Who's to say the Reapers won't find a way to rewrite the new geth?"

"We won't know," I say, standing up. "Either way, we won't be short on numbers when the Reapers arrive, and you got Paragon points for that, so... I'll have to see what she thinks about that decision later." I shrug as I walk to the door. "Tali's probably going to get into a confrontation with Legion now. I need to be there to make sure it doesn't get as out of hand as it did in the game." I then turn to Garrus. "It was nice sharing a dream with you. Though for the record, your subconscious really needs to be tamed. It was not fun being shot at in a Citadel market, especially not when the architecture was warping all around us."

With this, I exit. I can hear Madison give an extremely confused utterance before the door closes behind me.

Okay... to the AI core!

* * *

I walk in, right as I see Tali approach Legion. Both of their eyes (or optics, in Legion's case) turn to me when I enter the room. Tali looks like she just walked up to Legion, but I don't see that much tension in her arms. Okay... I then see their gaze shift again with the door still open.

Oh, my. Shepard's in here, isn't she? Yep, she's in here... Shoot.

Well, at least Tali hasn't drawn her gun yet. That's a plus.

"Shepard," says Tali. "Thank goodness you're here. I caught Legion scanning Art's omni-tool. He was about to send some classified data on the Fleet to the geth."

"About Rael'Zorah, right?" I ask. Hm... she still hasn't drawn her gun. I just hope she doesn't...

"Affirmative." Legion faces us. "Creators performed weapons tests and were discussing plans to attack us. We believed it necessary to warn our people."

"But we've already made you stronger by rewriting you," says Tali. "I know the experiments were horrible Legion, but..."

I frown. Hm... Not trying to be assertive. Well, she still hasn't raised her gun, so... I step forward. "Legion, if the geth found out about this, that would cause a war, right?" I ask.

Legion's head flashlight turns to me. Hm... Shepard hasn't said anything. "Affirmative," says the platform.

"And that war would leave both of us vulnerable to the Reapers," finishes Tali. Hm. She's the one saying it, not Shepard. "And then we both would die out. I'm very sure neither of us wants that outcome." Tali sighs.

The platform seems to gaze at the quarian in question, and... oh, boy, he's coming to a solution. Let's see what happens next.

"We believed it was necessary to relay this information," says the platform. "However, to facilitate unit cohesion, we will not transmit data on Creator plans."

All right, awesome! I don't think we've lost their loyalties. That is excellent.

"Thank you, Legion," she says, nodding. Hm... no firearm to lower. Hm. She did it without raising her gun once! Awesome! "If it helps... I understand your intention. I would have thought to do the same in your position."

I turn to Shepard, smiling broadly as she nods. "Well... looks like I wasn't needed here," she says. "You do what you need to."

Hm... She hasn't said anything about transmission of data yet. I see Shepard turn, walking through the med bay on the way to wherever. I look to Shepard as she leaves. Hm... Well, at least we have their loyalty. That is always a-

"What if I gave you some non-classified data to send?"

...

I turn back to Tali, looking right back at her. I'm sure Shepard is doing the same. Excellent!

"We would be grateful," replies Legion.

Cue Rael'Zorah flipping out.

... Well, I would, if he were actually here. Man, he's gonna be pissed that his daughter did something like that. Well, at least until we mention that she managed to reason with a machine. We were prepared well in advance, granted, but we reasoned with a machine! Hopefully that'll get him out of that stupor.

But I smile, watching Tali and Legion exchange data right in front of me like that, her omnitool glowing brightly.

...

You know, something just occurred to me.

How did the evicence get onto my omni-tool anyway? I didn't upload it from the OSD to my omni-tool, anyway... Eh, Legion must have found something about it, and he must have gotten his hands on it while I was busy taking care of business with Garrus in the gunnery bay. That's the only explanation little old me can come up with. It's as good as anything, really.

At least Daro'Xen doesn't have it. While Legion can be reasoned with, I don't think the apostate can. We'll see.

Anyway, I see Tali nod, and then she goes off into the medbay. When she passes me, I end up walking beside her, a smile on my face as we move. We walk away from the AI core, and as soon as the door closes, I pull the quarian into a surprise hug. I smile broadly as my head comes to rest on her shoulders, and I glance sideways at her.

"Did I ever tell you I'm proud to be in love with you sometimes?" I ask.

"Not... really, no," replies Tali, her voice indicating she was taken a little off-guard by the gesture.

I smile. "Well, I'm proud to be in love with you right now," I say. "You managed to go through the loyalty confrontation without raising a gun at him!"

I can feel Tali's smile as her hands come to rest over mine. "I... guess I did," she says, a little sheepishly. "I... think it was easier than you would think, though."

"And why's that?" I ask.

"Because I thought about you."

...

Okay... that kinda came out of nowhere. "I thought about what you told me," says Tali. "And about what you would've done. That... helped. Somehow. Also, the fact that I knew what was going to happen well in advance helped. That too." She turns to me. "But you're right. Eventually, we both have to stop fighting this war. I guess our first real agreement is a step in that direction. Maybe someday, we'll reach an agreement about our homeworld..."

God, this is sappy... But I'm not going to point it out, as it worked, so I got no reason to complain. "I see..." I say. "Well, that works out for everyone!" Yep, I'm proud of Tali all right. She's got to stop the war, and this is a good way to get started on that! "What say you and I get something to eat to celebrate a milestone in geth-quarian relations?"

Tali turns her head, and her eyes seem to... well... sing from behind that helmet. "Sure," she says.

And with this, we both exit the med bay, not caring about Chakwas as we both walk over to get ourselves something to eat.


	47. Chapter 45

_A/N: Okay. Crazy times are had for all__._

_Just a small announcement I thought I should impart on you before I start the chapter. I've recently joined a small little fanfic organization called the Protectors of the Plot Continuum. Don't know what it is? Fair enough: it's a group of fanfic authors devoted to the mocking of bad fanfiction everywhere. It's a whole extended universe, and we all write fanfiction sporking bad fanfiction, as it's called. So... you can check out some more information here: ppc. wikia. com/wiki/PPC_Wiki I write for agents Florestan and Eusabius, so if you see anything with those two, chances are it's probably with me._

_Fun times are had for all._

_As for today's chapter? Well, you remember when Tali had a day in the limelight back in MV1? Well... we get to have another one of those kinds of chapters today. So let's get started and I'll tell you right now that this is being told from Good ol' Albert Shepard's point of view. And then someone else's point of view. And so on and so forth. You'll see how the plan unfolds from every perspective possible._

_As Hannibal of the A-Team would say, "I love it when a plan comes together". So let's do this._

* * *

Chapter 45: When a Plan Comes Together

***Albert Shepard POV***

We're in the hangar bay now. It's going to be a fairly long day, it seems, and I will have quite a few problems here.

Still... I will have to do my best. I think about this as I see my sister off at the shuttle.

She turns to me, and I see Art leaning over slightly as he makes a quick head count for the ground team. There are others in the shuttle at the moment, including Jack and Miranda. I guess I'll eventually see the day where they are not scowling at each other, but that day is apparently not today. I shall see soon enough.

Jocelyn turns to me then, nodding. "Is everyone more or less in position, Al?" she asks.

"I should think so!" I reply. "So the plan is to provide cover for Joker to come down to the AI Core?"

"Yes," says Jocelyn. "And you have to help him down there in case there are more Collectors than we could have anticipated."

I see Art shake his head. "That shouldn't be needed, Commander," he says. "I don't think they take more than two scions, a praetorian, and a few Collectors; only enough to get the crew and leave. I think they're still under the impression that they're preparing a surprise attack."

"They won't be expecting us, that's for sure," I reply. "Still, I'll help him out. Good luck, Joc."

My sister nods, and she enters the shuttle soon after. "Make sure this ship is good when we're back," she says.

And with this, the shuttle door closes. The bay doors open soon after, and I watch as it flies away into the expanse of space. I nod, closing my eyes as I think.

All right, Al, you can do this. You just have to help Joker and make sure the crew stays safe. You can do this.

I then exit the hangar bay, and walk to the elevator to take it up to the CIC. Let's hope the Collectors don't have any nasty tricks up their sleeves. That would be bad.

* * *

I make my way up to the cockpit, looking down at Joker as he inputs some calculations. I look down at the pilot, watching as EDI phases into her avatar close to where I stand.

"Hello, Operations Chief," says the A.I. I'm consorting with an AI, I still can't believe this.

I nod. "How are preparations coming along?"

"My sensors indicate that preparations are complete on the crew deck," says the holographic avatar. "The engineering deck may not clear until the last minute, however."

"Hey, you gotta admit, it beats having the cripple do everything," says Joker from his seat. "I mean, I know I'd be scared shitless if I had to save my baby by myself."

"You'll have a lot of help this time," I reply. "More than the Collectors were anticipating, I think."

We stand there a little longer. "You know, I wonder," says Joker after thinking about it. "Art mentioned the crew would have to be saved at one point. Do you think that now that most of us are probably getting through this without a scratch that we can save some colonists?"

EDI speaks up again. "Mr. ********* is speculating this as well, Mr. Moreau," she mentions. "He is unsure if we will arrive in time to save the colonists. Still, he holds out hope that he can."

"That would be like him," I mention. "He's changing events so much with this plan of his that he's probably wondering what will happen next."

"Well, if the Collectors grow pumpkins for heads thanks to this, I think we'll all know who to blame," Joker says sarcastically. He shrugs, looking forward. "Seriously, I hope he knows what he's doing with this plan, and after that."

I lean against the chair, watching the stars around us as Joker tends to his usual business. "We'll be the ultimate judge of that," I say. "Anyway... EDI, are we prepared to begin testing the IFF?"

"I must warn you, Operations Cheif Shepard: once we begin testing the IFF, there is no turning back," says EDI.

"Of course," I reply, looking to the holographic avatar. "We've only got one chance. Let's do it."

And with this, EDI's little eye-like thing blinks. "Initiating IFF tests."

With this, I stand fully erect, Joker nodding as he begins inputting calculations. "All right," says the pilot. "I guess it'll be showtime soon enough."

I nod at this, holding my hands behind my back as the IFF testing begins.

* * *

A half hour into the IFF testing, Joker is leaning back, looking out in front of us.

"You know that at this rate, I'm starting to doubt that our little seer could tell the future here," says Joker with a shrug. "They haven't arrived yet."

"Patience, Joker," I reply, shaking my head. "Hopefully, we will get something soon."

These things take time, after all. It possibly hasn't hit the stage where it starts broadcasting our coordinates. That is when we need to be ready.

"I just don't know," says Joker. "Knowing that this is going to happen... it's just making me nervous. I guess I just want to get this out of the way as quickly as possible..."

Ah, that would explain it. Honestly, I think everyone on this ship is nervous about what is going to unfold. "You and me both, Joker" I reply. "But it'll work. I hope."

I gulp, hoping to keep it as quiet as possible. To be honest, I am very nervous that this plan may not work as well as we hope it will. We could still lose a few crew members, and if we do... I don't quite know. But... I have to keep faith for everyone else here. I just have to hope that we all do our parts when the time comes.

EDI's avatar flares up suddenly. "I have detected an anomaly," she says. "It appears the IFF is broadcasting our coordinates."

I see Joker tense up. Honestly, I can't blame him. I look out of the window then, taking a sharp inhale as I hear this come from EDI.

"It's broadcasting our coordinates," says the pilot. "That means..."

Soon after Joker says this, the Collector ship that they supposedly encountered twice by this point materializes just outside of the ship. I look up... Wow, that thing is enormous! I wonder how Jocelyn and the others dealt with being in a ship of such size. It seems... intimidating.

I turn to EDI, looking to the AI as she begins speaking again. "I have lost most functionality," says EDI. "I may lose it completely soon.

"Yep, it's time," says Joker, unsteadily getting up. "Let's get outa here."

I nod, and then watch as he limps in front of me as quickly as he possibly can. "Right behind you, Joker," I reply. "Go as quickly as you can. I'll be following you."

The pilot nods, and then we begin to make our way to the Comm room as quickly as we can. Other crew members are starting to do the same, as per Art's plan. They think it's Miranda's plan, of course, but I can't blame them. If they knew the ideas actually came from Art... they probably never would have agreed to it. But... here we are. I see the crew grab assault rifles from whatever lockers there are, but instead of crowding around the elevator they're rushing into either the tech lab or the armory.

Joker follows as quickly as we can, and we both move to the door of the tech lab. As soon as we get there, we see... My God... what is that thing? It's... Oh my God...

I shake my head, knowing we don't have much time. Joker goes through the door of the tech lab first, and I follow shortly after as I pull out my submachine gun. The door is open even as Joker makes his way to the door that will take us to the comm room. All right... I see other crewmen darting around the tech lab, most of them pointing assault rifles at the door as Joker makes his way past us.

As I hear the door behind me on my left open, I see a Collector come right up to where I am.

Gritting my teeth and frowning, I make my way to the door I assume Joker just went through, firing my submachine gun at the Collector. It takes a few hits, but before long I see one of the other crewmen finish by firing his assault rifle at the creature. This takes it down, but nobody wants to stick around. As I glance into the passageway to make sure Joker is making his way to the comm room safely, the other crewmen begin to move in as well.

I stay behind, seeing another Collector come right to us. I fire a few short bursts of my submachine gun before entering the corridor myself. The crewmen are all inside now, thankfully, so I turn around and run right into the comm room.

There, I see that the crewmen have hunkered down, Joker still making his way to the back of the room as I enter. I then jump behind one of the barricades made from ammo crates we moved here from the armory before Joc set off on her mission. I nod, jumping over a crate and leaning my back against it. All right... there is Zaeed, exactly as he's supposed to be. He's on the other side of the comm room's large table from where I am, also behind some crates as he crouches next to some of the more frightened crew members.

As the crew members make themselves comfortable, I turn to the mercenary. "Is everybody here?" I ask.

"If they aren't, they're not comin' now," says Zaeed.

"No, we're all here," says Joker as he makes his way to the back of the table.

"Good," says Al. "You think the lower decks are having as much luck with this as we did?"

Zaeed shrugs. "Hell if I know," he replies. "Since everyone's apparently 'ere, I'm lettin' the guys downstairs now."

"Got it." I turn to Joker. "Joker, stay down."

"You got it, Chief," replies the pilot, kneeling down as the first Collector we've seen outside raises its assault rifle.

The crew fires back, the insect going down from the sheer amount of bullets almost as soon as the crewmen start yelling. I see one or two beginning to fidget with their assault rifles...

Hm... They're afraid of these things, I can tell.

"Keep your heads clear!" I shout. "We're not letting these things inside this room!"

I hear a 'no, sir,' from somewhere. Their hold is a little more confident. All right... I do I quick head count, nodding as I look around. It seems everybody on this deck is good to go. Excellent. Now we have the matter of the other two decks... I just hope everything is going well for them. If we fail this plan right now...

...then I don't know what'll happen next.

"This is Zaeed Masani," I hear from the old mercenary. "We've got every blighter 'ere on Deck 2! Ya copy?"

* * *

***Kasumi Goto POV***

"Yeah, I copy. I guess Little Shep pulled through for all of us."

"_Ya think?_" Zaeed seems more than a little grumpy right now.

"_Zaeed, please._" Ah, there's Little Shep. "_We're good, Kasumi. Is everyone in place down there?_"

I glance around the AI core. All right... We have most of the crew here... They're all hiding behind crates we put here. Some of 'em have got assault rifles, but there are those people like the good Doctor and good ol Sturge that don't have any weapons. The door to the AI core is stayin' wide open so we can get these things before they can get us, but... for some reason, none of 'em are entering through the med bay doors. Or the windows, for that matter. They're just sort of standing out in the hallway. I guess that's a good sign, though I wonder how good it would be given what's going on right now.

Me? I'm close to where EDI is supposed to be. I just have to wait for the word, and then I release an AI from whatever's holding it back.

Hopefully we won't have to compute pi for the rest of our lives.

I frown, looking at all of us. Hm... There aren't that many crew down here, but then it is only me and a few others that are in this tiny room. There's nowhere near enough room to fit all of us, which is why I guess good ol' Art had Jacob set up another spot over in Miri's office on the other side of the deck. If they're not in here, they're probably in there is how we all see it.

I gotta admit, Art was pretty thorough with this plan. That was one hell of a Brotherhood meeting.

But enough about that. I'll check with Jacob before I tell Little Shep anything.

"Gimme a sec," I say, before changing comm lines. All right... got it! "Hey, Jacob, how many have you got in Miri's office?"

There's a crackle in the connection before Jacob comes in. I swear that's rifle fire I'm hearing. I'm not daring enough to peek my head out to double-check. "_Kasumi, good thing you're doing well there,_" says Jacob. "_We got most of the crew here. Some of them are hiding out in the back, including Gardner and most of the minor crew in here. We're taking some fire, but we're holding. You got anyone with you in the AI core?_"

I nod. All right, this day just got a little bit better. "Yeah, I've got Sturge, Chambers, and Chakwas here with me, plus two others. Ya think we got everyone?"

"_I think so,_" says Jacob. "_What about everyone else?_"

"Little Shep and Zaeed both have everyone on Deck 2 with 'em right now," I reply. "Good thing, too. Ya think everything's in order down in Deck 4?"

"_I don't know..._" I notice a tinge of worry in his voice. Oh, dear. Before I can comment on it, though, I hear what sounds like a biotic warp. "_Sorry about that. These things are damn persistent._"

Oh, good. He's all right. Good. I'd hate to see a man like Jacob go to waste. "I don't know either," I say. "Legion hasn't checked in."

"_Hopefully, he'll check in soon_," says Jacob. "_There aren't that many people in Engineering. We'll just have to hope everyone's okay._"

Yeah, I know the feeling. "That's all we can do," I say. "I better report this to the guys upstairs." Hm... "Watch yourself in there, Jacob. We can't lose anyone in there."

"_I'm being as careful as I can be in this small space,_" says the armory officer.

With this, the link cuts. But before I can relay this to Little Shep, I turn to the others. "Is everyone all right here?" I ask.

"Yeah, we're fine," says Sturge, his back against a crate as he sits as close to the doctor as he can. He's really holding her like he means it. I can totally see them together. Old love is cute like that. "How much longer do you think we'll be stuck like this?"

I shrug. "Honestly, I haven't got a clue," I say. "I just have to hope Legion will report in soon."

I wonder how they're doing down there... Oh, I hope they're all right...

* * *

***Legion POV***

Error. Shepard-Commander says there are six crew members in Engineering, Creator Rael'Zorah included.

Number of occupants in this room: seven. This platform, Grunt-Urdnot, and five crew members.

We have detected an anomaly.

"Just leave 'im there."

"Have ya lost your mind, lad? We can't leave without 'im! There's no way 'e'll be able to survive the FTL motion."

"You're weak. All of you."

"We judge Donnelly-Engineer's assertion correct. Creator Rael'Zorah would not survive the action proposed by Shepard-Commander."

Threat detected. Urgency: low. Course of action: leave it to Grunt-Urdnot.

"So what do we do? We can't just leave him there when this ship jumps to FTL. We need to do something!"

...

Acquiring consensus...

...

We have acheived a consensus.

"We will go search Creator Rael'Zorah."

"What? All by yourself?"

"Affirmative. This platform sees no alternative solution. Without Creator Rael'Zorah the plan cannot move forward, and it would not be well for the unit cohesion of Creator Tali'Zorah. Our consensus suggests this is the best possible action to take."

"You're mad!"

"We were supposed to stay here! Not get lost in the ship with things that can kill us!"

"And what about us? You're leaving us defenseless here?"

"This is not what our consensus suggests at all. Grunt-Urdnot has sufficient stamina that he can defend Normandy crew. Creator Rael'Zorah is in great danger, and someone must search for his location. We shall look for him, and we shall return, hopefully with Creator Rael'Zorah."

"Ya sure that's a good idea, Legion?"

"Affirmative. We will not move forward with this plan without the presence of Creator Rael'Zorah in Starboard Cargo."

"Well... if you say so."

"I still think you're a little mad."

"Ken, don't argue with the machine!"

"And why not?"

"It's a machine! It knows what it's doing! It's not possible for it to _not _know what it's doing!"

"Right... If it enslaves us, I'll be the one to tell ya I told ya so."

"Just make sure you get back here once you find him, Legion."

"Affirmative."

We move out of Normandy Port Cargo. Location of Creator Rael'Zorah, unknown. Possibility of location: Starboard Cargo or area dubbed "Hidey Hole" by Normandy crew. Detecting two hostiles on deck. Hostiles in front of Starboard Cargo: one.

We have acheived a consensus. We shall see the Starboard Cargo area first.

We slowly approach Starboard Cargo, behind the hostile. The hostile opens the door, and I move silently. Hostile looks inside. Hostile: Collector. Biotic potential could serve to be a problem. Eliminate hostile and move on.

We approach the hostile, raising assault rifle. Pass the elevator, and-

Alert!

Hostile opening fire on unknown target. Target speculated to be Creator Rael'Zorah. Alert! insufficient cover in Starboard Cargo. Insufficient to survive attack from hostile Collector. Creator Rael'Zorah's condition: unknown.

Emergency consensus acheived.

We break into a run at the hostile, assault rifle raised in the air. The footsteps are loud, and they attract the hostile's attention to me. It turns, but we unleash fire at the hostile. The hostile falls, dropping its weapon. We arrive at Starboard Cargo.

Condition of hostile: deceased. Condition of Creator Rael'Zorah: unknown pending further investigation.

We enter Starboard Cargo.

Alert! We have found Creator Rael'Zorah. Condition: nervous, but alive. Location: by Grunt-Urdnot's "glass mother", using terminology considered important by Grunt-Urdnot. Status of "glass mother"... Leaking.

"W... What...?"

"Creator Rael'Zorah. We have come to find you. We are relieved to see you unharmed after assault."

"B..."

"Creator Rael'Zorah. Our consensus suggests that this part of Normandy is unsafe with the plan. This platform recommends moving to Port Cargo."

Condition of Creator Rael'Zorah: unknown. Closest approximation in English dictionary: stunned. Cause of current condition: unknown.

"I..." Creator Rael'Zorah stands. Condition of Creator Rael'Zorah: shocked. "But... You... Why did you come here?"

"Your absence in Port Cargo would have likely resulted in your death. Supposing you could survive the FTL jump, there is still the matter of hostiles finding and eliminating Creator Rael'Zorah. This eventuality could not happen in our consensus. The instructions were clear. You were to come to Port Cargo. We were ordered not to commence the plan until everyone was in a safe station."

"Of course. But why leave your post to help me? You could have just left me here... And..."

"You were away."

"But why come alone? You could have brought Grunt with you and left a weapon with one of the crew. So why come for me yourself?"

...

Acquiring data...

...

Error.

"No data available."

Condition of Creator Rael'Zorah... No data available. Closest approximation that can be found in human English dictionary: confused. We find this information to be irrelevant in the current situation. This data has been archived for further consideration.

"I... I don't..." He shakes his head.

Current condition: unknown. Slightly increased brain wave activity indicates increased thought processes. Body language and subsequent silence indicates something similar. Finding data...

Error. This platform cannot pinpoint why Creator Rael'Zorah seems to be behaving in this way.

This platform will pose a query to either Shepard-Commander, Creator Tali'Zorah, or *********-Serviceman upon their return to Normandy. The best candidates to answer the query will most likely be Creator Tali'Zorah, or *********-Serviceman.

Query marked as high importance.

"All right. Do you think we can get back there?"

"Affirmative."

"Then let's get moving."

We move out of Starboard Cargo. Destination, Port Cargo. Number of hostiles on this deck: one. Number of hostiles between here and destination: none. We make our move now, moving quickly. Creator Rael'Zorah hesitant at first, but then moves as quickly as everything else. Time taken to return to Port Cargo: approximately eight seconds.

No resistance encountered along the way.

Creator Rael'Zorah enters Port Cargo first, followed by this platform.

"Rael, you're all right!"

"I guess... I thought I could be all right if I hid on the opposite end of the ship."

"No way. We weren't going to start this unless you were in here too."

"Addendum: No one gets left behind. This platform will contact Goto-Kasumi for confirmation."

Comm channel: activated. Searching...

"Goto-Kasumi, we have gathered everyone on Normandy Engineering in Starboard Cargo."

* * *

***Kasumi Goto POV***

Finally! My fingers have been a bit itchy for some action.

"Got it," I reply. "We've got everyone on every other deck. I'll get right on unshackling EDI."

"_Affirmative. It may be wise to inform the others first._"

"I was just thinking the same thing," I reply. Okay... change the channel. "Okay, guys, Legion just reported in. We're all good to go for releasing the AI. Stand by, and let's hope we don't have to compute Pi for the rest of our lives."

Okay, let's do this. I stand up even as some of the crew starts firing at a husk that starts wondering into the med bay. They'll take it down soon enough. There are too many guns in here.

All right... I'm at EDI right now... Okay, how do I do this...? I look around the interface as I hear the husk fall with a small thump in the med bay. Hm... Okay, I think it's this... and then this... And then...

Yeah, this actually isn't that tough now that I think about it. This is definitely child's play right here. All right... we go there... and...

I step back as I see EDI's avatar appear briefly. Before I can say anything else, however, I see it expand out into the AI core. Oh, boy... I didn't just make a mistake, did I?

"Ah." Okay, I didn't. "I now have control of the Normandy. Thank you, Ms. Goto."

"Glad I could help," says Kasumi. "Just make sure we don't regret it, got that?"

"Of course," says EDI.

I shrug, kneeling back in cover as we hunker down to prepare for the worst again. "Too bad you won't get to see us on our knees," says Kasumi.

"I hardly see why you would think I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees."

...

Aha!

I smirk smugly to Sturge and Chakwas, who are both looking at me with a very surprised look. Well, that's one way to think about it.

"That is a joke, isn't it?" she asks.

"Unfortunately, the joke's on them," I reply. "I just got myself ten thousand credits. You think I can buy _Great Expectations_ with this? I hear it's a good book."

Ah, now _this _is something I could get used to.

* * *

***Legion POV***

"You should head to a console in engineering. The emergency floor lighting will lead you there."

"Affirmative."

"We should be fine, Legion. You should probably hurry: time probably won't be on our side."

"Just don't take too long."

"Affirmative."

We move out of Port Cargo quickly. Number of hostiles in engineering: one. Presence close to target as specified by EDI: at least eleven meters. Can activate necessary actions with quick and decisive action. Must move quickly. This platform has deduced that we must enter Engine Room through the further door, to where we would go to seek out Creator Tali'Zorah's workstation.

Move out.

We move to the door quickly. Scanning for hostiles... none near target area. Approaching opposite door. Immediate action recommended. Best path to Creator Tali'Zorah's workstation: door.

Consensus acheived.

Tapping the door panel, we move quickly through. Detecting proximity of hostile. Status of hostile in relation to this platform: on approach. Must move quickly. We move into engineering soon after. Creator Tali'Zorah's workstation is in sight. We move towards it, and begin entering command sequence. Avatar of EDI forms in space close to where I am.

"Ah, I have a solution."

Our consensus agrees with that of EDI. Part of *********-Serviceman's plan: open all doors and let the Collectors get 'aired' out of Normandy during FTL jump. Risk posed to integrity of ship: 27.45%. However, *********-Serviceman says it should be all right, even with the sealing of all safe zones which are serving as hiding places for Normandy crew.

Error. Possible safety concern not met: all crew still in safe zones.

"This platform wishes to ensure that all organics on Normandy are in secure zones."

"They are safe. All positions have held, and I haven't seen a stray case at the moment."

"Continuing with requisite input of commands."

We issue the command through Creator Tali'Zorah's work station. Command input complete.

Next course of action: go to the drive core. Should be done with maximum speed. Proximity of hostile to this platform: approaching.

We move through to the Drive Core. Our optic sensors pick up a large energy signature directly in front of us. Large glowing ball. Must be the Drive Core. We see a panel in front of the Drive Core.

Note: EDI appears here as well.

Commence final input stage to save Normandy from Collector takeover.

* * *

***Albert Shepard POV***

Zaeed guns down another Collector. Fortunately, there haven't been that many since we came in here. I think that's the fourth Collector we've had to deal with out of that many Collectors and a husk. Why the other kinds of things we were expected to look out for haven't arrived yet, I may never know.

"Do you think they've caught on by now?" asks Joker from behind me.

I look up, my submachine gun in hand. "Probably," I say. "But the AI got unshackled, so it shouldn't be much longer."

"'Bout bloody time if ya ask me," replies Zaeed. "I've 'ad just about enough of sittin' 'ere waitin' for somethin' to show up."

"I just hope we can move quickly," replies Joker. "In case you haven't noticed, we've got infinite reinforcements above us right now."

I shake my head. "We noticed, Joker," I reply. "And we also noticed how long it took for Kasumi to give the all clear."

"You think daddy Zorah threw a fit about being in the same place with a geth?" asks Joker.

Hm... "It may be likely," I reply. "But we won't know for sure until we get out of this-

"_Sealing the safe zones._"

Before I can say anything more, the door to the conference room slams shut, disregarding the corpse of the second Collector to strut through. It becomes bisected by the door, the legs falling into the room on our side as we begin to feel the Normandy whirr up beneath us.

This can only mean one thing...

"Brace yourselves!"

I shout this out, the crewmembers quick to obey as suddenly, the Normandy bucks, and we're sent flying at faster than light speeds. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but with the fact that all of the other rooms are open, it creates a strange rocking sensation on the ship. It's a very strange feeling, and it leaves the rest of us very shocked about what is happening.

The rocking starts rather softly: however, after a second or two it begins to rock violently. I glance up, surprised that the walls are still standing from the force of the activity around us. The walls rock violently for a few more seconds, and then, everything is still.

And I mean it is _really _still: an eerie quiet overtakes the briefing room as we sit there. Nobody dares to say a word, not even Joker, who I'm sure would be the very first person to say anything about a situation like this. I slowly stand up, looking around as we all take in deep breaths.

I... I think...

"_Wow... That was weird... Let's do that again!_"

I frown at this quotation from Kasumi. "No, let's not," I reply. "Let's seriously not. I take it everyone down there is fine?"

"_Roger that, Albert,_" replies Jacob from the same channel. "_Grunt, Legion, you good?_"

"_For squishy things, they held out against all that shaking like battlemasters._"

"_This platform is fully operational._"

I nod, watching as everybody else in the room stands up slowly, leaning against either the large table in the center of the room or one of the crates as we all get used to... whatever that was.

"Good," I say, letting out a sigh of relief. "That means the plan worked."

Yes... it worked. And nobody was taken away. Thank goodness for that. Imagine what it would have been like if it had gone according to how Art had predicted it would... That would not have been good at all.

"Thank God for that," says Joker, standing up as he rubs a sore shoulder. "I think I broke a shoulder blade. I wouldn't want the resident doctor gone with that."

As soon as he says this, EDI's avatar pops up in the center of the room, every crewman's gaze fixated on it.

"The Normandy is safe now," says the AI. "We also detect that every crew member is safe. Should we relay the news to the Commander?"

I nod, watching as our pilot leans against the table. "Go ahead, EDI," I say. "I think Art's gonna geek out at the fact taht this Collector attack had a different ending than it did according to his prediction."

"And 'e actually did somethin' about it this time," adds Zaeed.

"Yeah," mentions Joker. It is then I notice that we are getting funny looks from everyone else in the crew. But Joker doesn't seem to care.

In his stead, I wouldn't either.

"Is everything all right, Jeff?" asks the AI.

The pilot smiles. "Apart from the shoulder blade?" he asks. "Yeah, everything's fine. Thanks for asking."

I give a soft smile, looking as the crew starts exiting the place to survey the damage. Well, Art's plan worked. Thank goodness for that. We can now go through the Omega 4 relay with a full contingent of crew.

This is a good day for us, I think.

* * *

***And now, back to our regularly scheduled Art POV***

Jesus Christ on a pikestaff, this wait is _killing _me. And there's nothing to do guarding a damn shuttle from a planet we can't even confirm has any form of life on it, sentient or not. It's just... Grah!

And especially what's going down on the Normandy right now. Oh, I hope everything went according to plan up there. What if it didn't? Then... then that's the crew, _and _everyone else. Including one of the Brotherhood's own! Oh, Christ...

At least I ran it with everyone else. I'm pretty sure I owe it more to Miranda, though. She was the one who really worked towards implementing it. I just gave the ideas: she made them into reality, making sure everyone knew what to do. But still... What if that wasn't enough? What if the Collectors still overran the Normandy even despite everything we did? It's just...

Gah, Christ!

I feel a three-fingered hand fall on my shoulder. I glance up, seeing Tali there. She sits next to me soon after she does this, the both of us sitting against the edge of the Kodiak. I let out a sigh of relief, my hands playing within my fingers.

"Are you all right?" she asks. "You seem... tense."

I shake my head. Damn it, I can't pretend I'm fine to her... Ah, well. "I... I'm worried," I reply, looking at her. "About everyone back home. What if our plan fails anyway?"

"It won't," says Tali. "Miranda made sure of it."

"I know, Tali," I reply. "It's just..." I let out a sigh, closing my eyes. "I can't help but shake that feeling that something's still going to go down despite everything we did. It's one of those nagging doubts, you know? Like... what if someone didn't do what they were told. Or what if they found out that I was the one who came up with the plan's beta version before they were supposed to."

"It was a pretty good beta, I must admit," replies the quarian.

I chuckle darkly. "You're just saying that," I say.

"It's true," she says. "It only lacked organization. Miranda helped a lot with that." She then holds my hand in hers, looking directly at me. "Art, they'll be all right. Trust me."

Hm... I just... I can't get rid of the feeling that something went wrong. It's how it is with all my nagging feelings, really. But... in the end... I don't know. I don't have a single goddamn idea what's going to go down. And until we get some word from the Normandy...

"I hope you're right, Tali," I say. "I hope to God you're right."

It's the best I can-

I hear a loud ring from within the Kodiak. I feel myself jump slightly where I'm sitting, my gaze instantly going right back to where the cockpit is. Jenny is sitting there... or was, as she's now stepping outside. She doesn't say a damn word to either of us, and I think I know why. Yeah... I'm an idiot, Jenny. I'm sorry.

But... I don't think I need her to say anything for me to know that I just got a letter. We just got a letter... I wonder who it's from.

I stand up, walking right to the control panel. Hm... Looks like it's a message sent in the form of EDI. Hm... that means the AI is unshackled, meaning that the ship at least is safe, and that at least Joker is doing fine.

Well... here's the moment of truth. The one in which we find out whether or not my gambit in all this risky business paid off. I walk up to the console... Here goes.

I press the requisite button on the display. "This is Art to the Normandy."

"_Mr. *********._" Okay, that's EDI's voice so far... "_You will be pleased to know we've saved the ship._"

I nod, looking down at the thing. "I kinda figured that," I say. "How... is the crew all right?"

"_Yeah, we're all right, Art. The crew's safe._"

...

That was... Kelly...

No... You mean...

"It actually worked?"

"_You better believe it!_" And that's Joker... And... And that means... If the crew was safe... Then... Then...

Holy shit.

It actually worked! It worked! Oh my God... I... I changed canon... And it's for the better! And I actually intended that! My... Oh my...

"Are... There's no way... Yes!"

I jump out of the seat I'm sitting in. I promptly stub my toes on the underside of all the holographic projection things, though... Ow... Okay, yeah, getting excited was probably not the best idea. But still! I purposefully changed canon, and it worked! I smile broadly as I sit there. Shit, it actually worked... it actually fuckin' worked!

This mission just keeps getting better and better. Oh... Kelly, I could _kiss_ you right now!

"_You think we should tell Shep?_" Yep, that's Kasumi, all right.

I nod. "Don't worry, I'll take care of that," I reply. "I just... I can't believe it actually worked! This... This is awesome! Remind me that I owe Miranda a big one for helping me with all this."

"_You got it,_" replies Joker through the comm. "_We'll see you when you get back to the ship._"

Sweet Jesus, yes, it worked, it worked, it worked!

Now... Shit, I've gotta get this news to Shepard. Like, right the fuck now!

I stand up, walking outside and activating my omni-tool. Oh, man, she's gonna flip in all the right ways when she hears this. This is gonna be full of unadulterated awesome!

* * *

A few hours later, we're all standing around in the conference room. Sure enough, the crew was safe. Meaning that the plan actually worked! I... I still can't believe it. I changed canon in the best way possible. I don't know what it'll do to the suicide mission, but still. This has to rank as some form of awesome, right? Right? Because I saved the goddamn crew!

Well, I didn't, but I helped plant that seed. I think... Did I? Oh, God, what if I'm taking too much credit? Shit! I've only done one thing, and it's getting to my head! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Okay... don't panic, technically, you did come up with the idea. But full credit goes to Miranda. I mean, seriously, she did at least eighty percent of the work. She ironed out the wrinkles, she got the crew to get into the plan... all that jazz. So really, most of it succeeding is due to her. I'm sure of it.

Yes, I definitely need to thank her for all she did about the whole doozy soon.

So for now... I've got Shepard, Al, Zaeed, Kasumi, Jacob, Grunt, Legion, Miranda, and some of the crew present. I guess most notably is that Kelly's there, as are Joker, Sturge, and Chakwas. Everyone else is back in their posts. And they're definitively there. That is a huge, huge, _huge _comfort to see that this ship isn't empty like it was in the game. Thank you, Fate.

I nod, looking to the others on the table.

"Well, the plan worked," says Miranda. "The crew's safe, _and _we got to complete that mission."

"Yeah," says Zaeed. "It was pretty goddamn boring." He shifts slightly. "Ya gotta admit, though, it was a damn good idea. There just coulda been more... bugs for us to kill."

"Yeah, that wouldn't have been a good thing," Joker is quick to reply.

I shake my head. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting too many," I say. "I mean, they were only retrieving the crew and then taking the ship. I guess. But I don't think it would've been good to get overrun."

"I mean, are you serious?" asks Sturge, leaning over. "I couldn't even lift a damn shotgun!"

Shepard holds her hand up. "This isn't the time to wonder about that," she says. "The plan worked, and that's that. Did we hit any major snags?"

Legion looks at all of us. "Creator Rael'Zorah attempted to hide in Starboard Cargo instead of going to Port Cargo as directed," replies Legion.

"Oh, so _that's_ what that pause was all about," mentions Kasumi. "Should've known he'd be wary about staying with a geth."

I sigh. Oh, Christ, really? I look to Miranda. "You talked to him about why he needed to go with Legion, right?" I ask.

Miranda nods. "Twice," she replies. "It seems neither time took. Is he all right?"

"Creator Rael'Zorah is in good condition," says Legion. "This platform moved to assist him when he failed to come to where I was posted. Our arrival was timely."

I nod, frowning. "Good," I say. "I'm going to go have a small talk with him about that when this meeting is over. I just want to make sure he's all right." I shrug. "Also, maybe I'd yell at him for putting the entire ship at risk. I dunno about you, but if Miranda brought it up twice, then he should have known exactly what he was doing to the crew of the Normandy by not doing what he was told. So... yeah."

"Right," says Shepard. "But apart from that, anything?"

Al shakes his head. "As far as I know, nothing much else happened," he says.

"Well, that's good," says Shepard. "Art, do you think we'll be able to save the colonists now that the crew is no longer at the Collector base?"

I shrug. "I dunno," I say. "But I'm hoping we get to save some colonists. Seriously, Shepard, you're not going to like what the Collectors do to them. Trust me."

The Commander simply looks ahead of her, nodding. "I'll keep that in mind," she says. "I just hope you know what to do when we run into people who need saving."

What, as in just bash the door blocking them from the outside world until it releases? Oh, that part's easy. It's getting there in a timely fashion that's going to be the harder part.

"Don't worry, I got that covered," I reply. "Anyway... we repelled the Collector attack and saved the crew." All right...

"Now we worry about our next move," says Miranda, looking over at Shepard. "What do we do now, Commander?"

"Well..." The commander looks at all of us. "It's clear that the Collectors mean business. Whether or not they were successful doesn't matter. They laid the first blow."

"You got that right," says Jacob. "I don't know about you, Shepard, but the rest of us are itching for a fight."

"It's going to be a good fight, Shepard," says Grunt.

Miranda faces the krogan. "We appreciate your enthusiam, but this is the Commander's decision," she says. "Commander, do you think we're ready?"

Joc looks to her XO and nods. "I think we're ready," she replies. "We've built our team: we've upgraded this ship. And we've also waited long enough. We don't know when they're going to hit a human colony next, nor do we know where. We've spent enough time wandering the galaxy. I say it's time we brought the fight to the Collectors in person."

"Hit them now, and hit them hard," says Jacob. "Sounds good. I'm game."

I nod. "Yeah, this sounds like the best time to go after the Collectors," I say. "We're all loyal, we have all the upgrades, the crew is already safe... I say it's time we kicked some Collective ass!"

I hear Shepard groan right next to me soon after I say this. I blink, frowning. "Oh, come on!" I say. "It can't have been _that _bad!"

Miranda shakes her head. "I believe it was, actually," she replies. "Either way, the quality of your puns is not in question here. How long do you think it will take us to get to the Omega 4 relay?"

EDI's avatar pops up in the center of the room. "ETA is currently 12 hours."

"Then we've got all the time in the world," says Shepard. "Crew, dismissed. And prepare yourselves. I think there's only one of us who knows exactly what is waiting behind that relay."

I nod, knowing she's referring to me. "You'll see when we get there," I say. "Let's do this."

With this final bit, we all leave the briefing room. All right... we saved the crew, and now we're on route to the Omega 4 relay. This is awesome. Now we won't have to worry about the escort as much. It frees them up to help any colonists we might find, so... more power to us. But...

Wait, I just remembered... I have to find whatever that thing is... Whatever it is that I have to find at the Collector base that will help out with all this jazz. I mean, Orange can help me find it, right? Okay, think... when would be a good time to take care of that? Hm... Maybe it would be a good idea to split off between finding the colonists and holding the line. Yeah... and then I can look for that and evidence of the Reapers' involvement in galactic events. Hopefully, there'll be enough time to find that, and evidence.

Yeah... That's what I'll do. I'll take a small team with me and find them. Mostly, it'll be Brotherhood, though.

I exit the room, but as I do I look to my side and see Kelly walking by me. Hm... What's she doing? I slow down, looking at her. It's then that she nods at me.

"I just wanted to thank you on behalf of the crew," she says.

Oh... This is about the plan, I guess. "Don't thank me," I reply. "Miranda did pretty much all the organizing."

"Yeah, but you came up with the idea," says Kelly. "Especially since you knew it was going to happen." She looks at me with a smile. "I'm glad you managed to save us."

I give a nervous smile, rubbing the back of my neck. "Uh... Thanks, I'm glad you're all right," I say nervously. "I think the rest of the mission will be smooth sailing from here, yeah?"

"I hope so," replies Kelly. "I thought I should say that. Just... as thanks. I think you better go talk to Rael now."

I nod. "Yeah, I do," I reply. "I do need to talk to him about this one thing. I'll see you around, Kelly."

Right... Now, to find Rael'Zorah...

Actually... make that to ask EDI where Rael'Zorah-

...

Is...

Well, that certainly shortens the search. Because he's standing right there in the tech lab. Hm... That's interesting, especially with Mordin working off to the side like there's nobody else here. Hm...

I approach the older quarian, looking right at him. He seems to be gazing at the ground, looking down as he thinks about how to phrase something. Hm... Let's get started.

"Hello Rael'Zorah," I say, crossing my arms.

"Art," he says. "It seems... I have come at an ideological impasse."

I cross my arms, walking out of the tech lab. Rael follows soon after. "Yeah," I mention. "Because you do realize you almost jeopardized the whole ship with that stunt you pulled back there, right? Right?"

"That is... not what I need to address with you, actually," says Rael.

Really? "I don't see how we could avoid talking about that," I say, crossing my arms. "You know, I wasn't kidding when I said that you both had to stop fighting this war. Eventually, if you keep fighting the war, then we're all going to pay for it. And we almost just did with you." I shrug as we exit the tech lab. "See? You almost fulfilled that with the Collector attack."

"I know," says Rael. "Thinking back, I think I was beeing foolish."

"You better believe you were," I say, shaking my head. Hm... He doesn't look... all that forceful. Hm... He should be a little angrier than this. "I take it this isn't really the time to talk about that. What's on your mind?"

Rael nods. "When that incident happened... that geth platform... Legion, was it...? It came to get me out of the fire. Alone." He looks up at me, and... Hey, he looks... conflicted.

I raise my eyebrow. "So he pulled you out of the line of fire?" I ask.

"Yes," replies Rael. "I... I don't know what to make of it. I'm confused. All my life, I've hated the geth. Including this platform here. But... but if it saved me even with this hatred..."

I nod. "You also heard that Tali managed to talk it out of sending some sensitive data to the geth, right?" I ask.

"She... she told me about that just after you returned to the Normandy," he says. "I... I don't know what to make of this, Art. I... What if I was wrong?"

Ah, there we go! Yay, openness has prevailed! And I think the quarian people will be better for it. "Well..." I say. "The only thing left in that case... is to give it a chance. It may be more helpful to you than you used to think."

He nods his agreement. "Of course," he says. "If it saved my life... I should give it the chance I've been denying it..." He shakes his head. "This is just so... strange. I never thought I'd be grateful to a geth. And yet... here I am."

I shrug. "Life has a lot of unexpected things in it," I reply. I pat him on the shoulder once before nodding. "Think about that for a sec and I'll see you later."

With this, I leave Rael to his own devices.

Well... looks like we've hit a milestone in quarian/geth relationships for all. An admiral is staring to second-guess his thoughts on the geth. Hey, it works for me. It's good to see he's finally thinking about it beyond his old deep-seated prejudices. That's a good thing indeed.

But... I wonder. Will he be able to say yes to what he may need to do later? It makes me wonder...

Oh, no matter. I guess... I've got twelve hours before the suicide mission.

...

Shit, it's already here. This mission is going to be absolutely enormous. Shit goes flying everywhere, reveals are had, the end credits roll...

...but this time? I think I'll be ready for when the shit comes flying. It's been building up to what goes down in twelve hours. Get in, blow shit up, get out. And hopefully, we can do this with a perfect run where everyone survives...

I... Yes.

We need to do what we can against the Collectors. And now is the best time.

Yeah. I think I'll check on everyone...

And then... when it's all said and done...

Let the fireworks begin.


	48. Chapter 46

_A/N: Some words for Legion: I love you, you're awesome, but I will never, _ever _write you in first person again. I think I broke my brain on you._

_Anyway... So, the suicide mission is a chapter away! Stay tuned for that, folks: it's going to take me a loooooong time to write it, so don't expect it for a while. After that, though, MV2 will have an epilogue chapter, and then I'll be taking a short hiatus from this series. And then I'll start it up again. This time, though MV3 has a definite outline that's been written, so I know everything that's going to happen. As for you guys? You'll just have to wait for me to tell you, won't you? ;)_

_Fun times abound. Anyway... let's get some personal stuff together._

* * *

Chapter 46: Last Rites

First stop: the mess hall. I might as well get one last meal here, right?

I walk down there, seeing Sturge handing out stuff. Jeez... if our plan had gone any other way, he'd be one of the crew members trapped in the Collector base waiting to be turned into genetic paste... I can't imagine what he'd bee feeling at that.

Oh well.

I walk up to him as he turns some stuff over. Hm... This looks rather... fancy.

"You're sure pulling out all the stops," I say.

The old man nods. "We're all still here," he says. "I figured, 'ah, what the hell, might as well give 'em something special tonight. It's the last night we have before we jump into the fire."

I nod. "Yeah," I say. "I just wonder what's going to happen when we get there. I'm suspecting it'll happen that everyone gets out alive. Everyone's loyal, we got all the ship upgrades, and to top it all off we don't need to worry about the crew's survival anymore. So... I think it'll go smoothly." I frown. "Except for one thing..."

"What's that one thing?" asks Sturge.

I shrug. "It relates to Orange," I say. "I may have to go find stuff. Hopefully, it won't be a big deal, but still..."

"Well, knowing our luck lately, it's going to go pretty well, I think," replies Sturge as he turns a piece of dextro!chicken over. Gah, I can never remember what that damn bird is actually called... "You shouldn't worry so much. I'd just worry about being with whoever we're closest to right now."

I raise my eyebrow. "So you're planning on hanging out with Dr. Chakwas later?" I ask.

"Oh, of course," he replies, giving me a smile as he grabs a plate and starts filling it with stuff. "There's never been a better time, you know? We're about to get ourselves into some serious shit." He shakes his head. "You know, it's funny. If you had told me when I first met you that we were going to go having adventures on a space ship that's going around the galaxy, I would've thought you were crazy."

"So would I," I mention, giving him a smirk. "And yet, here we are, running around helping someone save the galaxy." I give him a nod as he turns some more food over on whatever that surface is. "It's just... you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," says Sturge. "Rupert already came by. Picked up some dinner for himself. I'm not sure where he went, though. Knowing him, he's probably taking some food down to Jenny in the hangar bay." He shakes his head. "Poor girl hasn't left the Kodiak since you came back."

Huh? "Really?" I ask. "What do you think she's doing?"

"Knowing her, she's probably praying that she finally gets some answers on what happened to Gregor," he says.

"Yeah..." I say. "I can understand her trepidation. I myself don't know if Gregor is safe or not." I let out a sigh. "I just hope for her sake that he is."

"I'm sure he will be," says Sturge. "Gregor's a tough young man. He'll get through this."

I shrug. "I dunno, Sturge," I say. "There's nothing worse than being trapped in a glass case you can't get out of while you slowly wait to get turned into genetic paste. The only thing you can do in there is watch as everyone else gets turned into paste." I shake my head. "Poor Kelly gets traumatized about that."

"I can't say I blame her," he says. "What do the Reapers want their genetic material for, anyway?"

"I really don't know the answer to that," I say. "But from what I understood, it was that the Reapers are combined organic synthetic constructs, you know? It was implied in the game that they had to grind down the genetic material of a race to reproduce."

Sturge cringes. "So you're saying they're raping an entire species?" he asks.

"I wouldn't call it that, but yeah," I mention. "I also think they only target one specific race at each invasion. I think I caught something about how they were choosing targets." I shake my head, leaning forward. "Did you know they were considering the krogan at one point?"

"Really?" he asks. "Why?"

"Something about their strength." I give him a gesture with my hands. "The genophage kind of put a damper on that, though. The drell were also considered, but... they don't have enough numbers thanks to what happened on Rakhana."

"Anyone else?" he asks.

I shrug. "Given what happened with Saren?" I ask. "They were probably looking into the turians too. But then, Shepard came in and stopped Sovereign..." I glance to the side. "To be honest, I think that's why the Reapers are targeting the humans most specifically. And I imagine it'll get worse for our species when we hit the Reaper War full on."

"So that's going to happen for sure?" asks Sturge.

I nod. "It was always going to happen," I mention. "I just don't know what the hell it was going to entail. Though, they would try to exterminate all organic life. Either way, the end result is the same if we fail. Everybody dies, you know?"

"Yeah," says Sturge. "It's weird, thinking about that. You think these guys killed the dinosaurs?"

I frown. "Probably," I say. "But we don't know for sure. If they did, though, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Sixty-five million is a multiple of fifty thousand, I think," replies the old man. "Simple math in this case."

Oh, yeah. I chuckle at this. "Yeah, nothing that ridiculously complex, am I right?" I ask. "But still... the Reapers are really powerful, and there will be a lot of them. What remains to be seen is how we defeat them."

"We'll see soon enough, I guess," says Sturge. "You better get going on eating that. Your food's going to get cold from all this talk about evil machines that are out to kill us all." I laugh at this, rolling my eyes as he continues. "I'll see you in the morning. Try not to get yourself killed when we get to the Omega 4 relay."

I smile at him, taking my food. "I'll try not to," I reassure him.

With this, I turn towards the rest of the mess hall, hoping to sit down and eat stuff before I go to bed.

* * *

When I finish my meal, I briefly think about seeing Samara. I wonder what she would say to all this stuff that's been going down. But... she's probably meditating. I really don't want to disturb that. She's probably thinking about Mirala and her other two daughters again. Don't want to intrude on that. Hm... I wonder who else I can talk to right now...

Thane... Hm... I wouldn't bother disturbing him. I mean...

As I walk by life support, I see the drell step out of the door quickly. There's a certain rushed quality to his footsteps that I've never seen in the drell before. Before I know it, he's hit the call button on the elevator, and he looks at it. As I stand by there, he begins to pace around the elevator doors.

And _that _is when I know he's thinking about his mortality. If I know one thing about Thane, it's that he _never _paces, _especially _not in public. I've also never seen him look this consternated before. And if he sees me here, he isn't making a comment to acknowledge my presence there. Hm... Yep, it's that time in his life where he goes to Shepard saying 'I've never feared death before, but now I do and I don't know what to do about it'. Yep... looks like the love scene is here.

Ah, Shepard. I hope you accept the invitation. That kiss there was actually really beautiful in a lot of ways. Crowning moment of heartwarming, there we go. Thane could also use the moral support. Now that he's spent some time preparing for his death... now that he has something to live for, he is very, very conflicted.

Oh, dear... I hope we can find a cure for Kepral's in the next part of the saga. I imagine that if it happens that way that there will be many, many fangirls squealing in joy. So yeah...

Finally, the elevator door opens. Without so much as a glance at it, he slips into the elevator. He presses the button, and before long the elevator is carrying him up.

Hm... There he goes to the love scene. Hm... I wonder what Shepard must be thinking of Kaidan. I think I can safely say that whatever they had before is now thoroughly in the past. I mean... I've seen the way Shepard is around Thane. There's something in her that wasn't there when she was with Kaidan. But with Thane... there's something different that I never noticed before. I don't know what it is... but... there's something-

"What's up with him?"

I glance behind me to see Kasumi randomly standing there. Oh, boy. I guess she saw that too.

I shrug. "Eh, just Thane being angsty about the fact that he's dying from a deadly lung disease," I mention.

Kasumi's eyes widen for the slightest fraction of a second before she nods. "I see..." she says. "I forgot about that. Looking at him, I'm almost surprised he's dying from... whatever disease he's dying from."

"Kepral's," I correct. Soon after, I shrug soon after. "I know what you mean. There he is, dying of some deadly disease, and it doesn't even look like he's about to drop dead." I look to the Japanese thief. "Especially in the real world. I wouldn't know he was a dying man if I hadn't heard him cough every so often." I shake my head. "So tragic, you know?"

"I'm sure there'll be some way to save his life," says Kasumi. "That way, Shep and Thane can gush over each other all they like..."

I nod. Yeah... Kasumi would know what it's like to lose a lover. Ah, Keiji... If only you hadn't gone and gotten yourself killed. Sad times ensue for Japanese girls who are into kleptomania. But it's also because Thane and Shepard sitting in a tree kissing is too cute an image for me to erase from my mind. Yeah, they're both about as cute as a knife, but it's cool.

"Yeah, I hope so too," I comment. "Who knows? Maybe we'll find a way to cure it later."

"It's certainly a nice idea," she replies. "I just wonder... do they all go up to Shepard's quarters?"

I glance at Kasumi. "What, the other love interests?" I ask. "Yeah. Even Jack does it."

I swear she just raised an eyebrow at me. "Well," she replies. "That's certainly interesting. I never would've thought Jack to be the one to leave the hidey-hole unless she really had to."

I shrug. "There are a lot of things about Jack that would surprise you," I reply, giving a smirk. Like the fact that she does poetry, but I'll let her tell others as she wants to. "But... I guess that's a discussion for another day."

"Could be," says Kasumi. "I was actually going to head up to the armory. I wonder if Jacob had a thing for Japanese girls with a streak of kleptomania."

I snort, looking at her as I cross my arms. "Knowing how cheery you are, I imagine that even if he didn't he'd make an exception for you," I say. "Your cheeriness has that effect on people."

"Good to know I can make people think like that," she says. "I hear Tali might be wrapping some things up in engineering right now. I'm sure she'd like some company just before we jump into the final battle."

I nod. Yeah... She did mention she wanted to see my face before we went through the Omega 4 relay... Hm... Oh, dear, now I'm beginning to wonder what she looks like under that mask. Will she be pretty? Will she be ugly? Will she have lips? Will she not have lips? Will she be sorry we fucked? Will she be glad we fucked? All fuck jo...

...

I have _no _idea how the hell a George Carlin routine worked into a train of thought about Tali.

"Yeah..." I say, shrugging. "I'll let her come to me. It's how it was in the game, you know."

"Of course," she says. "Well, you'll get yours. I need to go see if I can get mine."

I roll my eyes as Kasumi walks past me, pressing the call button of the elevator. Ah, Kasumi... You are so random sometimes. And awesome like that. I wonder if spending time with Jacob doesn't entitle what it would entitle for Thane and Shepard.

Ah, that's speculation for another day.

In the meantime... I wonder who else is running around trying to do some final things before we jump into the fray...

* * *

I step into Miranda's office. Hm... if she's sending something to Oriana, I better make sure about it.

So... I see the Cerberus operative look up from her console, her eyes widening in surprise a little bit. Hm... Looks like she's getting some last reports in before we go in for the fight. Hm... She's a little overworkaholed by this point, I guess. I think I better-

"_Miranda?_"

...

Or... not.

"Art," says the operative. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

I... Oh, dear. I just barged in on a familial conversation, didn't I? Yep... Yes I did. Bloody hell...

"Uh... I can see I barged in at a bad time," I say. "I'll just pretend I never-"

"_Hey, is that one of your coworkers?_" I hear the voice from the console ask. "_He sounds... weird._"

...

"He's a... _very _interesting fellow, actually," says Miranda. "Actually, Art, why don't you stay a little?"

... Uh... Wait, she's asking me to go into a comm chat with someone else? Oh my... This is going to be... really, really odd. And awkward. Okay, Art, focus. I just wonder...

"Who's the chat with?" I ask.

"_Oh, little old me,_" says the person at the comm. "_You know. Oriana?_"

...

Oh. _Oh!_

"That makes more sense," I say, smiling. "Get me introduced to the younger sister, I take it. And then help your little... well, communication along." I shrug. "Eh, why not?"

Yeah. I walk over to the console next to Miranda, watching as the Cerberus agent... Whoah, Miranda never smiles. Ever. That came right out of nowhere. But... I guess being around people like me tends to change that. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to know that she's getting in something like that the night before we all throw ourselves into the line of fire against the Collectors.

Yeah, this fight is gonna be tough. Good thing she's contacting Oriana first.

I lean against the wall, seeing that Oriana is indeed vid chatting with Miranda. The younger sister's eyes light up, and I can see her smile pretty broadly. Hm... She's cute when she's smiling. I'd totally hit that, but given everything that's been going on, that might not be the best idea.

"_So you're Art, huh?_" asks Oriana as she looks in my direction. "_Pleasure to meet you._"

"Hi," I say, giving her a smile of my own. "Oriana, right?"

"_Yep,_" she says. "_Getting all cozy for a vid chat with Miranda. I'll bet you and her get on pretty well._"

"Indeed, Ori," replies Miranda. "But it's only friendship."

I shrug. "Yeah," I comment. "Miranda's not really my type, you know? But hey, she's fine by me. You know how it is."

"_I guess,_" says Oriana. "_She tells me you're the composer that wrote half the music for that cross-species produced movie. Last Days of the Earth, right?_"

I smile at this. "Yeah," I reply. "That I was."

"_Oh, cool!_" says Oriana. "_I was watching it with a friend yesterday. A tad long, but it was really good. I cried at that funeral pyre with the turian guy._"

I nod my head. "Believe it or not, my score for that scene got me the job," I say. "I was up through my entire sleep cycle scoring that scene, and damn was it worth it for everything that followed."

"_Really?_" she asks. "_Interesting. I never knew composers could lose sleep over stuff._"

I shrug. "It was the night before a deadline," I supply. "I kind of had to. Also, I got hit by inspiration at exactly the right time. I had actually scored that scene after what happened with Shepard."

"_I see..._" says Oriana. "_But that part was my favorite scene of the whole movie. I mean, wow, that turian actor was just... wow._"

Hm... Not that much about the music itself. Eh, they're probably not concentrating on that. Film music works on a more subconscious leve than that, I'm afraid. I shrug, looking at her. "Still, you got to see it with a friend, right?"

"_Yeah_," she replies. "_He's pretty grumpy, though. It was a process to get him to agree to sit down with me long enough to watch a movie, and especially one that was as epically long as that one. Guess he can't help it, though; Bailey's always getting on his case about everything._"

I frown. Wait... "Bailey?" I ask. "As in the C-Sec dude?"

"_Yeah, that Bailey,_" says Oriana. "_Miranda mentions that I apparently befriended the son of one of your crew members._"

...

"Wait... You know Kolyat?"

"_Yep. That's the one._"

... Okay... That's weird. Apparently, Oriana is hiding from Miranda's father... by going to the most heavily populated space station in the galaxy. But on top of that... she's somehow run into Kolyat Krios. Oh, and not only did she run into him, but he apparently became her _friend_.

_Improbable situation alert!_

How in the hell...? Never mind. I don't think I wanna know. This is just weird. And weirder. It's so weird I can't put a word to this weirdness...

"Oh my..." I say, rubbing the back of my neck with my left hand. "That is quite the coincidence." Yeah, that'll have to do.

"_I know, right?_" she asks. "_It's so weird!_"

"It's certainly a very odd occurrence," says Miranda, who sits idly as one of her hands comes up to her hair. "I'd be tempted to say fate has an odd sense of humor."

I snort. I don't think Oriana knows just how right that statement is, especially with me. Looks like the shipping gods are also kind to those who do good things back home. I wonder who got in their good graces for this to happen...

Eh, not important.

"Yeah," I say. "But then, impossible things are happening every day, so... you know how it is." I look to Miranda, smiling as I glance back at her sister. "I think I'll leave you two to do stuff. I trust this is fine?"

"Of course," says Miranda. "I figured you would do well to say hello to my sister."

"_It was nice meeting you!_" says Oriana.

"Same here," I say, supplying a small wave. "We'll try and call you if we get out of this mission alive."

"_Got it,_" says Oriana. "_Seeya!_"

And with this, I exit Miranda's office. I see the operative get back into the conversation as soon as I leave the office. Hm... Oriana looks like a really nice girl. I only spoke with her for so long, but... I can see why Miranda likes her so much. She's kinda hipper than Miranda, but still pretty awesome like that.

Meeting the family of crew members is nice. Now, I have to meet Kolyat and Samara's remaining daughters and we'll be all set with knowing the family of the crew.

Hm...

Speaking of the family of the crew...

I wonder what Rael'Zorah is up to right now. Likely chatting with Legion. I just better make sure it's civil, though. The last thing we need is Rael killing a member of the crew before we actually set foot on that damn Collector base.

Eh... I better head to the AI Core and see what's up with them.

* * *

I sidestep a certain older couple drinking a couple shots of Serrice Ice Brandy. Seriously, Sturge and Chakwas sitting in a tree. That's a really bizarre image if I've ever seen one. I'm spending half the time wondering how they got up in the tree in the first place. I mean, seriously, they're old!

So yeah... I better not concentrate on that though.

I got bigger things to worry about. Like... Rael'Zorah. Legion might have to be defending himself. I dunno. I mean, Rael'Zorah doesn't like artificial intelligences, so...

I step into the AI core, and-

Whoah, hold up!

Rael... and Legion... Hm... Yeah, that's what I thought Rael is in there, speaking with Legion. But for some reason... Hm, Rael didn't come in armed. I don't see a pistol or a shotgun, and I don't see anything that might indicate an improvised weapon. So... I guess that he's just there to talk.

I think.

I don't really know for sure. Legion of course doesn't have his weapons here. He stored them at the other end of the AI Core, so... yeah. I walk in, but I don't think either party notices that I've entered. I'm surprised Legion hasn't noticed: he should be aware of where I am, especially as the door's closing behind me. Uh, Legion... I'm right here?

"I just... don't know what to think of this."

...

Hello?

"*********-Serviceman."

Legion's eye turns to me right as soon as the door closes. Rael turns shortly after, and I can read the slight surprise from his limbs.

Ah, that's more like it. It's not like people can actually hide in this room, you know.

"Hi Legion," I say, shrugging as I walk over there. "I thought I'd drop by and say hi before I went to bed for the night. But... it's crazy to see Rael'Zorah in here."

"Art, call me Rael," replies the quarian admiral. "Save the formalities for when we are on the Fleet."

I stop right in front of the geth platform, turning to Rael. "I didn't think you'd be in here, to be honest," I reply. "I mean... I thought you hated AI's."

"I... don't know anymore," says Rael. "I have been very lost in thought about AI's for the past few hours. I figured it would be best to ask an AI about things..."

"This platform has found this to be an enlightening conversation," Legion says, our attention going to the platform almost immediately. "Organics are strange. We do not understand organic emotion."

I smirk. Oh, man... "I guess we'd be hard pressed to figure out the logic of a machine," I mention.

"It may not all be logic," says Rael. "Legion tells me they've kept the homeworld in good condition. But... it doesn't know why the geth are doing it. I..." He looks down, letting out a sigh. "I'm not sure why they would do it either. I thought with the end of the Morning War..."

I nod. "Who knows?" I ask. "Maybe... maybe you can return to the homeworld."

"Maybe," agrees Rael. "Here, I thought it would have to take a war to get the homeworld back. But speaking with Legion..." He lets out a sigh. "Zaal'Koris may be right."

Yeah he may be right. "I think so too," I reply. "He's a pompous ass and was a massive dick to Tali during her trial, but he does have a point. Still..." I shake my head. "I wish it could've been a different admiral that proposed that kind of thinking."

Rael turns to me. "I... don't know if I can ever fully get over my hatred of the geth," he says. "But... I very nearly spelled doom for the quarian people. If I can prevent such a thing from happening again..." He looks to Legion. "This is the closest our people have ever come to returning to the homeworld, and it's the chance that results in the least bloodshed. I may have been wrong about AI's. Whether or not I was, I intend to do what is best for my people... And this may be the answer."

Hey, he's coming around! This... this is actually pretty cool. Rael'Zorah admitting the AI's may be part of the solution, not part of the problem. That is all kinds of unadulterated awesome. So yeah, great times are had for great people.

"I see," I say, looking at Legion. "I wonder, Legion... Have you ever been around organics this much before?"

"Negative," replies the geth platform. "We have learned much about organics from our interactions aboard Normandy. We hope to share this information with the geth, particularly about the Creators. Creator Rael'Zorah has been... very concise about their feelings on the geth."

I shrug as I look to Rael. "Now that my beliefs are being called to question... I have rethought how the Flotilla thinks of them," says the admiral. "As I said earlier, I have had many things to think about as of late."

"I'll bet you have," I say. "It's not every day you're forced to come face to face with situations you never thought you'd see. I think you're handling it pretty well right now."

"I think so too," comments Rael, glancing at me with what looks like an observing look. "I'll assume you are no stranger to that kind of thinking..."

Oh yeah... Wow, now that I think about it... Yeah... I did confront questions like that, didn't I? I know...

"Yeah," I say, shrugging. "I guess I am. What with being thrust nearly two centuries into the future from where I started, I guess I would be pretty lost."

"We would be unable to gauge the reaction of an organic being thrust into *********-Serviceman's position," says Legion. "According to what this platform has seen of organics, we judge you to be fairly resilient."

I shake my head, looking at the platform. "I wish it was that easy," I say. "This has been really hard, trust me. Especially knowing what's going to happen next. I don't know how I've survived all these years. But... I've survived. And here I am." I shrug. "I guess I just make shit up as I go." I chuckle darkly at this. "That's really the only way I can see myself having survived this long in a world where my family doesn't exist and I start out with nobody I can tell the truth to." I shake my head. "But that's off topic. I figured I'd just check on you."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on deactivating this platform now," says Rael.

"We wish to corroborate Creator Rael'Zorah's assertions," adds Legion. "We have been having a civil conversation for a few minutes now."

I noticed, Legion. But... I better leave you to your devices. "Good," I say. "I'm gonna leave. I hope your conversation goes well."

And with this, I turn, exiting the AI Core. Hm... Rael'Zorah is standing in the same room as a geth without trying to kill it or expressing a wish to therein. I think that's a good sign for quarians everywhere. And he's even considering talking to the geth to broker for the homeworld. This day just keeps getting better and better by the second. Well, tonight. Whatever. Not important.

But I think that when we hit the ME3 bit, we might just be able to unite the galaxy. I mean, the animosity between the geth and the quarians is probably the biggest hurdle we'll have to jump over. Now that bridges are being built... it may actually happen in everyone's favor. And if the geth and the quarians can come at a truce... then that means that everybody else might just be able to put aside their differences to fight an enemy greater than all of us.

That makes me a happy panda.

Anyway... I wonder who else is getting stuff done on the ship before getting some sleep...

* * *

I leave the med bay soon after. I look over as I exit briefly, seeing that most of the crew has filtered out by this point. Huh, I still can't believe we managed to save the crew of the Normandy. It's just so weird, seeing it like that. Hm... I wonder...

Well... I imagine Madison is spending her last few hours before we hit the Collectors with Garrus, so no surprises there. Thane seems to still be upstairs with Shepard, so no surprises there either. Samara's probably meditating, so...

Hey... Is that...

Hey, Jenny's sitting down there! She's alone at one of the mess tables, her hands clenched in what looks like a prayer. Hm... I never took Jenny to be the religious kind. Hopefully she's not a crazy. Ash I could stand, because with all her talk about God she was at least not a religious crazy woman. Though... I suppose that since Jenny hasn't said a word about this before now, I imagine she's not a crazy either. Thank Jeebus.

It seems like the political crazies are getting rooted out of the religion in the future. I wonder if the only religious crazies now are a part of the Terra Firma nutjobs... Either way, I'm just glad I don't have to worry about a whole church of insane protesters going around doing stuff.

But still... Jenny seems to be praying. I'll bet she's praying about Gregor's safety.

In that case... I better get out of here before she notices I'm-

"Art."

...

Well, shit.

I end up moving from behind the wall as she turns to look at me, a slight frown settling on her face. "Uh... Hi Jenny," I say. "I thought you never wanted to-"

"Did I say you could talk?" she asks.

...

Uh...

"No?"

"Then don't talk until I ask you a question," she says, frowning. Wow... since when did she turn into a bitch? I mean, I can understand why she's angry about Gregor, but come on, this is kinda pushing it, not letting me defend myself here! I had my reasons, you know!

She then stands up, giving me a glare as she walks up to me. "It's been crazy bein' on this 'ere ship," she begins, looking around. "I got dragged along on an adventure I never thought I'd be on. And at the end of it all... my brother's still waitin' ta get rescued."

"Actually, we don't-"

"Art." Okay, shutting up now! "Anyway, as I was about to say... I'm not happy about you tryin' to hide that from me." She then frowns, crossing her arms. "Tell me: now that we won't have to worry about the crew of this ship, what do you think'll happen?"

I blink... Oh dear. I really don't know the answer to that, but... I'll see what I can do. "Well... I don't know, to be honest," I say. "Best case scenario, we find the colonists and bring them to the Normandy. Worst case, they're already all dead and we can't help them." I glance to the side before continuing. "I'm just hoping we've got some colonists we can save." I see Jenny move to speak.

Oh, no, I'm not finished yet. "And if you're going to ask if I think Gregor is safe: I can tell you honestly that I have no fucking idea if he's even still alive by this point," I continue. "In the game, all the colonists had already been processed. All of them. So no, I don't know if he'll be fine. But since we're heading there now..." I glance to the side. "I guess we'll let higher forces be the judge of that."

"So then what happened to the crew when ya rescued them?" asks Jenny.

Oh, now that's a question with a much easier answer. "Oh, that bit was simple, really," I say. "We just escorted them back to the Normandy. Always."

She nods. "Right," she says. "Now here's what I'm thinkin': You're goin' to stop the Collectors, and ya might find pods with colonists in there." She glares at me. "If ya see Gregor in there, you send 'im right back here, ya hear me?"

Wow... Jenny... Jesus... Uh... "Yeah, I hear you," I say. It's not like he'll be in any shape to join the ground team anyway, but apparently you don't want to hear that.

"Good," she says, turning away. "Now get outa 'ere. I have to pray for Gregor's safety." She glances back at me. "Tali seems happy with you. Ya better treat 'er well."

...

Right... Why does she care about that? I mean, I know she likes quarians a lot. For Christ's sake, Nogond is one of her closest friends. But other than that... I can't really see why she's saying something like this at a time like this. Especially since it's been well established by this point that this has been building up for a while. I swear, someone was really getting off on the tension between Tali and I.

Hm...

Speaking of Tali, she'll probably be up here soon.

I better be ready for that.

So I walk away from the mess hall, passing by Life Support quickly before I work my way back into my own quarters.

* * *

All right, off doing mundane stuff.

Well... it's all quiet here on the Normandy. From here on out, there's no turning back. We head to the relay, kick the Collectors' asses, and hope we can get off that rock alive. Possibly also give the Illusive Man history's most explosive middle finger, but that'll be left up to Shepard. Though, if she does give him the base... that'll be a major WTF moment from my end.

I mean, I know Shepard. She doesn't trust Cerberus at all: the only reason she's here is because TIM is being awfully nice with information about the Collectors and all that. Well, apart from that time I almost died. That time he wasn't so nice. But I'm fairly certain TIM knows where his assets are.

Still, he better not come after Shepard, or we'll be coming after him next.

So I'm sitting in my room, clipping my nails. I've needed to do that for a while, especially for my viola playing. It gets on my nerves when I have to deal with growing nails. It's a shame I don't have a physical one anymore: I'm used to them, damn it! Anyway, I see the last of the nails on the floor. I lay the nail clipper on the desk.

Now that Tali's coming up here, I need to be more careful with my hygiene. Well, more careful than I usually am, anyway.

Oh, dear, I'm nervous. I told Tali how I feel about our relationship, and she told me she'd find ways... And all that is great and all, but... But I feel like even with the precautions, something'll _still_ go wrong. I'll have to be careful about everything I do with her. And... I'm afraid that I might be too careful. No, no, she'll understand. She's fucking Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Of course she'll understand; if she didn't understand me, the universe would end. I think.

I wonder what she looks like under her mask. That's one of the few things I have no freakin' idea about. It's just like... damn it, Bioware! Why'd you have to hide that detail from us gamers? I would've loved to know what her eyes look like before I came here! But no, I have to settle for the shiny things. Well, at least she can kiss. That's a good thing. And I know her face is at least somewhat human.

It better be somewhat human, because it looks that way here too.

My thoughts are interrupted when I hear the door slide open. Huh, she's here. I turn to face her, and I see her in the suit. She's advancing slowly, like she doesn't know what to do.

"So..." she begins as she advances in the room. "I've taken some boosters, as well as some herbal supplements that should bolster my immune system. I thought about bringing music, but... I don't know what you'd find erotic... And... I'm babbling like an idiot."

At this, I stand up, taking my shoes off as I advance to her. "Bullshit," I reply, walking up to her. "Just 'cause you're going on random tangents doesn't mean I'm going to judge you. Especially since that would be hypocritical of me." As I finish my sentence, I'm standing directly in front of her.

"It's just... I've never done this before with anyone," she says. "I... uh... I don't know... What happens when things go wrong...?"

... Yeah. "Well, Tali..." I say, rubbing the back of my head. "It'll be the first time I've ever been this... ah... _intimate_ with anyone." I glance to the side, peering out at the drive core before turning my attention back to her. "If I wanna be honest with myself, I couldn't have asked for anyone else to share my first kiss with." I see her posture get slightly more confident. I... "Well, if you... Uh..." I blush a little bit.

"I feel the same way," says Tali. "I just... I'm nervous..."

I smile. "Then don't be. Come 'ere," I say, holding her waist in my hands.

And with this, we give each other a hug. It's... very different from what we did on the Rayya, though. This hug is more... exploratory. I can feel her hands wondering up my back as I feel my own hands travel down her.

Oh, wait. This... I don't even know what Tali is going to look like under this thing! I told her about that before, but... Damn you, Bioware! Oh, well, I suppose I'll find out what she looks like soon enough.

We part, and then I lead her to the bed. "It's just... I'm nervous," admits Tali as we sit on the bed. "I want this to work. I've taken precautions, but there are still risks. And I haven't even seen my own face so I don't know how you'd think of me, and I'm nervous, and you know that always makes me talk too much because it's a defense mechanism, and it's stupid, but I have to talk so you know how I'm feeling..."

"Hush," I say, bringing my hands up to her face mask. "I love you. No amount of babbling pre-intimacy is going to change that."

"That's... uh... I... I love you too..." she says. "But what if you don't...?"

I shrug. "What's the worst that could happen?" I ask. "I've never seen what you look like under your mask, but... well... We'll see what happens, right?" I nod, bringing one of my hands to her arm. "I think that no matter what happens... we'll still have our feelings. I don't think anything can change how I feel about you."

"Yeah..." says Tali uncertainly.

"Yep," I say. "I... I guess it's time for the moment of truth with your face mask."

Tali nods once, and then she brings her hands up, three fingers guiding me to where the clasps on the face mask are. I feel her fingers guide mine somewhere, and then I hear a hiss as my fingers depress on something. The face mask comes away, and I look at the night table. I gently lay the mask down on the table, and I turn my attention back to her. It's the moment of truth. A quarian under the suit looks...

...astoundingly beautiful. Oh my... I'm... Wow... There's barely any other way to describe it, other than that I must be looking at Aphrodite herself!

Tali's skin is a light lavender color. It seems to glisten in the lighting of the room, and it highlights everything else that's beautiful about her face. I see a few thick strands of black hair come out from the suit, and they fall over her forehead. Inside the hair... are those black feathers I see? Huh, who knew they had some avian features to them as well? Her nose is shaped much like a human's, and she's got a very small chin as well. Her lips... their lips are smaller than a human's, but they're still there, and they still look pretty alluring. But it's her eyes I'm drawn to the most. Two orbs of dark blue against a sea of silver... The light seems to shine off of them beautifully, and the eyes... they are wondrous against her face.

Oh, man, my heart's pounding so fast right now. I'm afraid it could leap out of my chest. It's just...

I bring my hands up to her head, and our breaths mingle for the briefest second as I grip the sides of her face. Okay, compose yourself.

"I... I hope I don't look too wierd," she admits.

"Tali..." I begin. "I... well... you're..." I blink, and I can feel the blood rushing up into my cheeks as I glance to the side sheepishly. I grip her hand softly. Okay, this is getting too much. Just say it already!

I turn back to her, giving her a kind smile.

"It's just that you're the most beautiful thing I've ever laid my eyes on in all my life..."

There. I said it. Kitchiness included, but...

Her breath hitches, her eyes seeming to glitter in happiness. She gives me a smile, and I can see kind of cat-like teeth in her smile. Hm... Looks kinda like a cat lady. Who knew?

I hover over her mouth, our lips barely touching. Shit, I just realized this will be my first kiss. Odd how I had to turn 21 for that to happen, yes?

Oh, well, might as well get on with it.

I bring my lips forward the remaining distance, and they touch Tali's ever so softly. I hold my lips there, and suddenly I feel my eyes close of their own accord. I feel Tali's lips work against mine briefly, and somewhere in the back of my mind I'm smiling. Her lips are soft, and it's almost kind of beautiful really.

It's... it's beautiful. I can't describe this any other way. Shit... I don't know how to describe it. I'm kissing Tali'Zorah vas Normandy... And I'm loving every second of it, too.

Our kiss quickly becomes very passionate. I close my eyes as I feel Tali's arms wrap around me, and we continue to kiss as somehow we shed both my clothes and her enviro-suit. Though, it's a bit of a process to take off her enviro-suit, so I'm not sure how I semi-consciously removed the suit from her body.

I can feel a slight bit of moisture collect around the outside of my mouth as we move around the room, and when I look at her I can see that she's crying. She must be so happy right now... Here we are, doing something she never thought she'd ever get to do, and... I don't blame her for the tears of happiness.

And I'm also really happy about all this. I lean over her eyes, bringing my lips to where her tears are flowing. Jeez, I'm kissing her tears away. Nicholas Sparks himself would die from the kitchiness, but right now, I don't give a crap. It's only me, Tali, our love, and that's honestly the be all and end all for that. When I kiss her tears away, I look into her eyes as a sort of reassurance that, yes, this is actually happening, and yes, I love her with all my heart.

She pulls me suddenly for a kiss after that, but I don't seem to mind as it quickly turns passionate as all hell.

What happens after... I can barely describe it with words. We make love on my bed that night, and I feel her flesh as we become joined. My god, she's so soft. I... I'm not sure what I feel. I just feel the greatest love for Tali ever. She was my first real friend in the ME universe. My first confidante here. The first person I really trusted with who I really am. But then, that went further. She was my first date. She was my first love. I shared my first kiss with her.

And all of these emotions only get stronger as we lay in my bed, making love. And as I bask in the afterglow, we fall asleep in each other's arms.

I've got my girl. Who could ask for anything more?

* * *

I manage to get a little bit of sleep. Well, make that quite a bit of sleep. It's just that time goes so strangely when your dreams aren't dreams so much as they are real stuff. I was back in my apartment playing video games. And while there... I was thinking a lot about Tali. Hell, she even showed up as a subconscious projection in her newly revealed unsuited form. Hm... If I get to see that in my dreams all the time, that's going to be damn awesome.

Seriously, she's beautiful, though I never would've guessed she had feathers in her hair. That was kinda new. It makes her feel a lot more avian that way. Though I was surprised that she had hair at all. I'd think that evolution would've gotten rid of that. Granted, it was mostly short hair, but come on! Well, either way, she's beautiful. Especially those eyes...

I don't know why, but I find myself most attracted to the eyes. It's just... so strange. People can have the most beautiful eyes sometimes and that will make their whole complexion. And Tali's... her eyes are really beautiful.

Oh... Damn the suit indeed for hiding them from me.

I'm still holding Tali as she lays in my bed. My God, her skin is so soft... It's beautiful. I... I really could get used to this. Provided she doesn't get too sick, but then I was never one to give up on someone because they had a problem with immunodeficiency. Fuck, we've all got problems, so...

I feel movement underneath my bare arm, and then Tali moves to face me. "So you're awake..." she says groggily.

Hm. Not having the voice distortion there is also an added plus, I must say. Her accent is even more pronounced now than it ever was, but... somehow, that's actually not entirely a bad thing.

"Yeah," I say. "I tend not to sleep well when my heart is pounding."

An expression of sadness comes across Tali's features as I say this. She looks to me nervously. "We'll live, won't we?" she asks me. "I mean, the game... Remind me how it worked again..."

I shrug. "If you want that," I say. "The end of Mass Effect 2 was a very complex affair. At best, everybody survives, and at worst, Joker is the only one to make it out alive. It all depended on how loyal the crew was to Shepard. So as to how it'll turn out, I can't tell you what'll happen for sure just yet. But I can tell you that when the game came out, the developers warned that if Shepard died at the end of Mass Effect 2 you wouldn't be able to import your save into the next installment. So Shepard and at least two squadmates are supposed to come out alive. That much I can guarantee..."

"And what happens in Mass Effect 3?" she asks.

I blink, looking around nervously. "Mass Effect 3?" I ask. "Uh... That hadn't even been formally announced when I came here. So I have no idea what the hell is supposed to happen after the Collectors. After this, we're on our own, I guess."

The quarian nods at this, her silver eyes casting downwards. "Yeah, you mentioned that..." she says. "That makes me even happier then." She leans against my chest, her cheek resting against it as I look down on her. "If I die, I couldnt have asked for any other place to be than your arms before the mission."

I smile at this and draw Tali in with my own arms. I leave a kiss on her forehead just under the base of her quills and her hairline before drawing away. "Neither could I," I say.

Tali nods. "How do you feel about this?" she asks. "About... us, I mean? Now that you've seen my face and all that. I imagine your feelings have changed a little..."

I smile, drawing myself close. "Well, Miss vas Normandy nar Rayya, I think you're absolutely beautiful," I say. "As for how I feel about the whole love deal..."

I draw a deep breath, my smile turning into a smirk as I begin to sing. "_I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and bright, and I pity any guy who isn't me tonight._" It's a bit sappy, but come on, it's _West Side Story_. How could you go wrong with that?

"Oh, you _bosh'tet_!" she exclaims, slapping me playfully in the chest as she laughs.

"Well, it's true," I say, my smile becoming a little more goofy in nature. "I pity a lot of guys tonight, because most of them aren't falling in love with kind, caring, and beautiful quarian machinists like yourself."

With this, I leave a quick peck on her temple as she shifts to the side and laughs. "You like to shower me in kisses," she notes. "I can see you're sweet."

I shrug at this. "Well, in a bit you're going to be going back into the suit, so I'd like to milk this for all it's worth," I say. "I can tell you it probably won't stop when you re-enter the suit, though."

She nods contentedly at this. "So are you...?"

"Planning to go home?" I finish. I smile and shake my head. "Even if I get the chance, I doubt it. I have everything I could possibly need in both places. It's just that here, I have one extra thing to live for." With this, I run a hand through her black hair as she smiles in joy. "You know, it's funny."

"Why?" asks Tali.

"I would've considered myself insane for falling in love with a video game character," I reply. "I mean, seriously, some people are so insane that they'll have .jpeg images for boyfriends." I can see Tali give a confused frown. I disregard it and continue. "If you had asked me three years ago if I would fall in love with a video game character, I would've said no." My arms tighten around Tali as I bring my face close. "But now? It's the only thing that seems right. Sappy, I know, but that's how it feels to be me."

She smiles shyly at this, and I can see her blush slightly. Our faces get close, and I can feel our breaths mingle briefly as we look deep into each other's eyes.

"You know," she says. "You also look different without the facemask."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "Do I?" I ask.

"Yeah," she says. "Your eyes are nice enough, but without the mask... I can't even describe them. And your face... You're beautiful too, ****** *********."

I smile, and I get close to Tali. I place a gentle kiss on her lips, closing my eyes as I do so. God, I love her so much it's painful. I wish we could just spend eternity like this. But, we both know that's not possible. It's kind of sad, really. But, I love her too much to abandon her.

"My _hesh'alan..._" she says with a certain amount of conviction.

"_Querida..._" I whisper under my breath, my hand tightening around hers as I give her a soft smile.

She looks up at me after this. "You know, you've never told me what that means," she says.

I nod. "I guess you deserve an answer after this," I agree.

"I think I'm entitled to it," she replies. "So... what does it mean?"

Well, the cat's gotta come out of the bag sooner or later, right? "Well, here we go," I say. "_Querida_ comes from Spanish. It's... a bit of a complicated word, actually. It's derived from the verbe _querer_, which means 'to like' something."

"So you're basically calling me 'the one that I like'," replies the quarian.

I turn to her, giving her a quick kiss on the nose. "Exactly," I say. "People use it for anyone they care about. But in this case... I'm glad to be using it with you. Because I love you."

"Oh, you..." And she leans over to give me a kiss directly on the lips.

I'll make sure she lives. No matter what happens, I'll make sure we both live to see the Collector Base get what it has coming to it. And I'll do my best to help unite the galaxy against the Reapers. I want to continue having small talk like this, and I'll be damned if some giant sentient machines are going to get in the way of that.

Besides, you know what they say: what goes around, comes around. And I think the Reapers have had their defeat coming at them for long enough.

* * *

It's some time later when we're getting Tali back into the suit that EDI gives the announcement we'll be approaching the Relay in a few minutes. I glance up, looking at the quarian as she prepares her veil.

Well... we've got almost the whole suit together. Her head's already back in, but there's still the matter of the helmet... which I'm still sterilizing. Seriously, sterilizing glass is not fun. At least it's durable glass, though.

I look back to Tali as I finish sterilizing the facemask. "Well, we get to throw ourselves in front of bullets again," I say. "I guess you have to go down in engineering?"

"Yes," says Tali. "Father, Legion, and Kasumi are all going to be there as well. We have to make sure the jump through the Omega 4 relay doesn't fry the drive core."

"It won't," I say. "Shepard got the multi-core shielding, right?"

"Yes," she replies.

Okay, good. "Then you should be set," I say, walking up to her. I look at her face... "Ah, what the hell?" I then lean in and give her a quick peck on the cheek, handing her mask back to her. "Kiss for good luck. And also because it's going to be the last time I get to do this for a while."

"I... Indeed..." Tali flushes slightly, her skin turning a slightly darker shade of violet as I stand there. Heh, I've seen a quarian blush. I can brag about it to my friends: I've seen a quarian outside of her suit, and damn it are they missing out! Ah, if only we had space travel during the Civil War. That would've been awesome to see.

Finally, she just shakes her head, reattaching the mask to her face. It clicks closed with a hiss, and then... she's barred to the outside world again by that goddamn suit.

"You know, it felt good to be outside of my suit," the quarian admits. "I... I think we should do something similar in the near future. Nothing... quite this physical, though."

I smile at her. "Of course," I say. "I'll be looking forward to it. The sickness you'll likely be getting... not so much."

"We'll work through it," she says.

I nod, my smile never dimming. "That we shall," I say. "Come on. We've got appointments to keep."

And with this, I take her hand, squeezing it lightly. We then both walk out of my quarters to see life starting up around the Normandy again.

Well... this is it. The Omega 4 relay is here. And once we go through it, there's no turning back.

Here's hoping it goes well.


	49. Chapter 47

_A/N: All right__. Ladies and gentlemen, here's the moment I'm sure we've all been waiting for! It's time for the most important mission of the game! The mission that determined a lot! The mission that people could die on! The mission that we all remember!_

_Ladies and gentlemen... it's the Suicide Mission!_

_That's all I will say about that for now. We've got a LOT of ground to cover, so let's get going with that, yes?_

_Ah, before I do, let me drop in a final recommendation. If you like AU fics, then there's another ME AU that recently showed its face here. So... if you like Shepard surviving ME2's prologue, then you should check Adrift in a Sea of Stars by Animus of Masada: www .fanfiction. net/s/7111738/1/Adrift_in_a_Sea_of_Stars It's actually pretty damn good, and manages to make Shepard survive in a totally plausible way. So yeah._

_Anyway, that's all the recommending of other people's awesome stuff that I'll be doing in Part 2._

_Wow, MV2 is almost over... This is gonna be crazy! So let's get to the beginning of the end, shall we?_

_Away, suicide mission!_

* * *

Chapter 47: Strauss: Ein Heldenleben

All right. I walk up to the cockpit, seeing Shepard and Miranda already standing there. Joker's taken a seat, with EDI's avatar right there by the pilot's side. Surprisingly, though, Thane is standing by Shepard, his hands held behind his back. Hm... I certainly wasn't expecting that, but hey, it's welcome. You know? So yeah, we'll see what happens next.

And there it is... Out of the window, I can see the Omega 4 relay, the red center seeming to billow menacingly as we approach. Oh, my... It's the Omega 4 relay... We're finally here. It's the suicide mission all right.

And this time, I'm mentally prepared for it.

"Ah, Art," says Thane. "It is fortuitous that you have arrived."

"Yeah, I wasn't gonna miss out on the fireworks happening up here," I mention, feeling for my weaponry as I take a place close to Miranda. "You got all the upgrades, right?"

"Plating, Shield, and Weapon," says Shepard. "I didn't get the medbay upgrade."

Pff. "Medbay isn't important," I reply. "That was only there if you wanted to remove your scars. If you had been more on the Renegade side, you probably would've needed it, but as we are..." I shrug. "We got all the important ones. That's what matters."

"Right," says Miranda, turning her attention.

"Hey, it's gettin' a little crowded in here," said Joker, waving his arms around as we take various positions. "You mind backing off just a little? Thanks."

"My sensors indicate that you should have enough room to perform your job," says EDI.

"Sure, mom," replies the pilot, shaking his head as we all take our places. "Okay... this is going to be a doozy."

"You don't say," I say, leaning over. We approach the relay, and I can feel the tension rising. Wait, doesn't Joker... Oh, yeah. Hm. Better warn him about that now. "Oh, by the way, Joker: in the game, we almost had a head-on collision with some debris immediately after we got out of the FTL jump."

The pilot blinks, his hands moving over some interfaces. "Really?" he asks.

"Yeah," I comment. "If there's any way you can angle the ship up before we get out of the FTL jump, that would be great."

The pilot thinks about this before nodding. "Yeah, shouldn't be too bad," he said. "You _are _talking to the best pilot that ever lived, after all."

"Don't get too cocky," said Shepard. "We've got a long way to go."

"Reaper IFF activated." EDI's voice rings out, and then we all watch as we get into the approach. Okay...

"_Commander, the drive core just lit up like a Christmas tree_," says Jacob from one of the comms on the ship.

I nod, looking forward. Okay, that sounds about right. It lights up like a Christmas tree, and then we go on and do stuff with that. We don't really say much of anything as we approach the mass relay. Oh, boy...

"Here we go," says Joker as red lightning begins to arc around the Normandy.

Okay... Red lightning... okay... All of a sudden, I feel a really strong pull from the FTL jump, and then we all look out the window as we go into blue shift. Okay... I see Joker's hand rest on one of his little display things, and then I look up. Okay... any second now...

There!

We come right out of the FTL jump, and orange haze immediately fills the horizon. However, before we can move along, I see Joker almost immediately correct upwards a little bit, and the Normandy comes flying right up at a steep incline. Huh... no 'oh, shit' exclamations, I take it. Well, he _was _expecting it on this pass, so... we fly over the debris briefly, and then the Normandy stabilizes.

As soon as it does, we see the debris field all around us. Ships are all broken up here, some of them... wow, they look old as hell.

"Well, the forewarning was nice," says Joker, looking out to the debris field. "Thanks for that."

"You got it," I say.

"Anything else we should watch out for?" asks Miranda. "I imagine they won't let the Normandy get too close."

I shrug. "Don't worry, we'll be fine," I say, looking outside at the debris field. It's all bathed in some kind of strange orange, probably from the black holes that are at the galactic core. The whole thing is just shiny as all hell... And kind of beautiful in its own weird little way. I mean, look at the debris! It's arranged so prettily! And so majestically.

"Look at all these ships," pointed out Joker as we move along. "Some of them look... ancient."

EDI's avatar flares to life. "I have detected an energy signature at the edge of the accretion disc," she says.

"That's where the Collector base is going to be," I say. "I think."

"That works for all of us," states Shepard. "Take us in, Joker."

"Got it, Commander." With this, Joker moves the ship through a nice, relaxed cruise through the debris field. I look around the debris field, taking the sight of it in as we move along. Wow, this place is actually really pretty-looking. Kind of a shame it's housed where there will be a ton of things trying to kill us, and it's also a shame that if we get too close to the black holes, we all die instantly thanks to how gravity works with those things. But... It might not be such a bad thing after all.

We cruise along in silence, watching as Joker pulls us closer to the Collector base. Hm... The oculi should be coming any time now. We've been going at this for a bit, with Miranda, Thane, Shepard, and myself all standing by. There's been nothing happening.

And then, we hear something impact against the ship. The Normandy rocks slightly as EDI's avatar goes to life.

"I have detected hostiles outside of the ship."

Hm... Their timing is a bit off. But whatever. I look around, hearing the oculus lasers do all kinds of nasty things to the Normandy. But Miranda looks up, crossing her arms as her eyes roam over the walls of the Normandy.

"As long as the new plating holds," she says simply.

I nod. Okay, we got the plating under control. So Jack won't bite the dust. Though, now that I think about it... wouldn't one of the crew take the hit now that they've been saved? Hm... That's a good question. But... that doesn't really matter all that much.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," I say. "It's the hangar bay we should watch out for. If I remember correctly, one of those things should cause a hull breach down there pretty soon."

Joker shakes his head. "Quit it with the spoilers!" he says a little more agitated than usual. "You're breaking my concentration!"

I shake my head, smirking as he pulls some evasive maneuvers. Hah, you love the distraction and you know it. I look around, watching Joker as he pulls all these evasive maneuvers. You know, it's never occurred to me just how disorienting flying in space probably is. It's just... you're dealing with things that would logically go against your center of gravity, but then, it's space. The only gravity is inside the ship. I wonder how pilots manage to get around the fact that there is absolutely no surface or anything like that. It's just... Jesus, is this weird, watching Joker do all these things.

It's honestly making me kidna queasy watching it...

But then, we hear some faint sound from beneath us.

"Shepard, I have detected a hull breach in the hangar bay," she says.

I shrug. "See?" I ask. "You should probably go deal with that."

"On it," says Shepard. "Thane, you're with me. EDI, tell Tali, Legion, and Al to get down there soon."

"Of course, Commander," says EDI.

But by the time she replies, Shepard and Thane have already set off to deal with the disturbance. Well... there's someone who knows how to stay on task. I nod, looking back at them before turning back to Miranda. I shrug, looking out the window as Joker pulls all these maneuvers I didn't think were possible on a ship. Jeez... he wasn't kidding about being the best pilot in the Alliance!

I mean, look at this! Back flips, front flips, pas du bourrées, spreadeagles, loops... Wait, half the things I just listed aren't even actual flight maneuvers. But still, Joker is really good at what he does, even as he's maneuvering around all those little things. I can only imagine how hard they're trying to keep up.

Well, I think. They're smaller than us and probably have more room to maneuver. That's something I tend notice with some of the near-misses that Joker does: even with those, he only ever gets them if they crash into a spot of debris. And half the time, I can't even see or even hear them get demolished. But EDI keeps on keeping us updated on all the stuff...

That is, until...

"Damn it, this isn't working," he mutters under his breath. He then moves to the control panel around him, turning on ship-wide comms. "Brace yourselves, people! I need to try to lose these things in the debris field!"

He rears back, looking forward as he finds a suitable spot. "Miranda, Art, you better hang on to something," says the pilot. "This is gonna get rough!"

I instantly grab a hold of Joker's pilot chair, getting his attention. "Except that!" he says loudly.

"Too late," I point out. "Just lose them!"

With this, good ol' Jeff begins maneuvering through.

He moves first with a downward dive through a very narrow hole. I feel vertigo kick in as he does this, following what seems like a very tough tunnel to move through as it twists and turns. I watch in wonder as he moves around...

...and then I'm promptly jolted as I feel something impact against the ship. Well, more like grate against it, but it causes the ship to shake enough that I'm nearly knocked off my feet. Oh, Jesus... That was a piece of debris, wasn't it?

"Jeff, I am detecting a decrease in the ship's shields," mentions EDI. "Our kinetic barriers were not designed to survive impact with debris that size."

The pilot simply frowns, getting out of that tunnel and barely dodging a piece of ship to our right. "Well, then it's a good thing we upgraded," he says. "This is gonna hurt!"

I simply hold Jeff's seat tighter, willing myself to keep my eyes open as he banks sharply to the left, dodging yet another piece of debris and working into another sort of tunnel. Immediately, he has to maneuver it down to dodge what looks like the bridge of one of those really, really ancient ships. I instinctually duck, the ship grating against a piece of debris yet again as Joker maneuvers it through extremely tight spaces.

The pilot then makes a sharp turn to the right, and I can see that we narrowly miss something. "Engine levels critical," says EDI.

"Rerouting non-critical power!"

The pilot shouts this just as he turns to some other holographic projections. While he's doing this, though, I see the ship move of its own accord. Okay, that's EDI commanding the ship now. Jesus Christ.

"Is now a good time to mention that I'm intimidated and slightly awed by this?" I ask.

"No!" shouted Joker.

Right. "Shutting up now!"

I then see him return to the flight controls, and just in time to dodge a stray piece of floating debris. I jerk at how much it catches me off guard, and squeeze my eyes shut as I feel the ship turn slightly to the left. I think it's to the left, anyway. It's hard to tell in a zero G environment.

But anyway... I open my eyes again...

Oh, shit, I wish I hadn't! Oh, God, that's going to be a really tough squeeze. I see a very, very tight hole that Jeff has to maneuver through... I grip the edge of his seat tighter, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for something to register that yes, things have gone down that are really bad for all of us.

I feel the shaking a few seconds after I do this. I grip the chair so hard I swear I might just take it with me if I fall. I feel the shake all around us as I hang on to the chair for dear life, and I can barely hear Joker grunting as he maneuvers it through whatever. Oh, God... Please, don't fail me now, shields! Don't fail me now! The rumbling goes on for a few minutes as I hold on to the chair.

And then, just as suddenly as the shaking on the ship started, it stops. Oh, boy...

"Damage report!"

As Joker says this out loud, I blink, opening my eyes.

"Kinetic barriers stable at thirty percent," says EDI. "No significant damage."

I let go of the chair, letting out a loud sigh of relief as I stand up. Wait... when did I start kneeling? "Phew," I say, wiping my head with a stray hand. "That was intense!"

"Yeah, just for the record, I don't like it when people grip my chair," says Joker. "It doesn't help when I'm trying to dodge stuff."

I shake my head. "Like that ever made a difference," I reply. "You still piloted like a madman. I mean... Jeez, that was some intense shit right there!" I smirk at this as I look out. "Way more extreme than the stuff my dad used to do."

Joker frowns at this, but before he can reply, EDI cuts him off. "Mr. Moreau, I have detected a hostile entering the hangar bay."

The pilot shakes his head. "This one's up to Shepard," he says, looking out as he continues piloting the Normandy away from the oculus chase. "Anyway... your dad used to pilot stuff?"

I nod, smiling. "As a matter of fact, he did," I say. "He used to pilot those small little Cesna planes all the time. I remember there were plenty of times when I was a little boy where I would ride in the front seat with him while he took the Cesna to take care of some small little things elsewhere..." I shrug. "Of course, he didn't have flying laser-shooting robots all over the place, but it was fun seeing all the dials."

Joker nods. "Hey, those were the days where they still had spedometers with the needles that pointed at numbers," he mentions. "Never mind that they never went into space."

I shrug. "I think he'd have been a little afraid of space flight, honestly," I mention. "And especially with all this shit flying at you." I shake my head. "It really does take the best to navigate through debris fields like that, hm?"

"You bet," he replies, giving me a cocky smile. "And that is why I'm here."

"Indeed," says Miranda. "Well... we've seen the plating and the multi-core shielding at play," says Miranda. "What should we expect for the Thanix cannon?"

I purse my lips together, looking out. "I think you'll know what we need it for when you see it," I say. "Trust me, you'll see it before we get to the Collector Base."

I hear footsteps behind us. Miranda and I cast a look back to see Thane and Shepard returning to where they were. The assassin is slightly behind, glancing in Shepard's direction as both of them walked back up to where the pilot's seat was. I nod, looking over to her as she takes her place by Joker's side.

"I guess the oculus was easily dealt with?" I ask.

"In a way," says Shepard. "It was kind of tough to dodge that laser when it kept melting through everything."

I raise my eyebrows before nodding. Yeah, that would make sense. "I see," I mention. "Why is it that the chest-high walls always remain intact in video games?"

"You're asking that at a time like this?" asks Joker. "Especially when we're about to clear the debris field and you've been here for two years now?"

I nod, looking outside as Shepard looks out. "Good point," I say, all of us cramming into Joker's space as best we're able. "Well, guys, there it is."

I point out just as we clear the last piece of oversized debris. Yep... large object, really tall. That's the Collector base, all right. But seeing it here, backlit by the black holes as it just hovers there... It's just... wow, it looks incredibly majestic. For an exaggeratedly oversized pen, anyway. But I digress: I can see all the little details that the graphics card on my laptop couldn't provide, and it's just... holy shit.

I blink, looking at it as Joker brings us closer. "There's our objective," says Miranda. "It's nothing like I was expecting."

Thane moves forward slightly. "There is something strangely disturbing about this sight," he states.

"I'd rather not dwell on it," I say. "You guys have to remember that I know everything that's gonna happen once we get onto that base."

"I assume it's a smooth landing?" asks Shepard.

... Really, Shepard? "If it were that easy, it wouldn't be a suicide mission," I comment.

Joker frowns, his hands moving quickly. "Nothing's ever like that," he mentions. "It looks like they're sending an old friend to greet us."

And indeed, we can see the familiar form of the Collector ship approaching us from the distance. I frown, watching as it maneuvers around. Wow, from this angle... it actually looks kinda like a wimp. Well...

"I guess we know what the Thanix cannon is for," says Miranda.

"Yep," I say, smiling. "This ship isn't gonna know what hit it."

The pilot leans back in his seat, piloting the ship forward as the enemy ship comes to bear. "Revenge is gonna be sweet this time around, I can tell you that," says Joker.

With this, he maneuvers the Normandy slightly to the side of the fighting ship, turning it just as it starts firing its beam at us. The yellow streak passes just behind us, the thing trailing our ship. Wow... that's a nasty-looking beam. Especially in real life. I would not want to be in the path of that thing... But Joker's doing a good job of evading it, so...

I smile as soon as the beam dies out. Joker brings the ship to bear. "All right, guys," said Joker. "Let's give 'em hell! Fire the main gun!"

Joker turns the ship to face the ship dead on. Wow... we're at the place where we can easily get shot down. This... If we miss this, that will be an epic fail for the ages. But... The anticipation builds as I see the ship opposite us firing another charge...

Come on, calibrations! Don't fail us now!

Just as the light intensifies from the Collector ship, I see a wave of blue dart out from just under where we were. It flies straight into the Collector ship, the light of their canon instantly dying as soon as I see the beam tear through to the other side of the Collector craft. I begin to see some secondary explosions from within, and as the Thanix charge burns through, I can get some sense of the damage from the distance we're at.

"Ha ha!" shouts Joker, raising his hands in a cheer. "How do you like that, you sons of bitches?"

I smirk at this, watching as Joker brings the ship closer. The commander leans forward, watching the damage the opposing ship seems to be taking. "One more shot should do it," she says.

"You got it, Shepard!" says Joker, his hands flying over some interfaces.

Hm... "Just be careful," I say. "The explosion will knock the Normandy out of commission until we have to get out of here."

Shepard looks right at me. "You couldn't mention this earlier?"

"At least it's not _after _that explosion!" I shout. "Fire the cannon!"

As soon as I say this, I see the second streak of blue fire out from underneath the ship. It races towards the Collector ship just as we pass by, and the resulting explosion is actually pretty silent. Hm... I guess it's not true what they say about space being really loud the way it is in Star Wars and all those things. I mean, it's actually really quiet outside. Unsettlingly so. And there's no way to tell that things hit.

Well... until we feel the shockwave from the explosion affect the Normandy.

The massive shaking sensation and the fluctuating functionality of the ship's holographic displays kind of make that obvious.

I feel myself get thrown about in the small space, quickly grabbing onto the wall as soon as I had a hold of it. Not long after, Thane grabbed the section of wall just behind me, using his other hand to get a hold of one of my shoulder guards on my armor. I shout in surprise as the ship begins rocking out of control.

"Brace yourselves!" I hear Shepard scream as the ship starts shaking uncontrollably.

I don't need to be told twice as I pull myself as close to the wall as I can, just as a loud boom sounds throughout the ship. Oh, man, that was the ground of the base, wasn't it? I nearly get thrown off my feet from the resulting collision, hearing a really unbearably loud scraping underneath my feet. I feel something slam into my legs before pulling away, gritting my teeth as the sensation lingers slightly. God, I hope that didn't break my legs.

But seriously, the shaking of this ship! It hasn't even stopped! I mean... Holy shit! I can swear my knuckles just turned an indescribably shade of white. Oh my God, we're gonna die! We're all gonna fucking die, man!

No, Art, calm down!

I feel my head hit something against the wall, and the headache flares up. I nearly lose my hold on the ship as it crashes against the Collector base, but damn it, I'm not getting thrown around just yet! I simply hold the wall tighter, my arms burning from the sensation as I hang on with everything I've got. Come on arms, don't fail me now!

I'm still holding on to the section of wall I had miraculously managed to grab a hold of when the ship finally slows down. It's not until it's slowed completely to a stop that I realize I got knocked down slightly so that I was now on my knees. Faintly, I could feel a light stinging sensation in my cheek, and then there was this really sore feeling in my hands.

Because that's when I finally open the eyes I never realized I had closed. I opened them to see something red from my right palm. Pulling them away from the support, I see that there's a rather moderately sized cut through the palm of my hand. Bringing my non-tainted hand to my cheek, I feel some blood letting out there too, though it's nothing major.

Jesus Christ, I cut myself on the support beams and I didn't even fucking _notice_. I look up, seeing everyone else hoist themselves up. I look up, taking a deep breath as I see Joker pull himself into the pilot's chair.

"Oh, God, I think I broke a rib," he says, letting out a soft hiss of pain afterwards. "Maybe all of them."

I shake my head, turning to Shepard as I look to the others. "Damage report!" she shouts.

As I notice Miranda helping Thane up out of the corner of my eye, EDI's avatar miraculously goes up close to where we are.

"Multiple core systems overloaded during the crash," says EDI. "Restoring operations will take time."

Miranda lets out a sigh behind us. "We all knew this was a one-way trip," says Miranda.

I shake my head. "You forget I knew otherwise," I say. "EDI will have the necessary systems back online by the time we need to escape." I look up at the damage, seeing some loose wires that are now busy dispensing sparks everywhere. "And with the crew here, they may be able to help get some of the other systems back online before we have to leave."

"That's a good sign, then," says Shepard. "So... we made it to the base, and we have a chance of getting off it."

"Well, we're off to a good start," mentions Joker. "What's next?"

I cross my arms. "We move on," I say. "The Collectors don't have any form of internal security in their own base, so you guys won't be swarmed here."

"I guess they weren't expecting anyone to get this far." Miranda crosses her arms as we all look at her. "I'm surprised the debris field didn't take care of us first."

"And if we're lucky, we'll have taken out their external sensors as well," says the pilot. "They probably don't know we're alive."

"So what now?" asks Shepard.

I look to the others, crossing my arms. "Now?" I ask. "Now, we plan." I walk past Shepard, grabbing Ash's cloth from where it's tied around my arm and tying it around my hand to stem the bleeding.

"Come on. We've gotta figure out how to infiltrate this base."

* * *

So I see the entire ground team gathered in the comm rooms. Already, I notice a few wires out and sparkling, but... I don't really care about that. The table still works, and the Collector base is projected there.

And we're all here, so that means we all got through all right. Tali came right to my side as soon as she entered the room, a little frazzled but still all right. I can see everyone else scattered around in close proximity to other people. Thane is as close to Shepard as he can conceivably be, Kasumi and Jacob are a little... too close for comfort, Al and Jack are both standing in around the same place, and Garrus and Madison are literally right on top of each other. Hm... This place is really starting to turn into the love boat. It really is.

Either way... I look over as Shepard looks to the hologram. "All right," she says. "This isn't how we planned this mission, but this is where we're at." She continues pacing, looking at all of us. "We can't worry about whether the Normandy can take us home. We came to stop the Collectors, and that means coming up with a plan to take out this station." She then turns to the center of the table. "EDI, bring up your scans. Art, I'll be looking for your advice for this."

I blink violently, looking right at the commander. "Shepard?" I ask.

"You know what's going to happen here," she mentions. "We can make use of that as we plan our assault."

I frown, before shaking my head. "Yeah, you're right," I say. "EDI, scans."

The AI brings up her scans of the base, and the hologram briefly flickers before remaining constant... Yep, there's the Collector base, exactly as I remember it. I cross my arms from my position at the table, Miranda glancing at me as I nod in affirmation.

"You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control room here," says EDI, indicating where the main control room is going to be with a marker.

Jacob brings up his omni-tool soon after. "That means going through the heart of this station," says Jacob. "Right past this massive energy signature." It's highlighted in blue after this.

I nod, looking at it. "That's the central chamber," I mention. "That's where we found the crew of the Normandy in the game."

"But since they're all here, we can expect the colonists to be in there," says Shepard. "Art, do you remember if any of the colonists were still alive?"

I frown. "If I remember correctly, the only colonist shown dies just as we get to her if we show up at this base right away," I mention. "But since none of the crew got taken... I'm holding out hope that we may be able to find her, and a few others."

"We'll keep our eyes open, then," says Jacob as he manipulates his omni-tool further. "It looks like there are two main routes in there. It may be a good idea to split up to keep the Collectors off balance, and regroup in the central chamber."

Miranda shakes her head. "No good, both routes are blocked," says Miranda. "See these doors?" She points at the hologram. "The only way past is to get someone to open them from the other side."

I look to Shepard. "It's not a fortress; there's gotta be something," she says.

I glance up, and then open my omni-tool. Okay... "Ah, yes, there it is," I say. I look up to see the venthilation shaft light up as it gets highlighted by my actions on the omni-tool. "See this? That should be a venthilation shaft that runs adjunct to one of the paths to the central chamber. It'll lead right into the chamber, and we can get whoever goes in there to open the doors from the other side." I look to Jacob. "And no, Jacob, you may _not _volunteer for this task."

He blinks uncertainly. "And why not?" he asks. "It's practically a suicide mission."

I raise my eyebrows, but Miranda is on it before I can bring up the fact that the black dude always dies first. "Maybe, but that is not the point," says Miranda. "You couldn't shut down the security systems in time." She then turns to me. "We need to send a tech expert. Art, who do you recommend?"

Hm... I look over to Tali, then to Legion, then to Kasumi. "Well, Tali's one of the greatest machinists to live, Legion is a geth platform, and Kasumi is one of the best hackers in the galaxy," I mention. "All of them have the tech skills necessary to not die when we get to the central chamber. As of being in the real world, though..." I glance to Tali. "Tali had some experience going through Collector firewalls when we went on that little excursion through the Collector ship that almost got me killed."

"Then I guess that settles it," says Shepard, pushing off the table. "Tali, I'm sending you through that venthilation shaft. You can probably hack thorugh it quickly."

The quarian nods wordlessly. "Yes, Shepard," she says. "I'll do my best."

Shepard nods, holding her hands behind her back. "The rest of us will break into two teams and fight down each passage," she says. "That should draw the Collectors' attention away from what you're doing."

"I'll lead the second fire team, Shepard," says Miranda quickly. "We'll meet up with you on the other side of those doors."

Oh, boy, here we go. "Not so fast, cheerleader," says Jack. "Nobody wants to take orders from you."

"This isn't a popularity contest!" says Miranda, waving a hand. "Lives are at stake here."

Jack glances at me. "Then why not let the ballsy pussy here give us our options?"

...

God damn it, Jack! I was gonna let Shepard sort that out!

I glance as I see some heads shake in the CIC. I let out a sigh, closing my eyes. Well, since she leaves me with no options... "In all fairness to both parties, Miranda _is _a good fire team leader, but she also isn't the only option that will make sure the tech expert gets out alive," I say. I hear Jack scowl as I continue. "Garrus and Jacob also make good fire team leaders. Send any one of those three in, and we should be all right."

Shepard nods then, turning over to everyone's favorite turian. "All right," she says. "Then that settles it. Garrus, you'll lead the second fire team."

"Of course Commander," he says. "I won't let you down."

Miranda nods, not exactly happy with the decision, but I can see she knows it's a good one. "At least he knows what he's doing," she says. "Anything else, Commander?"

Hm... Well, we've come up with the plan... Tali and Garrus to do the first tasks... Yes, this should turn out quite nicely. But since we've come up with the plan...

That means...

It's motivational speech time!

"I don't know what we're going to find in there, but I won't lie to you," she says, beginning to pace around the front of the room. It's not going to be easy. We've lost good people. We may lose more."

Awesome, she's going with the Paragon speech! "We don't know how many they've stolen," she continues. Thousands, hundreds of thousands. It doesn't matter." She then leans forward. "What matters is this: Not. One. More. That's what we can do here, today. It ends with us." She then points right at us. "They want to know what we're made of? I say we show them on our terms."

She claps her hands. "Let's bring our people home."

And with this, we all get the message that it's time to move out.

* * *

At the airlock of the Normandy, I walk out, my assault rifle pretty much at the ready. Shepard's already got her ground team, so as I jump down from the airlock I see her, Thane, Grunt, Al, and Jack follow her footsteps. I blink, seeing them walk off. I only get a single nod of acknowledgement as they walk by, Tali joining us briefly into the venthilation shaft. Because it is on route to our pathway.

I look back to my ground team, and realize just how sizeable it is. Garrus, Madison, Miranda, Jacob, Samara, Zaeed, myself, Mordin, Legion, Kasumi... anyone who isn't with us is with Shepard.

Wow, Garrus has to lead a _lot _of people, I just realized. Actually, no: a lot is a bit of an understatement in this case, I'm afraid.

But... I can't complain about it as we approach the beginning of the venthilation shaft. The group pauses as Tali walks up to it. Okay... we're here, and the venthilations shaft is there.

I walk forward, laying a hand on hers as she slowly enters the passageway in question. She looks up at me, and I give her a soft smile as she does.

"Well... here we go," I say. "I'll see you on the other side of those doors. Good luck, _querida_."

"As to you, my _hesh'alan_," she says, feeling just a little more confident. At least, I'm sure she is.

I nod then, and then she climbs into the venthilation shaft completely. With this, I turn to the rest of the ground team, following them as we all draw our weapons.

"All right," says Garrus, looking around at all of us. "It's showtime!"

* * *

It's Zaeed, Jacob, Samara, and myself all taking point when we begin moving onto the pathway. Garrus takes up the rear, along with Legion, with Kasumi, Miranda, and Madison all in the center somehow. Hm...

Wow, this place is almost exaclty like Shepard's path. Only... more full of those little hexagonal things that fly around the Collector base. But that shouldn't be a problem. So long as they don't move, we can have a straight line that never gets broken.

I draw my assault rifle, looking up as I see the first Collectors come rushing in.

"Well, we didn't have to wait too long for bad guys to show up, am I right?" I ask, leaning against cover as they touch down.

"That we did not," says Samara.

Almost as soon as she says this, the first rounds fly over our heads. I peer out of cover, quickly seeing about ten of these guys. I bring up my assault rifle, firing at one of the first Collectors to show up. Hm... given how quickly it gets shot down, it must have been a drone. It just falls dead, even as I feel some rounds ping against my shields. I duck back into cover, seeing Jacob create a biotic barrier around himself before coming up and firing his shotgun at one of the nearby Collectors.

I glance to the side, seeing Zaeed pull out... Oh God. It's that flamethrower he got from his loyalty mission, isn't it? Oh, man, here comes the carnage. I hope.

As I let my shields recharge, I see the old mercenary come out of cover, aiming the flamethrower at the nearest Collector, which just so happens to be right there. The thing catches on fire and starts flailing around, dropping its gun. As I peek over, I see Samara then come out of cover, glowing blue as she sends the thing flying back. It collides with another Collector that hasn't been touched by any form of firepower yet, and as soon as that one collapses, I see that the one Zaeed lit on fire is... wow, it's lighting the other Collector on fire too.

That... is actually kinda kickass!

I come out of cover to see a sniper round embed itself in another Collector. As another group of five or so Collectors comes forward... Hm... coast looks clear.

"Move forward!" shouts Garrus into our comm systems.

All right! There we go! I vault over cover, pulling my assault rifle up to bear as we move forward. I see another Collector fly in... Hm... I set my poison rounds on this thing, smirking as I do.

Let's see how much these guys like a taste of their own medicine!

I then fire the rifle at one of the Collectors above. I shoot about two or three rounds into it as it flies around before advancing. Sure enough, the thing pauses midflight, staying there briefly before falling down, completely still. Before it can impact against the ground, I see it get surrounded by blue, and I look back to see Miranda fling her arm out. When I look back, I see the thing sailing back towards some more Collectors. It knocks one of them off its ass, and it even sends one of them careening off the edge of one of the platforms and into some kind of abyss. I know I might see that one later, though: these things can fly.

Anyway.

I turn my attention back to the Collectors, even as I work into cover shortly after. Wow... there is a whole swarm of these guys on top of us. And from the looks of the guys behind us, it looks like we've got it covered. I mean, there's Madison making short work of peeps with that submachine gun of hers, as well as Miranda and Kasumi going at it with their pistols. I nod, peering over cover again as a particularly dense wave of Collectors starts bum rushing us.

Or zerg rushing us.

Whatever.

I come up, firing my assault rifle at one, then two, then three Collectors before ducking down and reloading. If they're freezing in place right now, then that's good news for all of us. Gives us some time to regroup. I slam the thermal clip into my rifle, glancing at Samara as she comes out of cover again.

"Wow, these guys are really swarming us, aren't they?" I ask to nobody in particular.

Nobody answers that. Eh, can't fault them for their silence. I see Jacob duck back into cover, his shields flickering out of existence as his barrier fades slightly. I nod, looking right up as a Collector bum-rushes us. Okay... take it down!

I peer out of cover, shooting at some more Collectors. And... yeah, this is getting kinda samey already. But we're getting pounded by Collector file soon enough, so... no loss there. I freeze guys, Zaeed lights guys on fire, Samara and Miranda throw guys around, and everyone else just shoots. Especially Garrus and Legion, what with having sniper rifles and having all the time in the world to aim.

I'm kinda jealous of them, but then again I'm not that great with a sniper rifle, so...

I turn, and we advance ever so slowly. The routine is more or less the same for a few minutes. Get into cover, shoot some dudes, move on, rinse and repeat. I freeze guys with my poison rounds, sometimes sending them over the edge as they freeze up... Zaeed lights them on fire and the rest of us use them as torches...

It all gets more or less the same.

"_There's something blocking the way! Shepard, you're going to have to help me through!_"

...

Oh. Well, there's something different. I guess they're getting close.

And if they're getting close... then so are we.

I nod at this, moving forward as we shoot through more dudes. Hm... Honestly, I'm surprised there hasn't been a Harbinger yet. But I guess they're concentrating that on Shepard. After all, they could only have one dude at a time.

And I think this as I slam another thermal clip into my rifle, turning around and shooting at one of the things that has that beam gun thing. I turn quickly as my shields deplete almost to nothing, breathing in and out a little bit. God, I hate those guys. I really do. Ah, well, if I don't take care of it, someone else will. And I see the others fire around me. I think we'll-

"**_Assuming direct control._**"

...

Well, fuck.

Same old routine just got tossed away.

Okay. We can do this. I raise my assault rifle, seeing a drone or two appear elsewhere as well. I direct my fire at those, but then I feel the particle beam tear into my shields just as one of the drones freezes. They give out just as I get into cover.

It doesn't stop me from feeling a very fleeting burning feeling on my arm, though.

Okay, ow, ow, ow!

Damn it... I look down, seeing the extent of my injury. Hm... Only burned through some of the armor, leaving a tiny burn on my arm. Okay, that's not so bad. It does hurt like a bitch, though. I manipulate my omni-tool, feeling something cool flow over my burn as I let out a sigh of relief. Ah, medigel, how I love thee.

I look back up, seeing the others concentrating most of the fire on the drones. Hm... Garrus probably said something about it when I wasn't paying attention. Either way... I come back up, shooting another drone as it flies in. It pauses mid-flight, and then falls down through the holes in the floor to fall to whatever waits it below. I see the drones are weak in number, so I turn to the Harbinger.

All right. Eat some mass accelerator rounds, motherfucker!

I lean out of cover, shooting most of my rounds at the Harbinger. I frown as he takes this fire, some of the others joining in soon after. Right, eat lead, bitch!

Eventually, though, the thing turns to Jacob and sends that weird biotic attack.

And hence, we get the first major injury of the mission as his shields and barriers fail him. I see the thing punch right at his chest, even as he ducks behind cover. He lets out a pretty loud grunt as this happens, but I have no time to think about it before a sniper shot from Legion finally brings the thing down. And even as he lays down with the slight burning on his chest... Yeah, slight burning. It burns through some of his combat armor. But... it's not that bad, it looks like.

I rush over to the armory officer, helping him up as the others advance past us slowly.

"Jesus Christ... those things sure do know how to pack a punch," I mention.

"No kidding," says Jacob, gesturing to the others. "Come on. The Collectors won't wait for us."

"That they won't."

And with this, we return back to the front of the formation, and from there everything unfolds essentially as it did before Harbinger showed his glowing ass here.

Yeah, without Harbinger there, these guys just drop like flies. I just hope we don't get a guardian or an assassin again for some time, because those things always, always suck. Extra health doesn't help that at all.

Anyway, we move on, and I can hear in the comm chatter that Tali is making excellent progress with Shepard's help. And we are almost certainly nearing the doors to the central chamber. It's been a bit of an elaborate process to get this far, but still... we're making progress. That's as good a sign as any.

Anyhows... Yes... I see a pretty big door over there... And I think Garrus does too, because then he looks right at us. "We're going to get as close to that door as we can!" he says. "Tali, wait for me to give you the signal to open the doors!"

"_Got it, Garrus!_" says the quarian over the comm line.

I frown. We have a bit to travel, so... this is going to be tough. But then I look back to Garrus as he switches weapons. "Everyone, break formation!" he shouts. "Stick to cover and get as close to the doors as you can! We make a break for it when they're open, got it?"

"Got it!" I shout, slamming another thermal clip into my assault rifle. I then come up out of the piece of cover... Okay, that chest high wall over there! I fire a few rounds from my assault rifle, freezing a drone in place before rushing over to the spot I've picked out. Gun fire sails right past my body, some of it impacting with my shields. I manage to dive into cover just before the shield gives out, though, and I see Zaeed following me close behind. On his way, though, he torches a Collector which is then promptly tossed into what looks like a drone by one of the biotics. I nod, seeing him pass as I peek up in time to see someone else biotically throw the drone I had frozen with my assault rifle fire.

As it impacts against a group of Collectors, Miranda rushes right past me, followed by Madison. The Journalist takes the same cover I do, ejecting a clip as she comes to rest to my left. She nods, grabbing something from her waist.

"I've wanted to do this for a while," she says. "Now we just have to wait until the door opens and we'll be good."

I raise my eyebrow. "Madison...?" I ask.

"Long story," she says. She then comes out of cover and fires her submachine gun at some Collectors. "Let's just say Garrus gave it to me as a gift after we took care of Scott Shelby."

Okay... I guess she won't talk about it now. Whatever. We still have Collectors to kill.

I come out of cover, firing my assault rifle at another Collector. A few seconds later it freezes, but by then I've already moved on. Ah, Collectors. How do you like being subjected to your own seeker poison, huh? I bet you don't like it. It leads to your death a lot of times, and it freezes you right up. Not what you wanted, did you? Too bad for you guys, I'm using it on you!

I freeze some more Collectors like this, smirking a little bit like Tony Montana. The biotics take good advantage of this, and I move past my current cover to something a little closer to the door. I then end up perching right next to Garrus, who is shooting what looks like a guardian right now.

I nod, reloading briefly.

Before I can turn, though, I see Garrus open a comm link. "Are you in position, Tali?" he asks.

"_I'm ready whenever you are!_" she says.

"Great! Open the doors, now!"

With this, I look back to see the doors opening very quickly. I then blink, looking right at them.

"Madison, now!"

I turn to the woman in question, who then tosses something over. Wait...

"Is that...?"

"Cover your eyes!"

And just after Garrus shouts this, I do as I'm told, squeezing them shut for extra effect. A loud boom goes off soon after, with a brief flash of light accompanying that. Wow... What was...?

"Everyone, through the doors!"

I instantly open my eyes, looking back to see a whole bunch of very dazed Collectors. Well, the ones that aren't laying motionless on the ground. Either way, the firing of weapons from their end somehow instantly stopped.

Wow... Looks like a souped up flashbang of some sort. Wow, if I knew Madison could wield that kind of heavier power... It's just crazy, is what it is.

But I don't waste any time: along with the rest of the ground team, we rush through the open doors, and I see Tali frantically hacking away. Her omni-tool is still up, and she only takes her concentration off of it for the second it takes to register that we're through the doors. I see Madison climb in last, running in there as the comm link crackles to life.

"_We're at the doors!_" shouts Shepard through the comm link.

Oh, boy, here's the moment of truth.

As I look over to Garrus, he runs over to Tali. "Tali, go, get the other door open!" he says. "We'll cover you! Legion, get this door closed!"

The quarian then runs to the door at the other end, Legion rushing over to the controls that Tali had left open. Hm... I raise my assault rifle, shooting at a final Collector just before the door closes.

I then turn to the other door just in time to see it open. There, Shepard and her small group filter through, firing at the Collectors as they go through the doors. I nod, looking to Garrus as he grabs his assault rifle. Shepard's team gets through the doors just fine, but Tali... Oh dear...

"Something's wrong!" she shouts. "The door is stuck! Come on, let me _in_, you bosh'tet!"

"Legion, go help her!" shouts Garrus. "Everyone else, suppressing fire!"

I take this as my cue to run up to the door and start shooting at more Collectors. I take a position directly next to Al, who has a shotgun drawn as we all start shooting at the Collectors getting close to the door. All compact like this, we all start seeing that they pretty much stop in their tracks.

But from far off, I can see one of the Collectors come riding in...

Holy shit.

Is that...?

Oh no! It's the rocket launcher!

I bring my assault rifle up to bear, hoping to shoot the rocketeer before he can do any damage. Oh, dear... I shoot at him, the first round missing somehow. But I was aiming right at him!

The second round manages to hit, and it's a headshot too. Hm, a headshot at that distance... I'm getting better.

Unfortunately, the rocket's already sailing towards us by the time I manage to get it with that. Oh, shit! I fucked up! Oh, no! No no no no no no-!

The doors then suddenly jolt into motion. A split second before the rocket gets to us, the doors slam closed. I hear the impact soon after, seeing the slight dent it creates in the door soon afterwards.

...

Wow.

"That was a close one," I say, wiping my forehead. I'm instantly surprised by how much sweat I've wiped off.

"I know," says Shepard, putting her hands on her knees as she turns to Tali. "Good job, Tali. I knew you wouldn't let me down."

The quarian nods, glancing at Legion as the geth platform stood up. Its head flaps shifted slightly, and then I nodded. Okay, good, that was a good call on Garrus' behalf to get the geth to assist her.

Well, we got past the tech specialist part, and everyone's still alive. She just needs to get the biotic barrier bit right, and...

Wait a minute.

I just remembered something!

I have to explore this base before we go and blow it up! Better to do it now than later to look for whatever Orange's device will let me find!

And... and I also just realized that this is the perfect opportunity to do that! The group splits up in two again, we don't have to worry too much about the tech specialist... Yes, this can work!

I'll talk to Shepard about it when we see the colonists.

Speaking of which...

I look to Miranda as she turns to us. Her expression is more surprised than it was in the game.

"Commander, you should see this. I think we've found our missing colonists."

* * *

We follow the Cerberus operative into the central chamber, and lo and behold, there are some missing colonists in there!

And not just Lillith, from the looks of things. There are more people here... Hm... I guess things went slower without the acquisition of the crew of the Normandy. I look into the pods, seeing Lilith not only farther down in the line, but three men and two other women also trapped in these pods. Hm... This is what's left of all the colonists, isn't it? Wow... and these guys took how many colonists with them?

Well, they're all unconscious, so...

I shake my head, looking at the new woman that's taken Lillith's place. Hm... She looks kinda like Kelly Chambers... Either way...

"These look like our missing colonists," Shepard mentions, stepping close to one of the pods with a man in it. "What happened to the rest of them?"

I look over, seeing the growth take over Lillith's replacement.

Shit... Here I was hoping I could save her, but... Damn it, she's being ground to paste, even as she wakes up.

"I think we're about to find out," I say, indicating the colonist as she becomes aware of what's going on.

"My God, she's still alive," says the Commander, looking at the woman as she starts banging on the door.

I shake my head, dashing to the pods where one of the others is off, even as her screams get louder. "It's too late to save her!" I shout. "We've gotta get the others out!"

And just as I round the corner, I... Holy shit! She just... dissolves into nothing. Like, literally dissolves. One moment, she's intact, and the next, she just turns into that grey stuff Madison found on the Collector ship. It's just like dust, and then it gets sucked into the bottom of the pod. Shepard, who had been trying to open the pod, shakes her head, turning her attention to the other pods even as I'm beaking open the pod for one of the three men.

"Everyone, get them out of there!" she shouts.

With this, most of the crew bring out their assault rifles. I see Tali grab her shotgun, and then she joins me beating the glass cover for the guy I'm trying to get out. As soon as the glass cracks enough for one of the sides to give me a good foothold, I rush forward, putting my fingers in the hole that's left there. I give a harsh tug, yanking as hard as I can. It pays off with a satisfying whoosh of the pod opening, and then Tali and I manage to catch this male colonist... Hoo, boy, looks like a big one. All muscular and stuff.

Thankfully, as we gently lower him down, he comes to, and he makes his descent a little easier as I see Grunt just tear off the glass entrance of one of the pods. That colonist falls out, only to be caught by Grunt. Hm... slender man with red hair...

I hear the male colonist beneath us sputter and cough a little bit, his chest vibrating as he looks at us with slightly deranged eyes. This brings my attention back to him, even if I hear the sound of the other pods opening. By the time he touches the ground, he's able to support himself on his arms, and he shakes his head in seeming relief as I notice everyone else get the colonists out of there.

Grunt lets the male colonist down with a certain brusqueness that's not really good for their health, and out of the corner of my eye I can see Madison and Garrus helping one of the female colonists out of the thing. I turn my attention away from them to see Miranda helping Lillith out of there, with Samara and Thane both helping down the last remaining male colonist.

Okay... We found some colonists. Good.

I step back, watching as the colonists look up at their saviors. I see confusion on all their faces.

It's the red-headed man that speaks first.

"Who... Who the bloody 'ell...?"

"I'm Commander Shepard," says the Commander, helping Lillith to her feet. "We came here to blow up this place." She then crosses her arms. "Looks like we got here just in time."

"I should damn well say." The guy in front of us shakes his head, getting to his feet with Tali's help. "I just... We lost a lot o' good people here."

"Can't say I disagree," says Lillith. "You said you were Commander Shepard? I thought you were dead..."

A lot of us shrug, looking at the Commander. "She got better," mentions Madison. "And she's not with the Alliance anymore. Sorry."

"Honestly, I'm not gonna ask about what the bird 'o just saved our asses was workin' with," replies the young man as he slowly stands up. "I'm just glad ta be outa there."

"We didn't think anyone would come," says the other female colonist as she comes up to Shepard. "It was... it was horrible..." She sniffles, and the third man that was there comes over and nods sadly.

"She put it better than anyone else, I'm afraid," says Lillith, glancing down at the floor. "We were trapped in those pods for what felt like ages... And all around us, people were dying." She shakes her head. "Sometimes, the only way I knew I wasn't alone was when I heard someone else's cries just as they were turned into that... that stuff..."

"What were they doing?" asks Shepard.

I'd reply, but I don't want the colonists catching on. "I don't know," says the bulky guy I helped out, looking above us. "All I could see was that once someone turned into that grey shit, it went right through those tubes you see there." With this, he points at the things that were connected to the pods. "We don't know why they wanted us there, or what they were doing..."

"But it cannae been good," says the red-headed man. "They're all bein' added to... to somethin', from the looks of it. I dunno what, but they cannae be grindin' 'em all for some'in' good, I tell ya."

"_Shepard, these tubes lead to the center of the Collector base_," EDI chimes in from the comm systems. "_We still do not know what could have happened..._"

Hm... power of suggestion, go! "Maybe... maybe it was genetic material," I say. "I don't know why they'd need that, but..."

"It's a theory," says Miranda. "It looked like that one colonist was being ground down into nothing but its base material."

"Makes me shudder just to think about what would've happened if you got here later than you did..." says Lillith, her voice shaking slightly.

Shepard nods. "Well, we got you out all right," she says. "We're planning on blowing this place sky high."

"Good," says the red-head. Hm... His accent sounds familiar, somehow. Only stronger... Stronger than whose accent? "This 'ere tip cannae stay in this galaxy."

"That it cannot," I agree, looking up.

Miranda nods, crossing her arms. "Shepard, we should follow the tubes," she recommends. "It looks like they lead to the central control of this base."

"I was thinking the same thing," says the Commander. "Maybe we'll see what these tubes are leading up to..."

The ground team then more or less gathers around, the colonists hanging around the edge as Shepard looks past them. She brings her hands up to her ears, activating the comm link.

"Joker, can you get a fix on our position?" she asks.

"_Roger that, Commander_," says the pilot. "_It's like Miranda said: those tubes lead to the main control room right above you. The route's blocked by a security door, but there's another chamber that runs parallel to the one you're in._"

"_I cannot recommend that,_" says EDI soon after. "_Thermal emissions suggest the chamber is overrun with seeker swarms. Mordin's countermeasure cannot protect you against so many at once._"

Shepard frowns, crossing her arms. "Conventional weapons are useless against them," she says. "They'll tear us apart."

"Maybe not," says Samara, stepping forward. "I might be able to generate a biotic field to keep them at bay. I won't be able to protect all of us, but I could get a small team through if we stay close."

I nod, looking at Jack. "Hell, Jack did it when we were on Horizon," I say, gesturing to the biotic. "That's how we managed to keep the seeker swarms from getting on Jenny and Sturge after we had found them."

Shepard nods, moving to speak when the red-headed male leans forward. "Wha...?" he asks. "Jenny... Ya mean she's safe?"

I blink violently, looking at the red-head man. "Jenny?" I ask. "Yeah, she's fine. She's actually on the ship we used to get here. We helped her get out of there, actually."

An expression of elated shock comes to him. Before I know anything, he's latching on to me, giving me one really, really tight hug. Gah, can't breath, man, can't breathe! Just as suddenly as I get this, he pulls away, a smile...

...

Wait...

"You're... You're Gregor, aren't you?" I ask.

"That I am, mate," he says. "Gregor McKansa at your service." He lets out a sigh of relief. "Good, these blighters didn't get 'er. Oh, she's been safe all this time..."

I nod, looking right at him. "Oh, good, you're alive," I say, nodding. "She was getting worried sick about you." Especially when we think about all the other things she said when she found out my secret.

"She joined hoping to find you," adds Shepard.

"She... she joined a mission to get me outa here?" he asks in disbelief. "I cannae... Lord bless 'er." He nods. "Well, I'm 'ere. I'm not lettin' 'er get off without at least ten thank yas from each of us." He then turns to the other colonists. "Am I right, guys?"

"Yeah," says Lillith. Hm... she's rolling her eyes like she's _really _not surprised at this turn of events.

"I guess we'll figure out what to do with the colonists soon." That's Jacob, crossing his arms. "Works out for us anyway. We have the only way off..."

"You don't say," adds Lillith as Gregor gets off of me. "We're going to need to get some way to get back to the ship."

"_Commander, we have enough systems back online to do a pick up, but we need to land back from your position,_" says Joker almost insantly.

Miranda looks over to the Commander. "We can't afford to go back," she says. "Not after the progress we've made."

"But they'll never make it without help," replies Shepard. She then looks right at the colonists. "I'll send someone with you." Her attention then turns to the salarian scientist. "Mordin, I'm sending you back to the Normandy with the colonists. Make sure they get back to the ship safely."

"Of course, Commander." The scientist nods, his hand going to his comm link thing. "Send coordinates of landing zone," says the scientist into the comm systems. "Will escort colonists to Normandy."

Everyone nods, the scientist walking right up to the large colonist, beginning to give them some kind of preliminary medical check-up I assume. We then turn our attention back to our inner circle.

"That still leaves the issue of how we're going to go on," says Miranda. "As we've established, we can create a biotic barrier to get through the seeker swarms. Shepard, who do you want?"

She then looks at the tatooed biotic standing just next to where Al is. "We need people who've done this sort of thing before," she says. "Jack, you're up."

The biotic cracks her knuckles. "Goody," she says. "I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna be weird doing that again, but hey, it'll be cool. Ready whenever you are, Shepard."

"Good," says Shepard. "The rest of you will maintain a diversion." She then looks at Miranda. "Garrus, I want you to lead this operation."

"Got it, Shepard," replies the vigilante.

Hm... Now would be a good time to mention breaking off into the investigative team. "That's all well and good, but we're not going to be in good hands with the Council unless we can get off this rock with some evidence that the Reapers were behind this," I say. "I think now's the best time to go looking for that."

"What, so you want to take a small team to investigate this place?" asks Garrus.

Miranda frowns. "It would be difficult to risk it at this stage of the infiltration," she says. "But at the same time, any information we can get from this base would be extremely helpful if we get back through the relay. Especially when we try to prepare against the Reapers."

So they're open to the idea? Well, already it's going better than I expected. I just expected them to brush it off.

"Miranda's got a point," says Shepard instantly. "Destroying this base is pointless if we can't find information from it first." She then nods in my direction. "All right. Art, you'll go find whatever information you can scrounge up. You can take two people with you."

Okay... That's good, she's going with it. Okay. So now we need to find a way to get past all these Collectors without being seen. Okay, not being seen... That means I'll probably have to take the stealthiest people I can. Also, someone with enough tech savvy to know how to lock stuff. Kasumi fits both categories nicely, even if she hasn't worked with Collector firewalls. So her... and...

Hm... Well, it's all useless if we can't find someone who can help me figure out what to look for. I doubt she knows how to read Prothean, but... maybe with Orange it won't matter so much. Hm...

My hand darts into my vacuum pocket. I wonder what Orange has got to say about this.

Ah, Keeper. A pleasure to hear you again.

Yeah, we don't have that much time. Listen, Orange: if we needed help deciphering Prothean script...?

Why do you need help with that?

I dunno, Orange. It may come in handy sometime soon. I'm off to find whatever information on the Reapers can be found here. Like, maybe you could give someone some help with that? Like, teach me how to read Prothean script or something? Anything?

I cannot manipulate the Fade so well, Keeper. However, if I am being held in a hand that I can make a link with someone, I may be able to relay translations to you or to someone else. I just need to find the proper vision in the field of visions.

Wait, you can watch things unfold in real time from down there?

Of course, Keeper. Remember, the field of visions contain all things, including things that are happening now.

Okay, so it's just a matter of finding a good place to steal information from, finding whatever needs to be found here that the little orange thing can show... Yeah, I think I can figure this out.

Awesome. Orange, find that vision. I need to go find somewhere secluded to get a whole shit ton of information from.

Of course, Keeper. May the overseers be with you.

And with this, I let go, nodding. "All right," I say. "I'll take Madison and Kasumi with me."

"Stealth mission," says Miranda. "I hope you get some leads."

"So do I," I say. "I'll try to regroup with you guys when we're done. If we're not back when you guys reconvene, update me on your status."

The Commander then nods to all of us. "All right, we all have our assignments," she says. "Let's move out!"

With this, we all go our separate ways. I look around, hoping for some kind of pathway that leads elsewhere...

"_Serviceman, I am detecting a side path near the entrance of the nearby chamber_," says EDI into my comm system. "_It should lead to a source of information, and it should be far enough away that you can pass under the seeker swarms without much trouble._"

I raise my eyebrows as I glance behind me, seeing Madison and Kasumi coming up behind me. "Okay," I say. "Just be sure to have a route planned for me to meet back up with the main group once I'm done."

"_Don't worry, EDI's got that covered,_" says Joker.

And the comm line is cut soon after that.

All right... it's time to do some investigating!

* * *

We manage to pass through without being seen. Man, that entrance was weird, but... with Kasumi cloaking our every move, that turned out to be kind of easy. So now, here we are going through some dark passageways and whatnot, hoping to find something about things.

I look to Madison as we move down, our pistols in our hands as we move as quickly as we can. "Are you two doing all right?"

"Well, except for the darkness, this place is kinda cozy," mentions Kasumi. "I could get used to this."

I roll my eyes, smirking. "Honestly, I could too," I mention. "But that's not what we're here for. Hm... I wonder what kind of data I can get here."

Madison looks right at me. "We're not just here for the data, are we?" she asks.

Hm... Well, there's nobody around to catch us, so... "No," I say. I then pull the orange paperweight out of the vacuum pocket where it's been sitting loyally for the past mission or so. "You remember the cube I found on the Collector Ship?"

"Yeah, more or less," replies Madison.

"Cube?" asks Kasumi. "What cube?"

I look back at her. Ah, damn it, that's right, she wouldn't know. "Long story," I say. "Essentially, I found a cube on the Collector ship that I think made my dreams way more lucid than you'd expect them to be... And I was led right to it by this thing I'm holding in my hand." I nod. "I'm thinking that maybe there's something there that I may need to find."

The thief shakes her head. "Oh, boy, now we have magic getting involved, aren't we?" she asks.

I shrug. "In a sense," I say. "It's a very, very long story. I'll have to tell the Brotherhood about it."

"Right..." Yeah, Madison might know if Garrus spilled the beans about when I invaded his dream space. "Anyway, how far are we from the destination EDI mentioned?"

Madison checks her omni-tool quickly. "Not too far away," she says. "In fact... we should be hitting the database just... about... now."

We all look in front of us.

And indeed, there seems to be some kind of computer-type thing in front of us. Hm... Looks like that console the Collector general was in front of in the game. Except smaller. And square instead of being more or less hexagonal. Hm... What is this doing here?

"Well, looks like we found ourselves a spare TARDIS," I comment, walking up to the computer as Kasumi and Madison follow along.

The thief snorts. "Of _course _you would reference that," she says. I turn to her as her gaze shifts. "This place is kinda creepy, actually. What's with all these indentations?"

I look at the walls of the small room we're in. Hm... I bring my hand up, touching the wall as I then see a whole bunch of... Hm... They're indentations all right... but I get the feeling...

Wait. No. These look like they were all formed... artificially... And some of the same patterns show up a couple of times, if slightly less... sloppy than before. Wait... I think...

"They're not indentations," I say. "They're some kind of... of text."

I hold the orange paperweight in front of me, looking around as I see this. Come on, Orange, you can provide a translation of this text any time now!

I apologize, Keeper. I only just entered the vision. There is... there is so much text here. I never would have expected to see this much in one place...

That there is, Orange. What does it all say?

There is much here. I cannot hope to translate it all quickly. But from what I can gather... She pauses, seeming to take a breath. Okay... This... this was a final will and testament...

You mean there was someone who managed to hang on to his free will long enough to write all _this_?

Perhaps. Our strongest-willed Oracle, perhaps... Maybe this was the High Oracle of Mars... This must be his. He was the only one who still wrote in this manner.

Wait, so the best oracle ever was seated a couple light years away from my home? And he still wrote in an approximation of Cuneiform? I'd have figured that your script would have evolved past this point!

The High Oracle of Mars was required to know all of the ancient writings to the point of being able to write in their alphabet. They were never used anywhere else... Never on the Citadel, never on Feros, never even in a large majority of Mars. The art was lost to all but the High Oracle.

Wait... If it's written like this...

"He must have been here," I whisper. "This is his last will and testament...

Then... then does this...? Orange pauses, her thoughts interrupted. I apologize. I... The High Oracle of Mars was able to fight against the indoctrination long enough to write this much... His will was strong... But even he bent eventually... I can almost see her shaking her head. I am not worthy of being the last remaining Oracle, in your world or mine.

Oh for God's sake, Orange. Will you not wallow in self-pity? Please? I think you've done more than enough as the last of your kind. I think...

Perhaps, but it will never be enough. I have a legacy of tears and sadness in my wake. I cannot hope to release this burden...

Maybe you're not the last of your kind. Maybe... Maybe there could be something else. I don't really know. Just hold out hope.

My species has been exterminated... And even then, I cannot hope to translate this. Oracles were only taught the basics of prothean cuneiform. The knowledge of writing it was only taught to the High Oracle. My memory of cuneiform is good, but the handwriting gets progressively messier... The end is almost unintelligible. He must have fought the indoctrination valiantly before he met his fate.

Things'll turn out all right in the end, Orange. Trust me, you'll see.

"Art, your device! It's glowing!"

Madison's voice cuts me out of my inner conversation with Orange. I look down at the device, and... indeed, it seems that it's glowing. I raise my eyebrows at this, frowning slightly.

What is this? There is a Fade Signature here?

I frown. What's this about a Fade Signature?

It is... something I have not told you of yet. My device brings a piece of the Fade to your world. However... if it ever encounters something else that is found in the Fade, they will call to each other, in a sense... Could it be that the High Oracle foresaw this? Maybe... maybe there is some information here he wanted you to have...

You never know. I'm gonna go find it. But why's it so important?

The High Oracle is the only Oracle who saw what would truly happen in the future. He knew the field of visions better than any other Oracle of my day. Maybe... Maybe there is more that he saw than you coming...

Depends on what he wants us to find.

I hold my hand out, walking along the area. "Madison, Kasumi, keep your eyes open for anything that glows," I say.

"What, like this piece of text over here?"

I turn to Madison abruptly. And...

Hey! I see a block of text that is glowing slightly. It's close to the ground, and... Madison's foot is very close to the piece of text in question. Wow... Text near the floor. He really didn't spare any expense in the last piece of cuneiform. I bring the orange paperweight forward slightly, and I can _swear _that the text gets lighter. What...?

"Yeah, like that," I say, walking quickly over. The lights shine ever brighter as I approach, so much so that Madison and Kasumi both have to shield their eyes. I then bring the orange paperweight up to the piece of text, both things shining so brightly it's not even funny. I end up covering my eyes too, but a second or two later the light completely fades.

We open our eyes to see the bit of text that's there...

"Hey, is it me, or is it protruding slightly?" asks Kasumi.

Wait... Holy shit, she's right!

"Yeah, it is!" I say. "Maybe whoever wrote this wanted us to take it with him."

Madison turns to me then. "What does Orange say?"

I look around. "Orange?" asks Kasumi.

"Yeah, you also don't know about that, do you?" I ask. "Yeah... It's a really long story. All you need to know is that Orange resides in here,-" I shake my orange paperweight a little bit, "-and that she's a Prothean." I turn back to Madison. "She says this is all some kind of Prothean cuneiform. She says she can't translate the whole thing because it gets incredibly sloppy as it goes on, but that it looks like a sort of last will and testament. Only one person would have written in cuneiform, and it was an art that I don't think the populace knew."

Madison frowns. "Do you think the Reapers know how to read it?"

...

You know... now that I think about it...

"I... I don't know," I say. But... Hey, she's got a point. "Maybe... Maybe he wrote it in a font that the Reapers wouldn't be able to read. And then he fought as long as he could to get this out..." I look at the piece of text. "And then one part he made retrievable in the hope that we'd have to come here to find it."

The other two nod. "But nobody can read it," points out Kasumi. "Except maybe that Prothean in that orange thing. And you already mentioned she finds it sloppy."

It... it is too sloppy for me to read, unfortunately. Some of the symbols seem to be in the wrong place. I can detect a number in there, but... that is all I can read.

Yeah... Wow, not even Orange can translate it. I mean, it's been in bad shape for so long.

...

Wait.

Bad shape. She can't read it because it's in bad shape. But hand it to someone who _can_ read things in bad shape...

That's it!

"Maybe not," I say. "There is one thing we can think of... Maybe Liara would know something about that."

Both of my companions blink. "Liara?" asks Kasumi. "You mean that asari that was on your ship when you defeated Saren?"

"Yeah, that one," I say, looking down at the protruding piece of text. "Remember, she used to be an archaeologist before we rescued her from the geth on Therum. It may be a stretch to assume this, but maybe she's had some experience with Prothean cuneiform."

"And most of the things she'd look at would be weathered by age and the elements," continues Madison. "Therefore, she always finds things that are at least partially damaged. So maybe she'd be used to translating something of this quality if she's found anything like that."

"Yeah, I can definitely see your point," says Kasumi. "And then have that orange thing you say is there fine-tune the translation."

I nod. "That may be our best bet," I say. "It's a stretch, but we've gotta hold out hope that something else is at play here."

That we must, Keeper. Maybe not all is lost.

"Yeah," I say. "But we have to get that small piece of cuneiform out of there. It'll be no good if we can't bring something physical with us."

"Maybe that's why it's protruding from the wall," says Madison. "Let me try something."

I step back, watching as Madison leans close. She cracks her knuckles briefly, looking at the protrusion in question. Slowly, she brings her fingers around the small protrusion, taking deep breaths to calm herself as she does. Eventually, I see she has a firm grip on the protrusion. She gives her hands an experimental wiggle to see how the thing moves.

When she does, the whole thing breaks off, almost completely in one piece. Wow... I blink in surprise at this, watching as Madison carefully lifts it. She then delicately places it in the palm of her right hand, nodding as it stays intact.

"Okay, we can now carry it with us," says Madison.

I nod, standing up as she stows it away somewhere in that combat dress. "Just remember, it's probably really fragile," I mention. "Now..."

My attention turns back to the console in the center of the room. "We should probably get to the other reason why we're here." I then turn to Kasumi, nodding to her. "Kasumi, work your hacking magic!"

* * *

Kasumi's still hacking away when I hear a beep on my omni-tool. I look right at it... Oh, boy, looks like the Commander reached the rendevouz point before we did.

I answer the call, watching as Kasumi hacks into the Collector's main thing. "_Shepard to Art, do you copy?_"

I nod. "Yeah, I copy," I say. "We're still looking through the thing, trying to find more info. We... don't have enough yet. I guess you're already there?"

"_Yeah, we are, Serviceman_," says Shepard. "_The barrier held._"

"I can hear that," I say. "So everyone's alive at this point."

"_Pretty much,_" Shepard replies. "_Let's hope you can move quickly. They're starting to break through the doors._"

I frown. "Well, that works out for us," I say. "We show up slightly later and get to have a small big damn heroes moment. Either way, it allows them to slightly underestimate our numbers for now." I nod. "We'll get there as soon as we can get there."

"_Got it,_" says Shepard. "_Be careful._"

I nod. "Of course, Shepard."

With this, the comm link is cut, and then I see the Japanese thief give a small shout of joy. "Got it!" she shouts.

We all look at the display on the square-shaped console soon after, our eyes roaming as various Prothean characters come alive. Madison's holding on to Orange at the moment, what with her being one of the people to notice what it said when Sturge was holding it. She looks at it as various pieces of text begin popping around. She looks briefly, nodding as she's no doubt getting something from Orange.

"All right, according to Orange, she says this is the common Prothean language," says the Journalist, giving a tentative touch to make sure she can manipulate what she needs to. "She doesn't recognize some of the characters, though." She nods as some of the text moves, responding to her arm movements.

"It's close enough," says Kasumi. "That was actually pretty easy. You made it sound hard."

I crack a smile at this. "Indeed," I say, looking to Madison. "What've we got?"

Madison frowns, looking at each of the characters. As she looks intently, she starts nodding. "Okay, according to Orange, this is mostly basic information. Base blueprints... ship schematics... a whole bunch of things about their technology..." She frowns, tapping a piece of text. "And something about their operations."

"They'd keep that here?" I ask, shrugging. "You'd think the indoctrination would make sure that they always knew what was going on."

The vigilante doesn't say anything. "I don't really know," says Madison. "I'm sure even these guys need to keep track of this stuff. Besides, if we're going to be processing people from Earth, they probably need somewhere to keep track of how much they need."

"Indeed," I mention. "Anything useful for what we need?"

The journalist nods. "So far, it seems like it," she says. "According to Orange, we're looking at schematics for those pod things... how the things work..." She frowns. "The rest is really complicated, but she says that there is a _lot _here about how to create a Reaper."

I raise my eyebrows. "Is that so?" I ask.

"Apparently," she says. "There isn't really that much room for interpretation when she says half this stuff is talking about mixed synthetic and organic constructs."

Kasumi nods. "Oooh," she says. "So they _are _building a Reaper here."

"Yep," I say, watching as Madison opens her omni-tool. "Remember, it's basically a massive construct of this variety."

"This is certainly nothing like anything the Collectors have shown," says Madison. "And according to Orange, there are even schematics for building a ship similar to Sovereign."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "So they _are _building a Reaper here," I mention. "Are they detailed?"

With her free hand, Madison looked around the Schematics. She nodded, looking at each piece of information that there was. "Yeah," she says. "They even include resource counts for the non-organic pieces." She shrugs. "It could be useful. She says the amount of resources needed to create the non-organic parts should have caused shortages of all the requisite materials in the galaxy."

"So Sovereign would have caused an element zero shortage," mentions Kasumi. "I wonder why the Council didn't think of that..."

I shake my head. "Because they're blind fools who've been given entirely too much to play with, that's why," I say. I rub my chin soon after. "Speaking of that, I wonder what became of our oh so dearly 'beloved' turian councillor."

Madison shakes her head, looking at the information. "It's not important," she says, going back and checking other information there. "Either way, it's evidence." She nods, preparing her omni-tool. "Actually, that whole bit is evidence. It proves they were after the colonies for something more than slaves, we have some colonists who I think will be more than happy to speak on our behalves, it shows that it's possible to reconstruct Sovereign, and it shows that Sovereign wasn't created using geth technology."

"And Orange mentioned it's not pure Prothean text," I mention. "Though... I won't be surprised if they decide from the evidence here that the Collectors built Sovereign."

"Yeah, right," says Kasumi. "They can't be _that _hare-brained."

I shake my head. "You never can tell," I say. "Kasumi, you think you can fight off the firewalls for the download?"

"Please, remember who you're talking to," she says. "Hacking into the server was easy. I don't think they'll know we're here."

I nod, smirking at the thief. "All right then," I say. "Madison, start the download."

But the Journalist is already on it, downloading all the information from the square-shaped console to her omni-tool. We watch as the progress bar starts inching along at a fairly... reasonable rate. I look to Kasumi, watching as her hands fly all over the omni-tool. Wow... she's really going at it with the hacking. This must be more difficult than she's letting on. Still, I'm sure we'll be fine with that.

I look to Madison, standing there for a few seconds longer as as the bar fills. When the thing fills, she nods, looking through her omni-tool to make sure she actually got the data. Yeah... it would be of no use to us if this thing got corrupted somewhere along the line. As soon as she pulls up the schematics for a Reaper on the omni-tool's display, I smile, looking to Kasumi as we all do our thing.

"All right, Orange says everything checks out." The Journalist closes her omni-tool before giving me Orange. "The data didn't get encrypted." She rolls her eyes. "You have to love everything we have here being based on the technology they put for us. Even if it dooms us in the end." She shrugs. "Either way, we got what we need."

"That we do," I say, taking the orange paperweight from Madison and storing it back in the vacuum pocket. "We need to get out of here. The others will probably need our help against the big-ass force of Collectors they've got breathing down their necks right now."

Kasumi closes her omni-tool, looking right at me. "Okay," she says. "Let's get moving."

I nod, opening up my comm link to the ship. "Hey, EDI, it's Art. We got the information we need."

"_We will be expecting this information to be transferred to the Normandy's systems when you return to the ship,_" says the AI.

"Of course," I say. "Do you have a route through to the others? They could use help."

"_Yes,_" says EDI. "_You should return to the fork and take the other direction this time. I advise caution: there are no seeker swarms in the area, but you will appear in the middle of the Collector forces assaulting the team Shepard left to hold the doors._"

"Fortunately, we all have cloaks," says Madison. "As long as those hold, we won't have that much of a problem."

I nod. "We can even take out a few enemies as we advance," I say. "Poor guys won't know what hit 'em." With this, I draw my pistol, looking at my two companions. "Come on, let's get moving."

And with this, the three of us leave the console behind, going back the way we came.

* * *

And right as EDI predicts, when we get out of the passageway, we end up face to face with a whole shit-ton of Collector forces. I mean, Jesus Christ... There are bugs all over the damn place! We can see them all from where we stand in the small little side passage's exit, firing away at everyone down there. Hm... it looks like most of the ground team holed up down there. Of course, that's how it is in canon.

I look down, wondering who I can see. Okay... Hm, looks like Thane and Al aren't there. And neither are Tali and Jack for that matter. Hm... That means Shepard probably took them with her to take down that huge-ass reaper larva they find in the center of the whole base. Hm... Everyone else is busy firing either bullets or biotic attacks at everyone else. I see Garrus, Zaeed, and Legion all hanging in the back with sniper rifles, with everyone else taking either a front line or mid line position in between.

Either way, there's not that much cover, and there are a whole ton of bullets being rained down on everyone there.

I think it's time we shook things up a bit.

I open up a comm link... Hm... I'll open it to Garrus. "Garrus, it's Art," I say. "We got the information we need, and I can see you guys from where we are!"

"_Great!_" responds the turian. "_We've been stuck here for a while!_"

"No kiddin', huh?" I ask, shrugging. "We have a clear view of you, but I think they'll shoot at us as soon as we do stuff. We have our cloaks activated, but I imagine you guys are taking quite a beating!"

Garrus is silent for a brief period, no doubt contemplating our next move. "_Yeah, we could do with things being shaken up a bit,_" says the turian. "_Do you think you can confuse the Collectors a little bit, give us a small breather?_"

"Yeah, we can do that," I say. "We'll need a heck of a lot of help, though."

"_Don't worry, we'll have that covered,_" replies the vigilante as he looks around. "_Just start confusing the hell out of them. We'll try to create as much chaos as we can. If we clear enough, you three may be able to get behind cover quickly._"

"Right," I say. "We'll be there soon, Garrus. I'll be confusing the hell out of them in three... two... one..."

I cut the comm link, nodding to Madison and Kasumi. "All right," says the thief. "We get to cause some real mayhem!"

"Oh yeah," I say, giving an evil grin. "Cloaks engage, and we move!"

I pull out my shotgun, making sure that it's set to the poison rounds. My cloak goes up, and I glance back to see Madison and Kasumi disappear from sight.

All right! Let's do this!

I come out of the passageway almost immediately, raising my shotgun. All right, time to give the Collectors hell! I see an assassin right next to where I am. I rush forward, bringing my leg out in a kick that sends the assassin tumbling and causes it to drop its weapon. For extra measure, I shoot it with my shotgun. Even if it doesn't kill him, it's gonna freeze him soon enough, so...

I kneel down soon after, grabbing his dropped weapon and tossing it at a Collector. It manages to hit it square in the head, and quickly enough I bolt from where I just was. I can see it dazes the Collector, but it provides the perfect distraction for a headshot to whizz by. Hm... must be from Legion.

I turn quickly, seeing some of the Collectors looking back in confusion at some of what's been going on. But one of them seems to get punched by the air. Ah, there's Kasumi doing that move she uses all the time whenever she's cloaked. It sends the Collector back, but I don't give it much time before I deliver a shotgun blast to the back of its head.

I then turn around, looking behind me. All right! Grunt! I shoot it in the face with the shotgun, too, but anybody that might have come to attack me is suddenly sent to the ground from some submachine gun fire from what appears to be Madison.

Wow... I don't care that I don't have any shields on right now, but... damn it, this is just too much fun! I whirl around just as a Collector flies right past me from a biotic attack. I shoot it, watching as it flies by and slams into a Collector.

And now... it looks like the Collectors are breaking ranks. Hm... There should also be some...

Husks! There we are!

I watch as some husks come rushing towards us. But by the time they do, the entire Collector front has dissolved into chaos, with Madison, Kasumi, and I all wreaking havok without them knowing where we are. But... it does work both ways for us, because the other guys don't really know where we are. Hell, I had a couple close calls with friendly fire nearly putting me out of commission. In fact, I swear that I almost lost my cloak because one of what I guess is Zaeed's shots barely grazed my arm. Also, that stung like hell, and it cost me a chance at getting someone.

Thankfully, Miranda had hit the Collector in question with a ridiculously well-timed warp. Seriously, it couldn't have been timed any better if I had tried to coordinate it. I smirk at this, plugging the Collector with yet another freeze blast. I then quickly turn around, shooting a husk and quickly migrating to another area of the battlefield as I shot at an incoming scion. Okay, we haven't had any Harbinger or Praetorians yet. That's a good sign. Let's just hope our luck holds...

I quickly turn as soon as I move to a new spot when I hear my armor beeping briefly. Oh my... That means... It's almost out of power, isn't it? I glance behind me... Okay. They've cleared out almost all the relevant Collectors from behind me. And their attention is focused back on the ground team. And the closer people are making short work of them...

Okay.

I rush into one of the chest-high walls, right as my cloak fizzles out and I materialize back into existence. I take a few breaths, only then realizing just how much I moved. Man... I moved a lot...

Right, no time to worry about that. Shotgun's gonna be useless now, so I might as well make use of that assault rifle!

I put away my shotgun, bringing out my assault rifle and making sure the poison rounds setting for that is on. All right. I still don't see any sign of Kasumi or Madison, so... Shoot carefully. And hope they're paying attention.

Seriously, it's a miracle we haven't been hit by friendly fire yet. I guess it's just because... Hey, did they concentrate mostly on the front line? Hm... I guess that would work. Also, maybe Legion had something in mind. Either way, I find it difficult to believe we went this far into the plan without a serious problem going down. Honestly, I have no idea how we did it. None.

But, that's not important.

I raise my assault rifle, brininging it to bear on a husk just above us. I fire at it, watching as my third round scores a perfect headshot. It then bumps into the air, and I hear someone falling over before Madison materializes in front of me.

Oh no! I'm not letting you die on me, lady!

I raise my assault rifle, shooting at a Collector that was taking aim. Okay, that should be enough. I rush over, covering her as I shoot at the oncoming insect dudes. I then feel her grab my arm, and she yanks both of us behind a piece of cover. I nod, looking to her to see a winded expression on her face.

"Sorry about the husk," I say.

I don't give her time to reply before I turn and let loose some rounds at a Collector that's flying in just now. It freezes mid-flight and starts falling when it's sent biotically flying away. I see it crash into a whole bunch of other Collectors, sending them all falling to the ground. That buys us a few more seconds as I come up and fire my assault rifle.

Just as another person shoots at a Collector that just shows up flying, I turn to see one of the Collectors get punched by invisible stuff. It flies over, but... Oh, God! It flashes as soon as it falls, and then rises in the air.

"_**Assuming direct control.**_"

Oh, I've had just about _enough _of this!

"I don't fuckin' think so, Harbinger, you son of a bitch!"

I raise my assault rifle right at the thing, frowning in hatred. He simply turns to look at me, his arms raised in that weird biotic attack thingie he dies.

"Die, motherfucker!"

And with this, I unleash my full fury into the son of a bitch. I stand up out of cover, which would probably be suicidal if not for the fact that this wave is mostly husks that are taken down really easily by everyone else. I stand up, levelling a whole clip of assault rifle rounds into the thing. It doesn't seem to be doing all that much, but...

I feel myself get hit by the Harbinger's biotic attack soon after I start this, though. I stumble back, falling to the ground and wincing slightly when I make impact. I glance above me, seeing that... Ow, okay, that kinda hurt. If I don't end up with a nasty bruise after that, I'm going to be very surprised. I look up then, seeing him looking at me.

"That's the best you can do?" I taunt, ejecting a thermal clip and slamming another one in there. "That was pathetic! Die!"

And with this, I raise my assault rifle again just as he floats in the air. I empty the clip into the Harbinger, and this time... _this _time, it actually dies pretty quickly.

Huh. That was something of an anticlimax. Still, I don't waste any time, ducking back into cover just as I see Madison kick a husk away just as it's climbing above the edge of the pathway we're on. I smirk at this. Yeah, husks don't mind me. I just killed a Harbinger, bitch!

I smirk, ejecting a thermal clip and reloading quickly as I get to my feet. I nod as soon as I finish reloading, popping out of cover and freezing two more Collectors just as something punches the second one away. Right, that one will not be returning.

Yeah... This chaos is going exceedingly well for everyone. I wonder how everyone else is doing right now... I look back to see the other guys make a quick advance from where they were...

Wait... Weren't they...?

Unless... Unless Shepard already got there?

Well... it did take us a while to get to here, and from there we didn't exactly know. Jeez, this place is exactly like a beehive. There were turns everywhere, and more than once we had to backtrack because we turned at the wrong place. So... I guess it's not such a bad thing to assume that we're advancing now.

And indeed, Grunt comes thundering past me, bellowing loudly. He then proceeds to ram straight into a group of about four husks, sending them flying away like they're freaking bowling pins. He laughs soon after as he fires his krogan shotgun at a Collector at point blank range. Wow... almost as disgusting as what Wrex did to Fist when I first met him...

But hey, I can't help it, for then the rest of the group comes running in quickly.

Miranda turns to me with a nod. Hm... now might be a good time to get going. I fall into formation, Madison doing the same thing as Kasumi materializes into existence close by.

"Did you find anything?" she asks.

"More than I think we should've expected," I say. "Shepard's blowing the place in ten minutes?"

"She just gave us the order to get back to the ship," she replies. "This mission is almost over... and it won't have been a suicide mission like we all thought it would be."

I nod, running out of cover as we shoot at the Collectors. "We're not there yet," I mention. "But we will be soon. For now... we've gotta fight through this and get back to the Normandy!"

I let out a shout, letting a few rounds tear into a Collector just as we all start advancing quickly.

It's really fast to move out from there. Like, it's seriously kind of ridiculous! We see Collectors, husks, scions, guardians, assassins, drones... I guess this is the final thing they decide to throw at us in the vain attempt to stop us?

Well... it ain't workin' out too well for the Reapers. With Grunt at the front, he's basically tearing through husks by ramming into them, and if it's not a husk it usually stays stunned for a pretty long while. Sometimes he has to hang back while someone administers medigel (seriously, I know the krogan people have regenerating health and all, but the damage Grunt's taking is pushing it, even for a krogan), but when he's fixed up like that, he goes rushing back in, lacerations and all.

Seriously, he's got a ton of stamina, that one. I take it he's only starting to tire out now, after an entire mission of running around ramming into things.

I watch as he bowls over things. But what he misses with either bodily ramming or shooting with his shotgun, the rest of us get with our weapons. Garrus, Legion, and Zaeed have all switched to their assault rifles by now, but we're still holding more or less the same forward-middle-back formation with me in the front, others in the back, and so on. My assault rifle ran out of clips, so I turn to my trusty pistol in times like this. And it kills things just as reliably.

And for the rest of us? It's shooting at everything that's coming at us. I think Miranda, Samara, and Jacob are holding off on the biotics. They're probably exhausted by this point, though Samara looks like she's still in more than capable hands at this point, because she's still flinging them biotics around every which way. It's actually kind of awe-inspiring to see in a very, very strange way...

So we move on, seeing some Collectors just stop moving after Grunt rams into it.

Jeez, wouldn't it be funny if a Harbinger showed up and we all basically curb-stomped it?

"_**Assuming direct con-**_" is all I hear this time, as the Harbinger is suddenly interrupted by the sound of something being bowled over by a baby krogan.

Well, speak of the devil, they did get a Harbinger in here from when Miranda tried to shoot a Collector that was ahead of Grunt.

That didn't work out too well for the Harbinger'd Collector, though. For one thing, Grunt rammed straight through him, sending him flying up in the air mid-float. That gives the rest of us an opportunity to aim our weapons up, firing away at the posessed Collector. Within seconds, it literally disintegrates from the amount of bullets that flew into it.

...

Did we seriously just curb-stomp a Harbinger'd Collector like this?

Huh. I guess we did.

We really are that awesome.

Or... well, now that husks are alarmingly close, it's not that great, is it? I turn my attention back directly in front of me, punching a husk in the face. I end up stumbling over myself briefly in my shock at how the thing's head just seems to blow up from a simple punch. I nearly lose my grip on my pistol soon after, but I hang on to it with quickly bringing my hand around. I bring it back up just in time to shoot at another husk that's gotten a bit too close to Kasumi for our tastes.

But... we just keep soldering on after the curb-stomped Harbinger.

We've been running for about three minutes when we hit... Whoah, is that a cliff face kind of thing?

I nearly halt in my tracks, but Jacob's arm on mine keeps me going for a few seconds as the Normandy suddenly flies up from the edge. I blink... Okay... We've got Madison, Miranda, Garrus, Jacob, Samara, Zaeed, Legion, Kasumi, Grunt, and myself all here. Okay... Mordin's in the ship, and everyone else is with the Commander.

That means that so far, this mission is really successful! Well, once we get in the ship anyway.

The hangar bay opens suddenly, Joker getting as close as he dares. "_You're all going to have to jump!_" shouts Joker through the comm line. "_I can't get any closer!_"

We all turn behind us, seeing some more Collectors gunning for us. Hm... "We're gonna have to jump!" I shout, holstering my pistol. "Everyone, make a break for it!"

Most everyone hears what we're saying, and we all drop our firing routine and pretty much bum rush the edge of the cliff. Wow... it's gettin' kinda hot there.

I can barely see Mordin peeking out of some cover provided by a strategically positioned crate, but even so, it doesn't stop me from noticing that the gap between the hangar bay door and where we are now is... not that large, to be honest. But it is the distance of a typical long jump pit... Oh, dear, this is going to be a doozy...

I notice almost immediately that Grunt is the first person to jump onto the Normandy, followed close behind by Samara and Jacob. They pretty much turn around instantly and start laying siege to the Collectors that are behind us.

And no sooner do I see this then I realize that it's my turn to jump. Oh, my... Here we go.

I rush up to the ledge, jumping off and sailing in the air as quickly as I can. Time seems to slow down as I look at the cargo bay doors. Okay... That's... kinda stupid of me to say. But with the fact that I'm jumping over a massive fall in full armor... At least I won't be hanging off the edge for however long I'd be doing that. I hear the sound of rounds pinging off of my shields, and I feel the exact moment they die on me.

A bullet barely grazes my torso, and as soon as I feel this, I feel myself land in the Normandy's cargo bay.

I'm so relieved I forget I'm supposed to land with my feet, and then end up falling almost face-first. I look to the side, the world still seeming to go slowly as I see Miranda jump next.

I'm hefted up by a metallic arm, and I turn to see Legion pulling me in. I get myself to my feet, watching as whoever else needs to get onto the Normandy jumps on. Soon after, I see... Garrus is the last one to get on? I see him get on, and then the hangar bay doors close very slowly afterwards. I see the ground get further and further away from where we jumped off, but frankly, I can't be brought enough to care.

We're on the Normandy. All of us.

Which means that so far, this mission has been a smashing success.

I turn to everyone else, a light smile on my face as I see Garrus and Madison embrace. I look over to Mordin, who's instantly got an application of medigel for when the rounds graced my arm and torso. I look to the salarian doctor, nodding as the other people get around the place.

"Are the colonists all right?" I ask.

"Should be," replies Mordin. "Sent them to Dr. Chakwas. Informed Jenny of her brother's presence on Normandy soon after."

I raise my eyebrows at this as Legion lets go. "Good," I say. "I wonder how hard she's jumping up and down in joy at the fact that her brother is still alive. Either way... I think we'll be all right." I turn to Miranda just as she offers me a smile. "Shepard should be tagging along soon."

"I hope you're right," she says. "And with it, this base will be gone forever..."

Hm... "We'll have to see," I say, looking back right as the hangar doors close. Hey, those doors took a while to close. Maybe they sustained really bad damage? "The Illusive Man presents the other option to Shepard just before she puts the charge in."

The Cerberus operative frowns. "He... he had an alternate motive for coming here?" she asks.

I shrug. "Unfortunately," I say. "He wanted to spare the base as well." I shrug. "Honestly, his reasoning isn't that bad. There's a whole crap-ton of technology here." I shake my head at this. "Unfortunately, we lost a _lot _of lives to that tech. Whatever we find won't be worth it."

"I think we can agree on that," states Miranda. "I don't think Shepard will do it, though. She has had far too many disagreements with Cerberus to do as the Illusive Man bids now. And if he asks me to do something about it..." She offers a small smile in my direction. "He can consider this base my resignation."

I smirk, cocking my eyebrows as we all move further into the cargo bay. "Indeed," I say. "Come on. We should probably get ourselves over to the cockpit. We'll have quite the fireworks display either way."

* * *

Miranda and I eventually get up to the cockpit, watching as Joker maneuvers us to Shepard's pick-up spot. It's been a few minutes now, and the base is getting close to blowing. I think the XO is a little concerned for the Commander, but she'll be fine. She should be here before the countdown ends.

Right?

Joker's been speaking into the Commander's comm unit for a minute or so now... we only have about a minute or so until the base goes kablooey. But she'll be fine. I look over to the pilot as he keeps repeatedly speaking into the comm thing. Come on, Shepard!

"Come on, Commander, don't leave me hanging!"

Hm, that's the line that triggers that.

I blink suddenly when Shepard's voice sounds over the link. "_I'm here, Joker_," she says. "_Did the ground team make it?_"

"Yeah, everyone's on board," says Joker. "We're just waiting for you."

"_Got it,_" says Shepard. "_I'll be there soon!_"

I nod as Joker closes the link. He turns to me, standing up. "Watch the cockpit while I'm gone," he says.

I raise my eyebrow, watching as he walks past me. "You off to kick some ass?"

"Sure, why not?" asks the pilot, smirking.

I simply shake my head, chuckling quietly as I look in front of me. EDI has the countdown displayed in front of us, and it reads at one minute right about then. I look to Miranda, nodding to her as she looks to me for reassurance. "Do you think she'll make it?" she asks.

I nod. "Trust me, she will," I reassure the operative. "And if she doesn't, I'll kick her ass for you. Trust me, I can make it happen."

And now... the all too brief wait... I watch the countdown go down... 45 seconds... 40 seconds... I don't know why, but my heart is pounding really quickly. I know he won't be in the cockpit until about ten seconds before the base blows up, but... what if things go wrong? What if Shepard still dies despite having done everything right? Or what...? Oh, bloody hell, I don't really know anymore!

All I know is that my heart is beating really ridiculously fast as my eyes watch the countdown go to 30 seconds now.

Come on Shepard, we've done everything else right so far! Don't die on us now! I bite my lower lip in my anxiety...

20 seconds.

I glance at the location of the airlock... It's only right there... I just hope they get through...

It's then I hear what I think is something of a muffled thump of something landing against some part of the airlock. That... that must be Shepard. Come on, girl, don't leave us hanging there!"

15 seconds.

I hear a whirr soon after this, and then my attention turns back to the window with the view of the cockpit directly in front of us. I see the Normandy pulling away from where we just were, my eyes widening. Okay... that means one of a few things... that either Shepard got in just in time, or... that _other _possibility.

"Explosion in ten... nine... ei-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get the jist of it EDI, just hold on!"

I look to Joker as he quickly resumes his seat in the pilot's chair, his fingers rapidly flying over the controls.

I then look back... and sure enough, there's Commander Shepard, her armor caked in Collector blood and nursing what looks like a pretty nasty arm wound. Behind her I see Tali, Thane, Al, and Jack all standing there, all of them looking more or less beat up after everything that went down. But they all have irregular smiles.

And that's when it hits me...

We've just got the No One Left Behind achievement!

But I watch the Commander as she comes up, looking out the window. Oh, dear...

"Shepard, please tell me you decided to blow up the base."

Shepard looks at me, giving me a smirk as she nurses her arm injury. "You better believe I did," she says. "No way I'm giving that base to him!"

I nod, looking right outside. Okay, that's excellent. I can swear I feel the explosion behind me when I see ourselves facing the debris field. I glance at it one last time before we move on out of there. I can see orange light radiating out from behind us, and that's when I know that Shepard's officially blown off the Illusive Man.

That's all the warning I get before Joker speeds us right into an FTL jump that gets us out of there. It gives me a few seconds to process what I was just a part of though. And apparently, it's that I was just a part of a suicide mission that didn't have to worry about the crew, saved five colonists, got the escort, tech specialist, biotic, and fire team leaders right, had the ground team hold the line successfully... and that's all I've got, really.

In other news... perfect suicide mission. And as far as real life goes, it went better than that.

But this doesn't really fully hit me until we exit the FTL jump.

And when it does...

All hell basically breaks loose.

Joker lets out a loud shout, clapping his hands in a motion I'm sure broke at least one of his bones. Miranda lets out a sigh of relief, and as I notice Thane placing an encouraging hand on Shepard's shoulder, I hear Jack shout 'fuck yeah' from behind me. I hear some cheers from the crew in their stations behind us, and I suddenly feel a three-fingered hand placing itself on my shoulder. I turn, and see Tali there, looking as good as ever.

I don't know what overcomes me at that particular moment, but I then find myself pulling Tali into a really tight hug, jumping up and down in the air and letting out a bunch of audible yells of joy at all this.

I mean... we just dropped a bombshell on people! They called it a suicide mission!

I think we more than proved them wrong.


	50. Epilogue

_A/N: All right__. Wow... Mass Vexations 2 is almost over. I can't believe it either._

_Well, I don't really have that much to say up here. I'll have quite a bit to say down below, though, so stay tuned for the A/N down there._

_Anyway... wow, MV2 is almost done. And then it's MV3 after that... This is gonna be crazy._

_Well, I'll give you the epilogue for now._

* * *

Epilogue: The Journey Continues

I pull on my green dressy shirt within my quarters. God... I felt so grimy earlier... I really underestimated how filthy the base would be in person. It was just... I had to clean so much stuff off my body in the shower earlier. And that's not mentioning all the stuff that had to be done for the places where bullets graze by me. It's been really weird seeing the injuries of everyone in the ship... We've run the full gamut of injuries. Some, like Tali and Thane, got out with barely a scratch. Others... didn't do so well. I didn't notice it back when, but Garrus had taken a rather nasty wound to his leg. I should've noticed it earlier, but he was limping when Madison helped him to Chakwas' office. And let's not even go into how banged up Grunt got. I'm honestly surprised he's still alive by this point.

Still, celebrations are in order. I mean, for god's sake, we got No One Left Behind! And we even got more people than we started with! I haven't seen Jenny yet, though... I've wondered when she'll show her face to me again, but we'll see.

I look to Tali, who's standing off to the side, changing her veil to the one we wore to our date. We talked almost immediately after the base got blown up about that whole bit where Shepard gets to yell at TIM. And then I got to watch as Commander Shepard tore him a new one. Seriously, that was a lot of fun watching him get all pissy that Shepard destroyed his oh so precious play thing.

And now... we're back in our quarters. Wow... our quarters. It's not only mine anymore. I guess that since Tali's started sleeping here with me, I guess that makes it ours now.

Ours... That's a weird feeling I'll never get used to. But if it means I get to wake up to have her face plate nudging my shoulder slightly... It's still totally worth it if that's the case. It's still _totally _worth it.

I nod to the quarian, giving her a smile. "So we did it," I say, looking right at her. "We destroyed the Collector base."

"Keelah, I didn't think it would be possible," she says. "And yet, here we are..." She turns to me as she brings the veil over her torso. "I just can't believe we did it. It's just so hard to believe that they won't be back to harass any more humans."

I shrug. "We won the battle, that's for sure," I say. "But we haven't won the war just yet. We've got a long way before that happens." I let out a sigh. "And unfortunately, I can't tell you what's going to happen next anymore."

I blink then... Shit... At the end of the day... I can't tell the future anymore. I helped everyone with the suicide mission, yes, but... but now my precognition is gone forever. Now... now everything is left to chance and circumstance again.

I... I really don't know what to think about that. On the one hand, that's a burden I no longer have to live with. Now that literally anything can happen, I'm not bound to saying I didn't know it was coming in advance. But... I don't know why, but I already miss my precognitive abilities. I guess there was something cool and inherently interesting about being able to read the future. I just... I'm not sure what'll go down from here.

"Ah," says Tali, looking over to me. "I was thinking about that too. Are you all right?"

I take in a deep breath, walking over to the quarian. "I don't know," I say. "But... I guess we'll just have to take a leap of faith on this one, right? I mean... I don't know what's going to happen anymore, so I can't rely on that anymore. But now... now I have to rely on my other instincts..." I sigh, closing my eyes. "I'm gonna be blunt, Tali. I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do with myself if I don't know what to do... I..."

"You can do it." Tali places a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "I've seen you go through so much. We've been through so much together... I know you can get through whatever this war throws at us..."

I nod, grasping her free hand just as it finishes applying her veil to that fastener around her hips. "I... I guess that's true," I say, smiling softly. "I'll see what I can do." I smile at her. "Thanks, Tali."

"Anything for you, my _hesh'alan_," she mentions.

I shake my head, leaving a chaste kiss on the top of her helmet. I then walk over to the door, pausing briefly. "Come on," I say. "We've got a celebration to get to over in the mess hall. It's gonna be an absolutely crazy party, let me tell you!"

The quarian nods, following me close behind as I open the door. "I never would've thought Shepard would agree to hosting a party on this ship!" she says.

"Neither did I," I mention, smiling. "But we deserve it. Come on!"

With this, the two of us exit my quarters hand-in-hand as we make our way over to the party in question.

Almost as soon as we get out, though, I see Thane in his best jacket. He's straightening it out slightly, and he seems to exit life support at exactly the same time we do. I raise my eyebrow, crossing my arms.

"Oh hi Thane!" I say, turning to the drell. "How are you feeling right now?"

"I am feeling no worse than ever," he states simply. "The abduction of your colonists has come to an end."

I nod. "Yeah, you were pretty concerned about that," I say, looking at him. "How's Shepard been these days?"

Without missing a beat, the drell replies. "She has been quite well," he states. He looks down at the floor sullenly. "I sometimes wonder what will become of her when I return to the sea..."

I frown, watching as Tali comes around. "Have you talked to her about it yet?" she asks.

"I went up there before we attacked the Collectors," he states. "I... fear my own death now. The feeling frightened me. We..."

Okay, so the romance scene did happen. "Okay, you don't have to go into the dirty details," I say. "That... was the basis of you going in and... you know... being alive with her tonight?"

"Ah... Yes." Thane isn't the type to be flustered easily, but the way his second eyelids nictate so quickly says that he's a little flustered at mentioning it. "That is not important, though. I have been preparing for my return to the sea for so long... Except now, I am not so sure what to do."

I nod, looking right at him. "You think you'll stay with Shepard after all this is over?" I ask.

"I... do not know," replies the drell. "I have pondered this." He glances to the side. "In the end, however, I may stay."

I smile at him, nodding as I cross my arms. "That's good," I say. "I think you fight right in with the rest of us."

"I am concentrating on finding ways that we are similar," says Thane.

Tali shakes her head, the both of us chuckling. "I think I was asking myself the same thing when I went on the first Normandy," she says. "It's a question we all ask ourselves at some point, trust me."

I shrug. "Not I," I say. "You forget that I'm the wierdest one of the bunch. You honestly don't get much stranger than being some dimension-hopping musician caught up in something so much larger than himself."

"There is more truth to that statement than you could possibly hope to imagine," states Thane. "Shepard has a talent for gathering the strangest personalities and having them work together."

"That she does, Thane," I reply. "That she does." I shift slightly on my feet. "Speaking of which... I wonder when Shepard is going to be coming down..."

And almost as if on cue, the elevator door opens close to where we are. The three of us turn, looking right out to see Shepard strutting out, brushing some loose hair behind her face.

I raise my eyebrow. "Uh... hi, Shepard," I say. "I... I see you're wearing that thing you wore to help Kasumi..."

She nods, posing in that short little skirt thing she was sporting at that time. "Well, we're having something of a party on the Normandy, so I thought, why not, you know? Good to see you'll be joining us." She nods, giving the two of us a rather broad smile. She then turns to Thane, giving him an even broader smile as she walks over to him. "How are you tonight, Thane?"

"I am well, _siha_," states the drell, himself giving a smile. "It is a relief to see that we have all survived."

"That it is."

With this, the Commander leans forward to give Thane a very brief kiss on the lips.

...

Oh. My. God.

Thane... And Shepard... Kissing... right in front... of me... Thane... and Shepard... are _kissing_... On the _lips_...

Hold it in, Art... Hold in the geek-out... You can do it... Come on Art, just hold it in... Hold it in... That's it... Hold it-

"Art, are you all right?"

As soon as Shepard asks this, I release... Hey, I was tensing my muscles. And apparently, I didn't actually notice that. Huh. I look at the now quite confused couple standing in front of me. I blink uncertainly, chuckling nervously.

"Sorry," I say, rubbing the back of my head. "That was me struggling to keep my inner fanboy from being my _outer _fanboy." I glance to the side nervously. "You probably didn't see my geek-out when I first heard Thane refer to you as _siha_. Huge milestone, you know."

"Yeah, you would know what it means..." mentions Shepard, rubbing her chin in thought. "I think Garrus mentioned at one point that the game had multiple love interests."

I cringe slightly. "I'd rather not talk about that now," I say.

"It is a very long story," replies Tali. "We probably don't have time for that right now."

The commander nods. "Well, if you insist, I won't ask about it," she says. "But in the next Brotherhood meeting, I think it can come up."

I nod, shrugging. "Sure, why not?" I ask, looking to the Commander. "Could be interesting, if mildly awkward for a couple of parties..."

Shepard simply nods in acknowledgement. "All right," she says. "Maybe on our way to our next destination."

I frown, crossing my arms. "Speaking of which, Commander..." I say. "What _are _you going to do about all that data we found on the Reapers from the Collector base, anyway?"

The Commander frowns, looking at me as if she's asking if I seriously just asked that. "I'm planning on presenting it to the Council," she says. "It proves that Sovereign isn't geth technology, and hopefully it'll convince them that the Reaper threat is real. Though if I get given air quotes by the turian councillor again, I will try to punch him."

I shrug. "Well, you could always hope that he's still missing when you present the evidence," I supply.

Shepard scoffs at this as Thane's second eyelid pair nictates very quickly. "Is it wrong that I was about to say the same thing?" asks Tali.

"Trust me, Tali, it wasn't," replies Shepard. "The turian councillor shouldn't have been in this position anyway. Though, I hear that the temporary councillor they've got there isn't any better."

I blink violently at this. "You mean there's someone _worse_ than him?" I ask.

"Possibly," says Shepard with a shrug. "It's not worth thinking about now."

"Yeah, you're right," I agree. "We just survived the Omega 4 Relay. I think we have higher priorities right now. Like, getting to the crew-wide party that we're holding in... a minute or two?"

"Yeah," says Shepard, her hand lacing itself in Thane's as she placed a hand on his chest in a very tender manner. "Well, Thane... I guess we should go see what's there..."

"Of course, _siha._"

With this, both human and drell walk past us hand in hand.

Oh, God...

"Must... not... squee... in... delight..."

I then proceed to do exactly that.

* * *

After Tali's managed to calm me down a bit, we both headed into the party.

And almost instantly, I see the redhead pilot of the shuttle wander over. Ah, there's Jenny. Before I can even see what we've done to the crew deck, she's in front of me, Tali standing off to the side. Hm... She doesn't look angry this time.

I'll go ahead and guess she isn't in the mood to yell at me.

"Art," she says simply. "It's good that you're 'ere and all. I needed to talk to ya."

I nod. "About Gregor?" I ask.

"Yeah, about Gregor, mate," she says. "I... He doesn't know ya knew about 'im or the colonists beforehand. That's just so ya don't go yellin' at me right now."

I lower my shoulders as Tali looks at the shuttle pilot. "I... wouldn't have been in the mood to yell at you anyways," I reply, looking at Jenny. "I... I shouldn't have kept any of that a secret from you. I'm sorry..."

"No, I'm sorry," replies the colonist. "I... I know ya had your reasons. I just didn't wanna believe it, ya know, mate? I... I shouldn't'a yelled at ya for what ya did." Jenny nods. "I talked to Gregor about my anger towards ya. Didn't mention anything specific, but... He told me I wasn't bein' good to ya."

"And in a way, I kind of deserved it," I reply. "Look, Jenny, I don't hold any of the times you yelled at me too badly. I understand. You were frightened as hell for your brother, and then I ended up knowing about what might've happened to him." I nod. "I live without knowing what's going on to my family pretty much every day. If I knew that someone else knew what had happened to them and decided not to say anything, I'd have been pretty pissed off too."

"But lookin' back... did I really need to yell at ya?" she asks.

"We'll never know," I reply, letting out a sigh. "But I know where you were coming from, at least. I can't hold your feelings against you at all, you know... I probably would've done the same thing in your stance."

Jenny lets out a sigh, nodding at this. "Ya saved my brother, anyway," she says. "I'm not about ta just let that go unnoticed, mate. So... thank ya. For savin' 'im. I don't know what I woulda done if ya hadn't..."

I nod, looking right at her. "You're welcome, Jenny," I say. "At least with this, the whole McKansa clan is still kicking."

"That it is, mate," she says, a soft smile returning to her face. Wow, that's the first time I've seen her get into her perky state of mind in a while. "I'm just glad 'e's all right myself." She looks around, crossing her arms. "I might stay on this ship. It's a damn nice ship. Could cause some real damage against anyone 'o gets in our way."

I raise my eyebrow. "Zaeed's been rubbing off on you, I can see," I hear Tali mention from behind me.

"Maybe a bit." Jenny chuckles as she says this. ""E's a crazy guy, what can I say? Also good with all those war stories of 'is." She shrugs briefly. "I'm thinkin' I might stay here on the Normandy."

I raise my eyebrow at this. "Really?" asks Tali. "Why?"

The human simply shrugs. "I dunno, this ship kinda grows on ya after a while," she says. "I just like the ship, I guess. And we're doin' a lot o' great things 'ere." She then smirks. "And besides, somebody's gotta look after your ships for ya. After all, autopilot isn't quite as good as havin' someone actually man the controls, am I right?"

"Oh yeah," I reply, smirking. "That, I can agree with." I smile in reply to this. So Jenny's staying on the Normandy. Fun times. "I think it'll be great to have you aboard. Just another misfit on the Normandy, right?"

"Oh yeah," says Jenny, smirking. "Gregor might stay too, actually. He's gotta talk with the Commander about a thing or two. We'll see what 'appens when we get that."

Hm. "The more the merrier," I mention, shrugging.

"Yep," says Jenny, smiling fully for the first time in a long while. "Now all we need is to get Nogond over 'ere and we'll be all set!"

Tali, Jenny, and I all nod in agreement at this sentiment, right before the crew member nods to us. "That we do," I say. "So I take it we're good?"

"Yeah, we're in good standing now," says the colonist... well, former colonist now. "Just don't hide somethin' like that again, ya hear?"

Tali steps forward. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that," she says in my defense.

"But just in case, I won't," I say, winking.

"Great!" she says, grabbing my wrist. "Come on, we've got a party that needs attendin' to!"

And with this, she turns straight to the proceedings that are going on... And wow, does this look crowded.

I smile as Tali and I walk into the crew deck. The tables of the mess hall seem to have been moved over to the sides of the deck for some reason, with two tables blocking access to the gunnery bay. Hm, I could've sworn those things were bolted to the floor before. Ah, whatever, they probably just unscrewed them and moved them with great effort. I see Madison and Garrus mingling more or less hand in hand, though, so that's good enough for me. Hm... There's enough space here, but everyone's busy taking it up right now. And mostly it's either talking or stuff as I see... Legion? Legion's setting up the disc jockey area close to where Sturge and Rupert are hard at work handing out hors d'ouevres and some snack items.

I smile at this. Hm... We just need the alcohol... and judging from where Kasumi's standing at the end of the deck around where Medical is, I guess we've got that covered. Hey, she even brought a thing of sangria! I think I know where I'm heading first!

The snack table!

I walk over, looking at Sturge and Rupert as they turn to me. I glance briefly at Legion as he sets up the disc jockey space, nodding over to Sturge as he does stuff there. I nod to the two mess sergeants, smiling.

"Well, if it ain't the favorite," says Rupert, smiling. "How are ya doin' tonight?"

I raise an eyebrow at this. "The favorite?" I ask.

"Yeah, cause you're Sturge's favorite guy on this ship," mentions Rupert.

"It's something he's taken to really quick," comments Sturge as he hands Tali some nutrient paste. "It's flavored paste, by the way. Went out of your way to raid our dextro food stores to find that fruit flavored paste Art says you like."

"Ah," says Tali, taking the paste with a grateful gesture. "Thank you Sturge."

"Any time," he says, handing me some food. Hm... looks unusually good for standard issue mess hall stuff. "I can't believe we're holding a party after all this."

"Well, Sturge, we _did _just curb stomp the suicide mission," I mention. "I mean, it says a lot when you get back to the Normandy with more people on board than there were before, you know? Especially when it adds people to the ship instead of just getting the crew back."

"That's true, but still, this isn't my strong suit," says Sturge. "You know how I get around parties. And especially ones with a disc jockey that's standing right next to me!" He indicates Legion as the geth turns towards us. "I'm going to hate this party..."

"Well, ya just grin and bear it," says Rupert from behind Sturge as he passes out a piece of food to someone else.

I shrug. "And look at the bright side," I mention. "I think you'd get into turian rock a bit. _Very _different from Aerosmith and all those guys Natan used to listen to back when he was home."

"I hope you're right," replies Sturge, going back to cutting some stuff up for the ridiculous amounts of food that need to be consumed. "Anyway, we're gonna busy all night with this, so... It'll probably be best that you hang out."

"On it," I say, giving a nod as Tali and I begin to move through the crowd. "I'll see ya later, Sturge!"

With this, the two of us leave the snack table, though I imagine that we're gonna be back for much more once certain things get taken care of. Like, our current pieces of food. I turn to Tali as she works with the tube of nutrient paste. I beam at her briefly as we navigate through the crowd. Hm... it might not hurt to get to Kasumi before we _really _get this party started.

So then we make our way through the rather thick crowd, ending up right in front of Kasumi's little drink table by the time I finish my hor d'ouevre. The Japanese thief is, of course, locked in a conversation with Jacob about... what looks like nothing in particular. Knowing Jacob, it's probably turned to talk about "the prize".

But the both of them notice our arrival, Kasumi turning with a cheerful expression on her face. "Oh hi Art," says Kasumi. "I figured you'd be here soon enough. I figured you might like to know that the sangria is still good."

I nod, smiling. "I can see that," I say, grabbing a glass and holding it out to the thief. "Pour some, pretty please?"

The Japanese girl is only too happy to comply as Jacob gives us a polite nod. "Well, we kicked their asses," says Jacob, his expression still serious. His tone tells all we need to know about everything else, though. "And that was a hell of a way to tell the boss we're quittin'."

"It's typical Shepard, really," mentions Tali. "Everyone tends to know when she's made a decision."

"That I cannot deny," I say as Kasumi finishes pouring the drink. "Thanks."

"Anytime, Art," she says cheerfully. "So we got off that base alive, and with everyone on board."

"Oh yeah," I say, smiling. "Definitely not an outcome I was expecting, though. I figured, eh, we find the crew. But since the crew is here, we find the colonists. We find the colonists here, everything becomes okay all of a sudden." I shrug. "It's a little weird when you think about it."

"No argument there," says Jacob. "I think this whole mission has had some crazy things in it. I guess we came out okay, though."

"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing," observes Kasumi as she looks over to me. "This is a nice ship, you know. I think I might stay a bit."

I nod, looking over at the thief. "Yeah, we'd be missing a lot if you left," I mention, giving her a smile. "I wonder who _will _be leaving, though..."

"From what I've heard?" asks Jacob. "I think Zaeed might be leaving at the next port we land in."

I raise my eyebrows at this. "He is?" I ask. "Why?"

"He says he's going to get the Blue Suns together," replies the operative. "Build their numbers and train their people to prepare for the Reapers. I didn't know he even believed they existed."

"Must have been Shepard rubbing off on him," I supply. "Well, there go all the awesome war stories."

"Makes sense, though," says Jacob. "We fulfilled his contract, though I don't know if he's going to get paid by Cerberus given how we blew up the base. But he'll be working against the Reapers, so that works for us."

I shrug, smirking. "Knowing him, it'll probably involve some crazy operation where he goes around and remains the only guy left standing in his team," I say. "He has a knack for ending up in that kind of situation."

"That he does," agrees Kasumi with a smirk.

"Other than him, I don't know," says the Cerberus... well, _former _Cerberus operative now. "Shepard hasn't been all too clear about it. I'm going to leave it at that, though. I imagine she could use all the help we can get."

"That she is," I state. I then look out to the rest of the crew and the ground team as they start to assemble more compactly than before. "It looks like the party's about to get going real soon."

"Yep," says Kasumi simply. "This looks like it's gonna be a lot of fun."

Indeed, Kasumi. Indeed.

I notice right as Legion's hands manipulate the holographic interface of the little DJing unit that he's got. Hm... Looks like technology changed the nature of it, though why the machine is doing it, I will never know. Ah, whatever. I look around, seeing that pretty much everyone except for Joker crowded into this area of the ship. Wow... this is gonna be a wild party.

And with a couple of riffs from some turian instruments, the party gets started.

* * *

Wow, they're just going at it with the techno, aren't they? I guess we're all in the mood to celebrate with war songs. But yeah, that's beside the point. I must admit, Legion makes for a damn good disc jockey. He sure knows how to vary things up a lot. We've had everything from turian rock to various forms of asari pop music via Motown and human pop music to turian rock again. This is actually really crazy, and he sure knows how to set things up.

Though for the record, I will never understand how someone can dance to turian rock. I mean, those rhytms jump all over the place. It's almost like some of Phillip Glass' early stuff in a way, back when Glass was actually reasonably good. But then, I didn't grow up listening to turian rock by virtue of the fact that it's hard to listen to music that's from a different planet when you don't have space travel yet.

So Tali and I just sit at the sidelines for now, watching everyone else get jiggy with it. For a dance floor, it's really not that large. But then, it didn't really start as a dance floor. It just sort of became that when Ken and Gabby randomly started dancing after a shot of whiskey and stuff. Soon enough, everyone else started dancing, and now most of the deck has turned into a dance floor, except for an area by the tables blocking the gunnery bay where the chairs were placed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see a lot of people getting jiggy with it. Madison and Garrus are off to the side, Thane and Shepard are there, and I could've sworn I saw Kasumi pull Jacob over for a dance or two. Either way, it looks like it's a lot of fun.

But dancing to techno music isn't my thing.

I sit next to Tali, watching her enjoy a drink. All the complications of that again, but... hey, what can a man do? My hand is resting idly on hers, and I smile as she looks over. It's... relatively quiet, given how loud the music over there is. So... yeah. We're sitting here quietly, enjoying the party in a very quiet way...

I wonder what'll happen now.

"Hey, if it ain't the ballsy pussy."

I jolt slightly, looking immediately to my right.

...

"Jack?" I ask. "What are you doing here?"

The convict shrugs, sitting next to me as I then see Albert Shepard walking around behind her. "Long story," she says. Her attention diverts to the party in front of us. "Shit, I never thought this could be my kinda place here. Looks almost like a club on a good day."

Al sits next to her shortly after, Tali leaning over with what I assume is a curious look on her face. "You never know about stuff, Jack," says Al. "At least it's not going to end up like the last time I got you up here."

"That it won't," replies the convict. I think she notices Tali there, because then she smirks. "So, you and the quarian, eh?"

I nod, looking over to Tali. "Yep, me and the quarian," I reply, my hand lacing itself firmly in hers soon after. "It's been a hell of a long time."

Jack nods. "A word of advice," she says. "Don't bareback it. She'll get sick and die."

...

I tense suddenly, feeling an incredible burning sensation in my face. Oh, God... Did she... Oh my God, help my soul...

"Jack!" I bury my face in my hands soon after.

"Did you have to put it so bluntly?" asks Tali. "He's sensitive to that kind of thing!"

"What?" asks Jack. Oh, I'm sure she's shrugging right now as if it was nothing... "It's fun watching him get a stick in his ass over things like that."

"It's not a stick in his ass," replies Tali. "It's... something entirely different. You know he's easily flustered!"

"Didn't strike me as that type," replies Jack. I finally sit back up, watching as Al seems to be shaking his head in disapproval. "You know, this takes me back to this quarian I met back before I wound up here."

Huh? Quarian? Now _that _catches my attention. "So you knew a quarian back when you were still wreaking havoc across the galaxy?" I ask.

"Damn crazy son of a bitch too," mentions Jack. "Also really creepy. I kinda like him, though. He's one of two people who's fucked with me that I _haven't _managed to kill yet, so he must be doin' _something_ right."

Yeah, I think I know who the other person is. Hello, me! "I didn't think there were that many quarian criminals outside of the Fleet," Tali mentions.

Jack shrugs. "There aren't," she says. "So the ones that do exist kinda stick out."

"Oh, I think I heard this one," says Al, leaning forward. "Kul'Yenvar, right?"

"Yeah," says Jack.

"Oh. Him." Tali's eyes thin in derision.

"Oh, so ya knew him too?" asks the biotic, crossing her arms.

"Much of the Fleet knew who he was," she says. "He got exiled from the Fleet for AI experiments he was performing on the Idenna just after I got my suit. When he left, he stole a lot of our tech, too. He was news for a long time in the Fleet."

Jack nods. "I guess that shows why he had Seamus, then." The convict shrugs, throwing a tattooed arm behind the chair carelessly. "The guy stole tech every other day. I even tagged along a little bit, started stealing tech with him. Ran around the Terminus systems causing hell for anybody carrying tech around for about two months. It was fun." The convict frowned.

"So how'd he fuck with you?" I ask.

Jack leans back. "We were hitting this frigate with enough tech to make him have a wet dream," she continues. "Lots of experimental shit, I didn't know the details. The job went south, and he ended up ditching me there with a whole bunch of angry turians. Guess he figured he might be better off without me than without the tech." Jack smirks at this. "Shoulda just stayed with me. The fucker's ship got shot down right when he got back into it." She shakes her head. "He got into an escape pod just as it went boom. Woulda made it sweeter if he had died, but hey, he lost his A.I." She shrugs. "Seamus was an annoying fucker anyway. Had the worst Irish accent in the whole fuckin' galaxy."

I chuckle at this. "So he's the one who got away," I say.

"Yep," replies Jack. "But I have many plans if I ever see his scrawny disinfected ass again." With this, she smiles perhaps a little _too _gleefully, cracking her knuckles for effect.

"Trust me, we would have executed him if we had the resources," says Tali. "He almost caused the destruction of three of our ships with his experiments on A.I."

"Yeah, he talked about that sometimes," says Jack, shrugging. "But now he's got one other problem that hates him just as much." She points to herself, smirking. "And if the Fleet doesn't kill him, then I've got a score to settle with him. And it will be fucking glorious when I settle it."

I chuckle at this, looking over at her. "You seem to be opening up a bit about your past now," I say. "Especially in such public places as this." I gesture to the dancers.

Jack simply shrugs in reply. "Coulda fooled me," she says. "You know, this ship ain't so bad." She leans back. "A lot of crazy shit goes down, but I love it like that. I might stick around."

I raise my eyebrows. "Really?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"Knowing you, you probably would have left the ship," says Tali with an incredulous gesture.

"I don't know why, but this place has something about it that I like," she says. "Even with the cheerleader here, and she's getting easier to deal with for some reason."

Gee, I wonder why... "I see," I say, crossing my arms. "Well, I'm sure Shepard wouldn't mind you staying here."

"Figured as much," she says. "Never thought I'd say this, but... it's been a hell of a good time."

I nod, taking a sip of my sangria. "That it has, Jack," I mention. "That it has."

* * *

It goes on for a while longer after that. I actually ended up talking to a lot of people like that as the party went on. Gregor, some of the other colonists, Garrus and Madison, Rael'Zorah, Dr. Chakwas, Mordin at one point... it's been great. And Zaeed's told most of us one last war story before we get to wherever we're docking next.

So when the music stops briefly and Legion starts patting some kind of microphone, it throws a lot of us off guard.

Hm? What's the machine boy planning?

"This platform has deduced from its database of organic gestural cues that everyone here is having what can be termed 'a good time'."

...

I snort, covering my hands to avoid laughing at Legion. But everyone else gives a whoop of agreement, so... Hm, it looks like even the colonists are doing that. I dunno, I think they were all shocked that we had a geth on the crew when they weren't busy trying to survive. And when Legion got back to the Normandy, the colonists really freaked out. Since the mission, though... it looks like they've at least accepted it for now. I look over to the DJ station as Legion turned to all of us.

"However, this platform has also received numerous requests for the inclusion of what is termed a 'karaoke hour'." He's greeted by applause soon after this declaration. "This platform has thus come to the consensus to switch playlists. We will begin karaoke hour now, with added assistance from Gardener-Mess Sargeant and McKansa-Pilot. Addendum: Let's get this party started."

...

Holy shit.

It only takes about a second of dead silence before the whole ship bursts out laughing. Me included. Because _damn _it, this is just too funny. A machine saying those words with the utmost seriousness. Oh, man...

If I ever have grandchildren, I'm going to tell them about this.

Soon enough, we see holographic stuffs go out as some of the crew move one of the tables to make a makeshift stage for the karaoke. I turn to Tali with a smile, and I can see her eyes lighten up just the slightest bit.

"You had a hand in this, didn't you?" she asks me.

"Maybe," I reply. "I'm not telling you how just yet."

Tali shakes her head, but I can feel the grin she's giving me as she pulls herself up to my arm. We then watch as Garrus and Madison step up to the plate first. Oh, boy, the turian and his girlfriend start with that. This is gonna be fun.

So then some words are said, Garrus goes on introducing stuff, and then we get one of those slower turian rock ballads that apparently Madison has taken a major liking to. And... Oh, God, this is actually really cute. There he is holding her hand, and he has absolutely no singing ability whatsoever. It's actually kinda cute, watching him serenade her in this hilariously off-key voice. And he looks reasonably happy about it to, grasping her hand in his talon as he sings. And Madison stands there, I guess trapped between some blend of flattered and nervous that he's going off about it in a very, very public setting. It's actually kinda sweet, and I feel a smile creep on my face.

And soon after, Madison turns the tables on the whole thing, going off with some turian rock ballad back to Garrus. She... also can't sing to save her life. But it's still really cute like that. Apparently, the worse the singing, the more endearing it is to watch them go at it. Well... Oh, God, I'm getting dirty flashbacks! Think happy thoughts, Art! Think about skipping through a field of flowers with Tali hot on your heels to tackle you and-

...

Okay, that's not helping.

I glance back over there, hiding a blush with one of my hands as I think about this. Why is it I always think perverse thoughts about Madison and Garrus? This shouldn't be happening, damn it!

I shake my head just as Madison finishes the rock ballad. Wow, time sure goes by fast when you're flustered as hell by something you shouldn't be flustered by at all. So then they're ushered off...

And now it's someone else's turn.

Ooooh! Bright and shiny stuffsies, please!

"Oh! Oh! Pick me!"

I see attention turn over to me. Legion blinks, looking at me with its singular flashlight as it nods.

"All righty then," I hear Gardner say. "Looks like Art's coming up right now to take over the mic. Give 'im a hand, folks!"

And with this, I pull Tali along. She follows silently, though I'm sure she'd rather have nothing to do wit the karaoke stage this time. Ah, well. We'll have to see about that. I take the mic from Legion (I have to wonder, though, where _did _we get that mic anyway?) and march on right to the stage. I then look out at the crowd, nodding.

"Hi peeps," I say. "I guess we're all relieved we got out of that place alive, because they kept tellin' us we wouldn't get out!" A few cheers sound at this. "Well, here we are now, and I guess the biggest spoil we get from all this is that we get to laugh in the faces of everyone who said we couldn't do this. All inclusive, by the way." I wink, the others agreeing with a few cheers. "It wasn't easy, but hey, we're all here, right? So we must have done _something _right." I cough after saying this, indicating Commander Shepard with my free hand as a few cheers go around for her.

"All that aside, we've got a lot of reasons to celebrate today," I mention. "So I feel like doing it by turning to some good ol' stuff for that." I then wink at Sturge, who gives me a rather... somewhere in the middle expression. The others... don't really seem to have that much of a reaction. Okay... What to sing now, what to sing now...? Eh.

"Legion, get the random song generator going, will ya?"

The geth does this with a short 'affirmative', and then I see it cycle through songs. Okay...

Hm. It settled on _Jet Song_. Yeah, that one that Riff sings in the middle of _West Side Story_. Hm... It fits, I suppose. I mean, here on the Normandy, we've all gotten pretty close. And when you're a Jet, you stay a Jet. Yeah, this is strangely appropriate for all of us. In... many ways. Barring the whole 'Puerto Ricans' bit, of course.

I nod, taking up the microphone. "All right, here we go!" I say, just as the song starts up. Okay, I don't actually know the lyrics all that well, so... here we go.

"_When you're a Jet,  
__you're a Jet all the way  
from your first cigarette  
to your last dyin' day._"

Breath!

"_When you're a Jet,  
i__f the spit hits the fan,  
__y__ou got brothers around,  
__y__ou're a family man!_

"_You're never alone,  
__y__ou're never disconnected!_"

I move my feet a little bit at the brief second or so break between that and the next part of the stanza...

"_You're home with your own:  
w__hen company's expected,  
y__ou're well protected!_

"_Then you are set with a capital J,  
which you'll never forget till they cart you away.  
When you're a Jet, you stay a Jet!_"

We go on for some instrumental stuff, and... Okay, we move on, instrumentals go, get on out, and... Hey, wait, the words just go back to the first stanza! Hm... I guess the whole bit where the song calls all Puerto Ricans 'lousy chickens' was too harsh to include in the publicly sung version. Hm. Ah, well, not much I can do about that. Just sing the first stanza again and we're set.

So I do that, adding a couple more dance moves as we go on and on with that. All right, finish the song, and... bam!

I hold a small little dance pose from the end, looking out at the crowd as they go into the usual applause bit. I smile at them, standing back up as I nod to Tali. Well, dear, it's your turn now. And...

Hm...

I feel kinda silly right now.

You know what? I think I'm going to go on a limb here and request the song for her. So I turn to Tali, gesturing for her to get close to me so I could whisper something. So she leaned over.

"Hey, you mind if I request the next song for you?"

She turned to me and nodded, looking a little sheepish.

All right! And I know just the song. I bring the mic as the applause dies down. "All right," I say. "So... Tali gets a turn now at the open mic, and she's given me free reign to request the next song for her." I then pat her in the arm, looking right at Legion. "Hey, you don't have a karaoke version of _Honey Bun _there, do ya?"

* * *

And that went really well. Though I must admit, I didn't think Tali would get into the whole 'both genders kinda crossdress for this song' thing as much as she did. I got the requisite hula skirt (somehow), but she acted even more like a man than I did a woman. It was good for a bunch of laughs on their end, though, so I guess in the end everything turned out to be really fun.

And that's really the key word for how the rest of the party went. It was just a hell of a lot of fun, a chance for all of us to unwind after the particularly taxing suicide mission. Seriously, we're gonna be telling that story to our grandchildren somewhere along the line, but it was really hard. Some things there kinda sucked, but hey. What can a man do, you know?

So the party went on for a couple hours after that, with the same old stuff happening. People talked, we had some drinks, sang some songs, and even the colonists got into it. So at the end of the day it was all fun and games for everyone involved.

And then I woke up the next morning, realizing that the Reapers are still a threat to all sentient life in the galaxy. Well, the celebration couldn't last forever, I guess. But now the reality of everything is sinking in. We won the battle, but we haven't won the war yet. And for all I know, we could still all be fucked. Including me, and I'm not too keen on dying a second time right now. I've got way too much here that needs my attention. Well, there's also the fact that existence would suck for people fighting the Reapers, but that's besides the point.

I stand in the hangar bay, looking out of one of the holes in the hull left by the Oculus laser. I see the shimmering mass effect field there, along with the black expanse of space beyond. The stars are really beautiful right now, what with no light pollution to get in the way and all. I nod, looking out.

"Hey Art."

I turn to see Shepard stepping up next to me as we both look out of the hole. "Oh, hi Shepard," I say. "You all right?"

"I think so," she says. "I'm worried about Thane, mostly, but I think I'll be all right." She turns to me. "You think the Reaper invasion will be easy for us to defeat?"

I smirk, shaking my head as my attention turns back to the stars. "Doubt it," I say. "We've got a Council who doesn't want to acknowledge that they exist, we've got an Alliance that is trying to kiss their ass, we've got Cerberus to deal with now, and we pretty much pissed off the Reapers with that last mission. And then there's the whole issue of uniting so many races against a single enemy in today's political climate." I shrug. "Never a dull day with you, Joc."

She chuckles at this. "Never a dull day indeed," she replies.

I nod. "So what now?" I ask.

"I was thinking we could dock at Illium for repairs."

I frown, looking at her. "Illium?" I ask. "Why Illium?"

"I don't really know," says Shepard. "I think that we'll just be best off there. Liara can probably pull a few strings for us to spend less money on the repairs of this ship, and we're in mostly neutral territory."

I nod. "Yeah, now that Cerberus isn't funding us, that would be a bit of an issue," I mention, rubbing my chin in thought. "And after that?"

"We'll see," she says. "At the end of the day, we fight or we die. That's the plan."

"That it is," I say. "You know, I think that with the odds stacked against us, we may just be able to do this."

Shepard nods. "Most people would call this impossible," she says. "But... we've already done the impossible twice. I'm sure doing it a third time would be good for all life in the galaxy."

"Yep," I say. "And know that this time, I'm with you all the way on this adventure." I turn to her, smiling as she does the same. "It's been a hell of a ride, Shepard. And this time I intend to see this fight to the end."

"Good to hear," replies the Commander. "I could use your help, Art." She nods again as we both look out at the stars.

"Consider me part of this next big adventure, then."

I look out at the stars, thinking about the final shot of _Mass Effect 2_. There with the Reapers descending on the galaxy, the epic music playing in the background. Well, Harbinger, you've issued a challenge the likes of which no man, woman, or child has known before. Unite the galaxy before you show up, or we're all doomed. But we've got things you don't have. We have Shepard. We have each other. And we have a determination, the likes of which you've never seen.

So to this, I say to you, Harbinger:

Bring it on!

* * *

**End of Part 2.**

* * *

_A/N: And that's the end of Mass Vexations 2!_

_Man, this has been a hell of a journey. I mean, wow. This fic went on for a loooooooooong time. And now that MV3 is upon us... It just feels so strange to finally let this go. Nevertheless, I'm happy with this: I had a ton of ideas going into it, and I'm glad to say most of them got incorporated really, really well. I think. Ultimately, I'm not the judge of my own stuff, so I'll leave you to determine how successful I was with that._

_So, what to expect from MV3? Really? You're asking that at a time like this? Oh, sure... I'll go ahead and answer questions that I'm sure you all have:_

_-Yes, I plan on doing LotSB. The reason I'm not doing it in MV2 is because to me, it makes more sense to use it as the opener for MV3. I also plan on doing Arrival, though it will be a very different Arrival from what Bioware gave us for a lot of reasons. You'll see why when we get there._

_-No, I haven't forgotten about some of the dangling plot threads left here. I'm sure a lot of you will probably ask what happened to the Aurigos, for instance. Don't worry, that, and other plot threads like it will be mentioned in MV3. Some may even play a more critical role than you'd initially think they would..._

_-Yes, I plan on having Art and Tali stay together throughout MV3._

_-With a couple exceptions, most everyone that was on the ship during MV2 will stay on it during MV3. I will warn you now: MV3 will likely have a major case of Loads And Loads Of Characters, so stay tuned and you'll see what comes of that._

_-The Fade will play a _big _part in certain plot lines during MV3. That's one of the reasons I introduced it here: it gives me time to develop my ideas on it now, and makes sure that I avoid hitting you with a huge infodump in MV3 about the Fade. Now I can introduce some things in spoonfuls._

_So that's all I've got for expectations. Now... Now I go on hiatus until August. I won't tell you when MV3 will go up during August, but if you want to know, then add me to your alerts list._

_For now, I want to thank a lot of people. I wanna thank everyone who reviewed this story for starters: seriously, you guys are awesome. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I'd write a story that would one day grow to have 900+ reviews. You guys are seriously awesome, and I hope you all stick around for MV3._

_I'd also like to thank my close friends inf3cti0nZ and RoyalFanatic for providing constant moral support throughout, and for being a place to bounce ideas off of. And then I'd like to thank my ME SI buddies Thunderfury, Sarge1995, and bale626 for just being awesome._

_Seriously, you guys rock. If I knew you guys IRL, I'd throw a massive party._

_Well, that's all I've got. My hiatus on the MV series starts now._

_I'll see you guys in Mass Vexations 3._

_-Herr Wozzeck_


End file.
